Yes,our sunshine is back.Kylie I am so glad things are going well,still holding your sister in our prayers,Chemo is rough but she is a trooper she will be fine,it can have effects for up to two to three years on the immune system,so she will have to be careful about people she is around.Sooo glad you are back.Missed you bunches.Hugs to you. Bonnie

We kind of steered away from pocket doors based on a bunch of feedback/input from others. Don't be afraid of pocket doors -- just be aware of where they're appropriate /where they're inappropriate. They have their pros and cons. Pocket doors are perfect for places where your door is almost always left open; for example, a mudroom or a laundry room is often a good place for a pocket door -- we tend to leave those doors open most of the time, but we want to be able to close them when we have company. Pros of pocket doors: - Disappear when you're not using them. - No problems with "door swing" ... no need for a place to "park" the door when it's open. Cons of pocket doors: - With heavy use (for example, a bathroom door), they will break. Because the working mechanism is inside a wall, you may need a pro to fix the door. - They sometimes hinder other items in a build; for example, you cannot have plumbing and a pocket door in the same wall space ... similarly, you need to think about walls that you want to support cabinets or built-ins. Simple artwork, of course, can be held up with Command Hooks, which don't penetrate the wall. - They require a thicker wall. - With no real handles, the hardware is harder for children /elderly to use. - They often don't lock. As for the large master bedroom and bathroom, I don't have a problem in theory with the amount of space, but I think you do need to think through how you'll arrange furniture - your actual furniture, not the generic bed plopped in by the architect. Unless you're planning for your master to act as a sitting room /exercise room /whatever else, you can slash it significantly. Do you watch TV in bed? If so, imagine how far away the TV would be ... my old eyes wouldn't be able to see it. Consider this "downsized" master and bathroom: It's still a large master suite, but it's not bloated. Yeah, we've had a lot of people try to dissuade us about the separate baths for the kids - but it's something we like and they're a young boy and girl. I'd listen to the "lots of people". You'll spend so much time cleaning bathrooms ... keeping all those bathrooms stocked with TP and shampoo is just one more chore. I'd go with a simple bathroom opening to both rooms. That's not character. It's taking a classy lady and turning her into a hootchie mama. There is much more character in simplicity. Agreed. I think this "fear of my house being too plain" is a big concern these days, and people seem to be going too far the other direction. Elegance and simplicity are NOT the same thing as "plain". OP, remember, too, that you're looking at a house plan without landscaping. Adding landscaping to a new house is like adding accessories to a Little Black Dress ... they can dress it up /dress it down /make it personal. I like CP's idea of shifting the right bedrooms down for a better entrance placement to that wing. Yes, that was a very good detail. I like the central placement of the stone in this pix -- I would steer away from trendy stacked stones, which will be "out" one of these days:

I love it! Finally got around to watching this one and it was worth the time. The only thing i didnt like is the yellow sofa in the living area adjacent to the kitchen. It is not big enough for two people, it’s not deep enough and you certainly could not sleep on it, and the cushions are not plush enough for comfort. I would have somehow gotten a bigger sofa OR a more confortable sofa the same size and replace the two small “cute” chairs with one bigger, comfier one. The sofa is a total fail but everything else is 100% great. I loved the way he described his idea of home, safe and warm and convenient and manageable…..that is exactly how I felt about this house when we downsized to it.

Loving your room, Sue. Forgive me for being ”a .r” , but could you maybe skootch the chair a teensy bit to the right so it’s more perfectly aligned between the windows? Just my freaky need , probably, like tweaking wall art to straighten perfectly. 🙄 This might not leave room for that great lamp you found…leading me to another trivial thought: turning on the tall lamp while sitting in the chair isn’t possible. Would you consider going on another treasure hunt for this type. Just such a perfect reading spot, and this is a perfect reading lamp. Yes, I am “picking pepper from the salt”, as dh tellls me , so you may forget my butting in !