I'm located in a hot Southern climate. We're technically north of Atlanta in latitude, but much flatter in altitude which can make a big difference. Someone south of Atlanta is likely to experience similar weather. I have friends in Warner Robbins, and our summer weather is usually within a few degrees of each other. Delta heat and humidity is brutal. We get MUCH hotter and humid springs and falls than most realize. And "humidity season" is about 10 months long. The Gulf is always swirling up massive amounts of moisture into the region. It's basically summer from April til October. Heating season is only 3-4 months long here while cooling season can run 8-10 months. There are months that overlap. Hot in the day and cool at night. It's not so much the temperature in those overlap months as it is the humidity. 81 degrees and 95% humidity is pretty darn clammy and miserable and so needs the AC to dehumidify the air. Same with 55 degrees and 90% humidity. It feels colder than it actually is because of the humidity and putting on a sweater only helps marginally. Gotta run the heat a bit to make the temp more comfortable. There are about three weeks in fall and three weeks in spring when you can actually open the windows and not suffer due to letting the humidity into the house. Planning for solar heat gain in the winter is practically ludicrous with those conditions. It's not that darn cold to begin with! Add in a bit of low sun solar gain to your average 40-50 degree winter high temperature and the house will get to 80 in no time. My neighbor's attached Southern facing un-HVAC'd sunroom regularly gets to 95 degrees on a sunny December day. In summer, even with decent overhangs, it's 130 in there by noon. Try to work with that for your home's cooling load! This is why I stated that solar planning for the South is more about minimizing the solar gain rather than trying to harness it for the brief heating period that happens. Your major energy dollars spent here are in cooling. Minimizing loads to the cooling system with the home's design is what pays off here---IF, as David says, the homeowner has the luxury of enough room to accomplish that. 95% of those building will do so on lots too small to do much more than trying to get the right windows for those Southern facing heat gainers.

At this particular moment I have stackable w/d in my kitchen that I want to remove to make for more counter space. I also have a kitchen nook that is not used due to my dinning room being so close to the kitchen. I want to take out the nook and build a cabinet for front load w/d. The space that I'm working with is approx 82 inches wide and 55 inches deep. I also would love to add pocket doors for space issues.I for the life of me cannot find any plans online. Any help or ideas would be great. These are the only examples I could find for what I want. http://www.designlinekitchens.com/webimages/actual/Photo104.jpg http://www.designlinekitchens.com/webimages/actual/Photo105.jpg This dryer box would also create more space behind the cabinet http://www.dryerbox.com/ Here is a link that might be useful:

You will probably have more luck, looking at older/70s floor plans. That's back when people had larger laundry rooms and pools :) Here are a few with links to the eplans.com page that show the exterior and other details... From Home floor plans http://www.eplans.com/house-plans/epl/hwepl03254.html?from=search This one does not have the garden room with easy access to half bath, but it does have an excellent clutter room! And half bath off that, as well as small greenhouse... From Home floor plans http://www.eplans.com/house-plans/epl/hwepl00613.html?from=search This also comes with another facade option. You could use the powder room by the clutter room...or replace the dining room with a combination pool bath and pantry. Or, you could move the living room closer to the kitchen/dining room and have the pool bath/small office, between the master and living room. Lots of options! Hope this helps :) http://www.eplans.com/house-plans/epl/hwepl00598.html?from=search

I looked at thousands of plans. We collectively (DH only had to look at 100 lol) narrowed it down to about 5 we liked based on room placement and overall look. We chose one and took it to builders to talk about customizing it, downsizing, and right- sizing, which is to say it had to fit our budget. The architect working with the builder loved it because it was a great starting point and made it easier to have focused conversations. Fitting it to the site? Well, there was an obvious side we wanted facing the lake, the driveway was obvious, and on a hill, the walkout basement was obvious. I did pay attention to the sun, bc I wanted morning light in my kitchen, and with the kitchen on that side, the garage entry made the most sense there, and given we wanted a view in the master, well that has to go on the other side... see how each decision leads to another? Pros say it's not tetris but to me it was. I wanted views from the GR. Kitchen, Master. There's the back of the house. Done ✔ Now, I do say that a bit tongue in cheek bc ours is very very simple and not magazine worthy like most here. Think about whether you garden and need a restroom near the door, carrying in groceries, hauling laundry, etc. To help you figure out where you want things. I have a couple regrets like we 'shoulda' this or that, but it's 🙂. It's fine. It's liveable, loveable, quirky, and ours.