Oops! Those are small windows, high on the wall. They are maybe 7 ft off the ground and short vertically but long horizontally. It would be great to keep them as they are the only windows in the BR. They can't be made taller like a standard window because of a roofline on the other side of that exterior wall.

If you don't get much response here, try posting on the Home Decorating forum, with photos if possible.

Hi, Elacey. My initial feeling was that this design uses a lot of space, spread over a lot of space, and leaves nonwork space in a long strip that lacks flexibility of use. Plus, of course, the DRM currently lacks a fairly direct route and is a bit farther away as a result, part of a set of tradeoffs I imagine you guys are fully aware of, though. That said, now knowing a lovely and important view is out that long wall explains a lot for me and makes sense of the island being oriented to pay homage to the view. What might look a little odd on a screen often turns out to make perfect visual sense in person. I also like the relatively elegant simplicity and open feeling of the layout. It seemed very large, but isn't really too large because it has an entire, efficient work triangle contained within a compact area. I normally am not crazy about corner pantries breaking up counters, but there are exceptions to anything, and it works here because of that. It's unfortunate that cleanup is so far from dining, but you're raising a troupe of energetic little helpers, so again an eyes-open tradeoff. If you were to consider change, sena01's island and counter layout have a fairly similar relation to the rest of the house and pull the elements together a bit more, if that were something you wished. And sitters could look at each other more easily as they played and chatted. Of course, creating that more direct route to the DRM, if acceptable tradeoffs were found would be great. If not, oh, well. I have my doubts about the usefulness of that area you're thinking of putting a little table and chairs in. It's a little tight, and the counter's right there, especially if a stool on the short end allowed glancing out the window too. It would hold an easy chair for relaxing with the cook, or by the cook, though. I know you came for positive ideas, but feeling it works well pretty much as it is, without indication yet that you're interested in undertaking dramatic changes to something else entirely, there are only a couple of things I see that I might like to change on that design. One might (I'd have to play with it, though) would be to create short wing walls on both sides to frame and suggest a gentle transition between the living room and kitchen. It would create a little protected space to back that easy chair to but shouldn't block monitoring of what's happening in there. The other would be to deepen the stove counter to more like 30". I always like that if there's room, 25" being a good workable standard minimum depth, not a law of nature. :)

What I hear you asking is, Which structural items should be splurges? You'll find lots of opinions on that, but my thoughts: - Go with 2x6 framing ... it'll "feel" more solid, and you can never go back and build your exterior more solidly. - Go with a simple roofline ... a simple roofline is cheaper, yes, but also a simple roofline gives fewer weak points for leaks to begin. I am going with a metal roof, which is more expensive up front, but I will probably never need to replace it in my lifetime. - Windows are a splurge item. I've spent lots of time staring at people's windows as I walk my dog, and I've decided that windows are a make-or-break item. Quality windows do so much for the look of a house ... and they also save you money on your utility bills. - Splurge on quality doors too. Not necessarily fancy doors, but solid doors that'll keep out an intruder. - Since you want the option of expanding your attic, be sure that you build your attic flooring strong enough that it can be living area. This will cost you up front, but it would cost much, much more in the future. - Go with mid-range, standard sized appliances, HVAC, etc. Maybe that's not a structural item ... I'm not sure. - Go with upgraded electrical and extra outlets. Likewise, try to consolidate your plumbing (that is, back your kitchen up to your bathroom so that fewer walls are water-carrying walls) and go with the best quality plumbing. Take photographs of all these things while your walls are still "open". - I'm going to disagree with you on one item: We're planning to build on a slab. Why? Because we had a repairman out for our HVAC last month, and my husband dutifully walked him to the crawl space. He came back into the house without the repairman, and I guess I looked surprised. My husband said, "I am 53 years old, and I am never crawling under the house again." (Note: He has always despised crawling under the house or going up a ladder onto the roof.) I said, "Okay, then that decides one of our construction queries. If you're never going under the house, we're building on a slab." He just nodded, and walked away. Decision was made. Just be aware that if you spend the money to build it above basic standards, you will never recoup that money when you sell the home someday. No one will pay you for that. We are going mid-range on just about everything. For most things, I think that's "plenty" and is the best bang for the buck. Use a quality house wrap, better yet use the Huber Zip System or at the very least a rainscreen system for your siding. Make sure your windows and doors are flashed properly (including a sill pan), and installed perfectly. Less visible than the framing, but -- yes -- very important. Similar thought: Don't skimp on insulation. (ICF if you're expecting small arms fire in a coming civil war.) You laugh, but we have two firing ranges on our farm. One for guns, one for bows and arrows. AND we have a significant problem with trespassers coming on our land to deer hunt ... worse, these jerks take the heads and feet and leave the bodies behind for us to deal with. Flooding is usually not an issue, although Hurricane Matthew this past October dumped a lot of rain and caused flooding that's never been seen before in this area. I'm in your general vicinity, and -- yeah -- we don't need to think about some of these extreme weather needs. I've seen flooding after a hurricane a couple times, but it's not common. I was living in the Charlotte area during Hurricane Hugo, and Hurricane Floyd was not kind to us. But, honestly, we don't have some of the issues that other people have in more extreme climates.