Too early for me.. Mid May is my time frame to really get cracking, but Ive had columbine not germinate till late.. It appears though Im going to have some usual failures.. Astibles, for the 3rd time, nothing! I might have to buy some instead.. what a pain! Larkspur never does anything 5 straight years... nada, nothing, Ill give it till may 15th though before I dump it. I usually have a few containers, I used to get a little upset about that, but then I realized I usually have more than I need anyways... Plus side is that it appears Ive finally gotten flat sea holly after my third attempt. I'm sure Ill have some other no shows. I dont have any Toms yet.. which sucks, last year I was having them pop all over the place, then we had a cool down, which was fine since I covered them till it was time to plant out. This years cycle was way off, much warmer early in April before I sowed them and then cooled right down. I need to get some warmth to get them cooking. Silverkelt

"1) While the pantry is nicely convenient to the formal dining room, it is a heck of a long hike from the garage. I calculate that from the entry by the mud room to the pantry door, it is nearly 60 feet by the closest path. Unloading groceries every week will be a major chore. That by itself would be a deal breaker for me." The front door will be much closer to the drive so we planned on using the front parking to unload the groceries unless it's raining in which case we'll just have to walk. "2)At 6 ft wide, the master bedroom closet is too narrow to hang garments along both sides. If it could be widened by 8 to 12 inches, you would almost double your usable storage space." I didn't realize that and I'll make the changes. "3)The master bedroom is not going to get ANY natural light. Some people like a dark bedroom. I prefer having the growing daylight wake me in the mornings." My wife and I discussed this. We don't spend much awake time in our MBR and would prefer a dark bedroom and bright bathroom. For what it's worth, the windows in the MBR will be facing southeast so morning light will filter into the room. We'll probably end up shrinking the MBR a bit also since we don't ever watch TV in the MBR and only need space for the bed and dressers. "4) It seems like there is a lot of wasted space in the masterbath. And, when I "gotta go" in the middle of the night, I wouldn't want to have to hike clear around the shower to reach the WC." I agree with the wasted space. I'm hoping I can take away approx 1' between the shower and bath. I may also change the arrangement of the sinks and the vanity because the space above the bath looks empty. I may have sinks flanking the tub and then my wife can have a large vanity against the wall. "5) The kitchen window faces a garage wall. Granted, you can look out an an angle but, I'd want to push the entire garage toward the back (left in your image) so that it is out of the way of the kitchen view." Another good point. I'll probably push the garage back until only approx 2'-3' are sticking out. "6) Given the overall size of the house, the family room seems a tad small ... especially if you really plan to have a grand piano in there. Make sure you can fit all your furniture in with plenty of space to walk around it." I asked the designer to draw in a piano just to give an idea of the scale. We probably will place a small baby grand or an upright in the place of the grand as the grand is just too big. I'll also move the mail sort area so that it's just a wall and turn the piano around so the sound fills the room instead of bouncing off the walls. I want our home to have a cottage/family friendly warm feel so a formal grand piano will definitely be out of place. "7) The breakfast nook is too far from the business portion of the kitchen. Since there is more convenient seating at the kitchen island, the nook, pretty as it may be, probably won't get much use." I struggled with this one for awhile. I want the view but I also wanted the eating area to connect with the kitchen. I finally decided to go with the view. The area is named breakfast but a better name would be informal eating area because our family will eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner in that spot and I thought if would be better to have a nice view rather than proximity. If we end up not using it a lot I'll just turn it into a seating/reading area. Originally I didn't want a formal dining but my wife insisted and I'm sure she will use it more than twice a year. "8) If the screened porch will be used by the entire family and by guests then I wouldn't want my bedroom windows or my masterbath windows to open onto the screened porch." My wife had the same concern but I told her we wouldn't be sleeping during these gatherings and we could have blinds on the windows to prevent people from looking into the master bedroom and bathroom. "9) No powderroom to for guests to use??????? Another deal breaker for me." Not a big deal to me but it's just a difference of opinion. I wanted to design this home for a family of 5 so it's going to have a more casual feel. Not much formality so my guests will just have to find the bathroom. They will have privacy when the find it so that counts for something:) "10) Since the secondary bathroom lacks a window, I don't think you'll be able to make it look much like the breezy, light-filled bathroom in your inspiration picture." Yeah I understand and was a little disappointed. I'll probably end up placing a couple of solar tubes and pipe in some light. I know it's not as good but the bright colors will help. Thanks for all the advice! The MBR closet is something I would have regretted since a stinking foot would have made such a big difference.

Sorry me again. Neither sink is primary - they are just designated for specific uses. How important is counter space for you - that might help you to decide which sizes of sinks to use and where. 20" on the island and 33" or 45" on the wall 33" on the island and 45" on the wall

Actually, the most important factor for me would be that the trash pullout is next to the Kitchenaid. It's tricky to see your floorplan, but is that a prep sink to the right of the fridge along the top wall of the plan? If so, I'd want the trash right next to the sink. Or are you talking about the bottom wall (since you say between the two windows)? I would still want the trash as close as possible to the prep sink -- so, at the end of the peninsula. Just be sure to think about how the access to all these different components will work. When the mixer is out, will you still be able to access the trash? the microwave? I don't know what kind of clearance you need for your drawer pulls, but it's important to take that into account.