Peegee, I had the same frustration. All I want is to see the house... I tried a few entry points from the site, and then, forget it. If it's not user-friendly, HGTV may not need my Web clicks for their advertisers. Regarding the lack of green building, my layperson's understanding is that this incentive for new builds ended in 2013. If HGTV planned this house to be showcased after Dec. 31, 2013, then green building wasn't a priority, unfortunately, for the network to highlight with this home. This is my understanding of the tax incentive, and, if true, would explain the lack of focus on "green" for this new build.

I remember wanting to be an architect or ID when I was young, and took drafting as well! I remember drawing up floor plans and sketching out elevations. And had an AD subscription. So many similar stories here... We are always looking at new houses, both locally and well as in other locations in the US and overseas. I think my ideal US home is currently a Spanish Mission one story with a central courtyard and ideally, a casita. We rarely see them come on the market as they are coveted around here. I'm always finding my spouse having left web pages open to housing sites and videos. Overseas, I love looking at the Christie's, Sotheby's and Coldwell Banker International sites, as well as more practical ones. This French firm curates unusual properties and this Italian Christie's affiliate produces aspirational Youtuber video tours of listings. HHI actually does solicit applicants on the expat FB groups I belong, as did my property consultant. You do it after you've purchased or rented. However, I do think many people with something to promote do participate (it takes like 4 or 5 days to film).

The only thing that we are doing differently for our new build, in the realm of power, is to add a whole house surge protector so that we don't have portable surge protectors connected to all of our electronics. We also added a tankless water heater. We will have a heat pump and a gas furnace. Back to the question, I cannot think of anything we would have added... if we could. Because of the lot size, we have gone from a 3 car garage to a 2 car garage. The children are grown and out of the house, but that 3rd bay is always nice to have. We have made a circular drive to accommodate when the kids visit. If we could have, I would have liked to have a window in one of the upstairs guest bathrooms. It's located in the middle of the house. Thought about one of those light tunnels, but I did not want the bathroom to look too modern. Our family has had bad experiences with skylights, so that was out. We do have plenty of bright light in the bathroom, however. If we had the room, I would have added a powder room next to the kitchen. I could have, but decided I would rather have a larger pantry. The walk to our M. bedroom is a hop, skip, and a jump, so no big deal for us. We do have a guest powder room located around the corner from the foyer. It's off of the front room (can also be another bedroom) that I will hang out in the most during the day, so I can always use that bathroom instead of going around to our M. bathroom. We are not even in the house yet, but if I could change one thing, it would be the layout of our M. bathroom. When you enter the bedroom and turn right down a short hall, the first thing you see is our huge shower! I wish that somehow we could have moved it over to the opposite side of a double window so that we looked at a wall coming into the bathroom. We would have had to add another couple of feet.

Before designing your dream home did you think about your current home, how you live, what spaces you need, what works well and what doesn't work and how things could work better? These are good questions. Your dream is bigger than the lot that you bought, and the budget that you have to build with, most likely. I don't know about the budget, but -- after seeing the house placed on the lot -- I agree that the house is too big for the lot. A 20'x19.5' garage is for Mini Coopers only, and only ceiling-hung storage. Good point. The idea to move the Entry closet to the Powder room is good, it will separate the Powder from direct access. This is a big improvement. I really like what mamagoose did with the kitchen and mudroom. See how your access from the mudroom now doesn't go through the working part of the kitchen? Yes, this is a big improvement ... two suggestions: - Flip-flop the butler's pantry and the pantry-pantry. This will bring the pantry closer to the kitchen and more convenient to the garage door. Open the pantry door in to the mudroom /not the small hallway. - Move the garage entry door to the left /to the middle of the mudroom. This will remove the view of an exterior door from the kitchen, and it will make the entry more convenient for both cars. Also, will the master bath toilet glass door be frosted? A glass door on this space is impossible. Well, you could put in a door, but -- assuming you have legs -- closing that door will be impossible. An idea for this bathroom space: - I assume you use your tub frequently /want it to be set aside as a luxurious bathing space that doesn't cut into the main bathroom's use ... this bath space would look great with at least one piece of furniture (an old china cabinet?) for storage. - Move the toilet so it's easily accessible, yet not in plain view of the door. - This gives you space for a large shower by the door. - This gives you space for a huge vanity AND a linen closet at the far end ... a linen closet in this position gives you space for TP storage, etc. convenient to the toilet, yet no mirror directly across from the toilet. - It's still quite a large bathroom. - I don't know if windows in this space are possible, but a space this large won't be luxurious without some natural light.