Ok. I got 3350 just doing a rough rectangular measurement of interior room dimensions. My guess is this plan might be over 3,500 when accounting for walls. That is a big plan! I'm sure you are trying to get going by spring, so you may feel a little rushed. I'm nearly 2 years in my plan now. I wouldn't recommend taking that long, but do take some time to get it right. This plan looks like something thrown together by a draftsman, rather than an architect. Which is fine if that is the way you choose to go. I would suggest thinking more about how you want your spaces laid out, and the size and location of the spaces. Your inspiration plan had the stairs off the living space. This plan has them tucked off by the bedrooms. Is that how you wanted it, or did it just "fit" there? Is the laundry how you envisioned, or is it just placed awkwardly? Do you like the long hallway to the master bath and office? If these answers are yes, Great! Just tweak the plan. But if they aren't what you want in your dream forever home, then think about starting fresh instead of tweaking this plan. You should have some great spaces to spread out in a nearly 3,500 sq ft home. You should be able to have a nice large pantry and hers closet AND a nice laundry. I know you liked the idea of a 1.5 story. That is mine and DH dream style home. I really wanted my girls' rooms on the 2nd floor with a combined hangout space. Ultimately, I decided that it wasn't worth it as a 1.5 story is the most expensive to build, and I would have the basement and a 2nd floor even after kids are out of the house. I decided that I could give my kids HUGE (think kiddie suite large!) rooms in the walkout basement. Many on this forum don't like it due to sneak away teens. But looking at your plan, your kids could easily go down the stairs from their rooms just as easily. My kids are 8,11,12. The basement will still have a bar, rec room, pool table space, etc. But it will be a family and kiddo hangout space. Doing this has allowed me to get more generous spaces on the main floor. I envy your hearth room...I would have loved to have one. But we have a massive deck planned, so I have 2 extra living spaces there in addition to the basement TV space. I would have loved a formal dining space, but choose to have the only eating area large enough to hold a large table everyday. It is set up similar to your space, except the dining expands the whole width of the kitchen. (this is a much older photo to give you an idea. The dining space will be about 12/13*20. Like you, our favorite view is at the back of the house, so I wanted to be able to have the best view whenever entertaining for dinner also. We will also have a nice eating space on the deck, and an eat-in booth, barstools, and could turn the pool table into a dining table downstairs for extra eating options, so a formal dining room would have just been a pretty but overly redundant space for us. Your dining space is the same length as your other dining space, so you can't really get a larger dining table there? If you expanded your dining room to the length of your kitchen, I think your view would improve. You would also have a nicer larger dining space with room for a buffet on the left. Not saying your plan needs to match mine, but maybe this longwinded ramble will give you some idea of ways to get more/better of what you want .

Hi Jaynee, you said you are considering making the two windows behind the front porch larger. Are you trying to get more light in through those windows? If you remove the brick under the arches all the way to the floor, you will get more light into the porch, and thus more light through the interior windows. You can easily do the demo yourself, just be careful cutting the brick to follow the sides of the arched opening. With the half-wall on each side gone, you'll get a better idea of what the front facade and porch will look like, when you do take out the arches. Once you open that up, the front entrance will look more inviting. You have a LOT of house across the front--the front porch should be open and scaled properly to the size of the house. The narrow arched opening is making the front entrance feel cramped and underwhelming. If you remove the brick all the way to the walls of the porch, and all the way to the roof, and replace with 4x6 or 6x6 timbers, with additional vertical structural timbers in between (not sure if your code is 8'?) then you'll have plenty of light on the front porch, and you'll get the modern rustic design that you want. Look at "lucky998877" again, and imagine those timbers in dark wood, but flush with the front of the house, not jutting out. If you do the brick demo yourself, I'm pretty sure the timbers and installation will cost about the same as replacing the windows with larger ones. Maybe you can get Shelby Stenga to pull up some really nice timbers ;-)

Ooh boy. This started months ago. I contacted this local company because I wanted to check out the Starmark and 600s after being referred by the Pennsylvania HQ. First contact there, verified that they do carry both the Starmark and the 600. I then gave the info to my contractor…. Long story, now after all this time and wrangling, it looks like they carry neither! A short quote earlier this week showed up as for the 800s, and this latest showed up surprisingly for the 500s! My guess is they don’t have the 600s or the Starmarks at all, and felt okay about stringing me along! Honestly, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I wouldn’t have gone beyond that first call, had I known. It’s way late, and I’ve got to get moving. I really wanted 600s for the features. The 500s slip, which defeats the whole low infiltration number hoopla. I need them to stay up. I know the 800s have the anti slip feature, but have a bulkier frame, which is problematic, since the windows are already small inserts. Any advice? 🥺

The wonderful thing about a home is it doesnt have to be done all at once. Create a plan and work towards it. I come from a family of educators and remember every summer a saved for project to do with the house where we all pitched in and did it. I am not sure if your siding is paintable. If it is not 1. remove the shutters and case all the windows out in a wider casing also add risers to the stairs. 2 paint the casing around the windows white as well as eaves and trim including the porch railings and posts and the risers on the stairs. Paint the ceiling of the porch. it will brighten it up considerably . You could even do a haint blue ceiling 3 the landscaping needs to be remedied. Rearch your zone and plant accordingly. You may be able to use a lot of what you have and just replant it in a better layout. The tall shrubs/trees near the steps are overwhelming that area. 4 style your great porch and hang some ferns or flowering baskets. Walmart has the best wicker furnirture sets currently for very reasonable prices. 5 i cant tell where your front door is? Assume it is at the top of the stairs? paint it a cheery color 6 power wash that siddewalk If you can paint the siding consider a soft yellow. It will compliment the roof color well. and if yellow isnt your thing do white and paint the new casing around the windows a deeper green and the front door a cheery color as far as the back of the house goes i think this is a longer term project and can be done in phases. I would do a paver patio with a pergola and paver pathways. and work on beds and lawn around them. I would remove the deck and stairs at the door on the left and just build our stairs in stone or concrete that are wider and flow down to the yard. There are great videos on Youtube on how to do paver patios and Home Depot or Lowes sell pavers that are quite nice looking now.