Can you draw a sketch of the general building area--the road, driveway, garage, outbuildings, and how you would orient your present house plan? I spent a little time this afternoon looking at your plans and trying to think of how to improve them, but I keep getting stopped at the thought of all of that hot sun in the summer. The screened porch just seems to be on the wrong side to be useful. We had a deck on our previous unshaded south side, and from about 10 a.m. to dusk it was too hot to be out there in the summer due to the heat radiating off the floor boards. We now have a patio facing NW, but we took down 4 trees to open up the back yard some more and the SW sun on the pavers makes it impossible to use the patio from about noon to 4 p.m. Now that the lower branches on the adjacent trees have space to grow, we will have shade on the patio again in the not too distant future. I think that you will use the front porch the most. Ours faces SE so it is cool at all times of the day. Also, the prevailing summer breeze is usually from the SW, so it blows across the porch. Have you had a screened porch before? We thought about whether to include one, but decided that the summer would be too short and too hot to get much use out of it, and the spring and fall would be too cool most of the time, and therefore we put our money into other parts of the house instead. Seems like a year round sunroom would be more useful. But maybe since you're home all day, things would be different for you. I know you specifically haven't asked for comments on the other half of the house, but I hope that you won't mind if I make a few. When I think of a farm, I think of dirty work boots coming in. Is the office for your husband to use to keep track of the farm, or is that elsewhere? Will he be coming in with his dirty clothes directly to the laundry, or will he be using the powder room? If any of these are true, I would not want the dirt in the hall to the MBR or main living area. I'd want the laundry, powder room and office with doors opening into the mudroom. When we were building our house (we were owner-builders), we were a mess at the end of each day. We were renting a house that had a huge mudroom/laundry with a bathroom with shower right next to it. It opened off the garage and the driveway and we were able to keep the mess there and not transfer the dirt, sawdust, etc. into the rest of the house. For layout purposes and traffic flow, I think I prefer the first plan. Since you're home with 2 children, you must be in the kitchen a lot. Do you can things in the summer/fall? Do you store a lot of things from shopping or gardening? Do you have other family members visit a lot? Could you put some measurements on the screened porch, kitchen, and dining area in the first plan? There should be enough space to improve the kitchen here. Anne

As promised, here are the close-up pictures of the window screen clips. This is the front of the clip: and here is the back: Here it is attached to the window screen. It just snaps into the channel. you just rotate the clip to attach it to the window. The newest screen we have has a system that is a bit different. This is the bottom clip. It is stationary. The top clip moves. It is attached to a control lever by a rod. This is the lever that controls the top clip. When in this position, the clip does not stick out beyond the screen, so you can install the screen. When you push the lever in, the clip moves up and clips onto the window. I have no idea if this is how all screens for tilt and turn windows attach. I know Marvin makes tilt and turn windows. They may have a different system, so you might want to go to a Marvin dealer and ask them how their screen attach.

They're interesting windows; that's for sure. As you alluded to, they are popular in Europe, but are rarely seen in the US. ADVANTAGES: Full uncluttered view (just like a casement), in the "tilt" position they allow ventilation but won't blow the papers off your desk because the air circulates more on the upper half of the room, easy to clean in the "turn" position, can be made in sizes larger than casements, nice for office buildings. DISADVANTAGES: 1. Usually about twice the price of comparable casements. 2. If used in the "turn" position the wind could catch it and smack it against the wall or other furnishings. 3. Furniture might be in the way of it's operation. 4. Window treatments (curtains, shades, etc.) will potentially block its operation 5. Screen is on the exterior so it is a bit more difficult to remove if you want an unobstructed view. 6. Tilt/turn hardware is more costly to replace if it goes bad. If you can afford it, it's a nice window. The biggest issue is usually how can one cover it up for privacy without whatever they're covering it with being in the way.

FWIW, I've been told the actual glass made in Europe is better. I used Innotech and unfortunately there are many windows with defects between the panes. Black spots, streaks. It was Covid time, sigh. None of my contractors ever inspected anything before install; the excuse was always "want to keep the protective covers on so they don't get damaged." So now it's costing another $5k to get them replaced. We're not even replacing them all because they are too heavy and the access is too difficult. Anyway, Cardinal makes the glass for Innotech, (the standard American glass mfr). They are paying for the re-makes but not the re-install. So my advice is to make your contractor inspect the windows before install.