Thank you all--you have given me great things to consider. I do want to keep some lawn up front since I have a whole acre of woods in the back already and I want to grow my sun-loving beauties in the front. The barn was put in on Friday (8x24)and sits right at the woods line...about 230 feet back from the road and offset to the left behind the house. I am going to have a corner fenced in and then have it open into one long pasture (70x200) running towards the front and then about 50' by 220' running accross the back from the woodsline--leaving about 50' behind the house before the fence starts. I will be able to alternate pastures at this point for the three minis. I will be fencing in the back acre of woods as we go as well, but have to think "now" first. This is a horse community, so there is a 15' easement for trails at the back of each property. The horses are the reason we bought here, but I still want the house to look good too. So--there isn't quite as much "lawn" by the time you take those chunks out. I do want some trees to soften things up and balance and my daylilies, butterfly bushes and other perrenials are all trades or gifts, with some treasured heirlooms passed down from my husbands great-grandmother. It is the balancing bones that I am trying to place. I have a soft color palate (with one red heirloom rose that sticks out like a sore thumb, hehe). I want the beds to arch around and frame the front lawn and let the house be the focal point. Man...I really need to scan some of the layout pics I have been working on to show the whole thing together. I see what you mean about not having to have "bookends" and certainly don't want a funhouse mirror look. Hmm...this is a puzzle! I am also rethinking the hollies...I think my objection is that every fast food joint and gas station has them. hehe. Ok...so balance doesn't need to be as uptight as I originally thought...avoid the bookends look...and think of going with softer more rounded shapes to unify...luckily the new place is only about 5 miles from the place we have rented for 12 years so I know basicly what works here. So...I have the horse areas marked off, would like to have an outside sitting area behind the house to watch the ponies and relax, want wide sweeping borders with my perrenials and would like a decent front yard with landscaping that makes the entry of the house the focal point...and maybe a nice little heirloom garden area to the right of the house. Tall order on a shoestring...but am looking long term. Man...I never thought this part of the decision making would be so tough! I know WHAT I want...just can't quite put the front part together. Here is my little barn..still needs the ridge vent caps and will be painted to match the house (used the same shingles...the rain will wash the red footprints off). The water spout is about 10-12' off from the barn, not right on it as it appears. Again...grass is getting tilled and seeded tomorrow or the next day. Amy

I know I'm "late to the party" but... Practically the first thing I noticed is that except for the master bath and a tiny window in the combined laundryroom/PR, you don't have any windows facing to the sides of your house. Thus, every room in your home has windows on only one wall. IMHO, this is a huge mistake. Natural lighting is SO important to the overall feel of a room! Designing your home so that major rooms have windows on two wall so that they get natural light from two directions will have a HUGE impact on how "inviting" and "welcoming" your home feels. In A Pattern Language architect, Christopher Alexander wrote: "When they have a choice, people will always gravitate to those rooms which have light on two sides, and leave the rooms which are lit only from one side unused and empty. Therefore: Locate each room so that it has outdoor space outside it on at least two sides, and then place windows in these outdoor walls so that natural light falls into every room from more than one direction." This is SO TRUE! And most people don't even realize why they feel so much more comfortable in some rooms than in others. Light from two directions diminishes harsh shadows which, among other things, makes it easier for people to read one-another's facial expressions and thus to communicate. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, consider the difference between a portrait taken where the subject is carefully lighted from at least two sides and one taken of a subject outdoors, under harsh sunlight, with no fill flash. Houses designed for a typical narrow suburban lots seldom have rooms with windows on two sides BECAUSE putting windows on the sides of such homes would mean they would look out at the neighbor's wall 6 to 12 feet away! Not a great view and, if both neighbors had windows on the sides, no privacy for either of them. Most of the stock plans available on the internet were designed for the typical suburban lot. But, you're building on 3.7 acres! You won't have neighboring houses 12 feet away. You have the opportunity to do BETTER, to have a home that is light-filled and welcoming. I urge you NOT to settle for a made-over suburban starter-house plan. I have the same issue with that huge front facing garage. Front facing garages are pretty much a necessity on suburban lots where there is no room for a driveway leading to a garage in the back and certainly no room for a car to make a turn into a side-facing garage. But the result is that as garages get bigger and bigger to accommodate more and more cars, homes becomes: . GARAGEhouse with the garages dominating the house. Your garage takes up more than half of your front facade. Again, this is a typical problem with suburban starter-house stock plans. And again, you have 3.7 acres on which to build AND you're talking about building you "forever home." You have the opportunity to do so much better! Move the garage to the side at the very least. Even better, divide it up into a single car garage attached to the house (for the car that is driven most often by whomever buys the groceries and packs the kids around to their various activities) and add a stand alone two-car garage for the other vehicles that sits off to the side or is tucked back behind the house. So MUCH nicer looking AND it would free up a lot of exterior wall space in the house itself for rooms with windows on two sides. You've also already gotten some very good advice regarding: 1) traffic thru the kitchen area. (It really is not safe for the main flow of traffic in/out of the garage to pass right in front of the stove! And particularly unsafe if you have small children!) 2) twin sinks in a secondary bathroom that is to be used by children of both sexes. By the time they are 6 or 7, there is no way they'll both be using the sink at the same time. And, when your daughter hits puberty, she is going to want drawer space where she can hide away her sanitary supplies, makeup, etc from little brother's (and his friend's) prying eyes and fingers. A drawer or two (lockable) for each of them would be so much more useful than the extra sink. And, if two kids are going to be sharing the bathroom, it is MUCH more helpful to have a separate toilet/tub area from the vanity that twin sinks. With a separated toilet/tub area, one child could be brushing teeth and fixing hair while the other showers or bathes...both with a reasonable amount of privacy. 3) In your area of the country, I would imagine you need a larger entry closet than you have shown. And, where do you intend to keep things like brooms, mops, and the vacuum cleaner? Finally, I'm not a huge fan of that combined powder-room laundry UNLESS the only people that will be using it are family members. Real laundry rooms often have piles of dirty laundry waiting to go in the wash and stacks of clean clothes that need to be put away. Unless you are a compulsive house-keeper, your laundry room area is not going to always be pristine when guests arrive. (And even compulsive house-keepers usually can't keep the laundry room pristine once they have a couple of small children to take care of.) I would not want my guests having to stumble past dirty laundry on their way to the toilet. Do you? Frankly, I would start over fresh if I were you.

There's no such thing as truly free advice. If you post here, you "pay" by having to have a thick skin, not having control of where comments go, not having control of how they're delivered, and having to wade through conflicting and bad advice to get to a few gems. That said, you're not paying actual dollars and you're getting professional and high-level amateur feedback, so I'm of the view that you shouldn't complain about the "price." (Idioms about gift horses and mouths and free lunches come to mind). Ignore the irrelevant, wrong, and insensitively delivered advice if you like, take what's of value, and be glad this forum exists. Or at least that's what I remind myself. When I've posted my plan I've gotten all sorts of comments; while the negative (especially the unnecessarily rude, irrelevant, and wrong) can be painful, it's more than outweighed by the valuable comments I've gotten.

The main shortcoming i see is ...not enough windows...if you are going to have even small outdoor living space... a view or ...if you like natural light.......also turning the island can give you the feel of a u-shaped kitchen...with out blocking access into the kitchen...and creating another gathering spot for family events...like holiday dinners.....otherwise i think the plan gives you a lot in the amount of space you have....the only space that is available to shift might be the master..the long sort of hallway space could be shifted into the great room to make it roomier for furniture arrangement and when you have a houseful...this really depends on how you plan to use your master...if you need it to be more like a retreat...or just a comfy spot to sleep and/or watch tv..also the den/ study may be better closed off with a door..(maybe double glass doors)so you have an multi purpose room to use for separate tv watching..or even an extra sleeping room ...sticking close to the plan will save extra expenses and leave room for little added luxuries you may want...such as a pantry for the kitchen..something most people really appreciate in a smallish kitchen...