Oddly enough, I am presenting Phase IV of a 1970' condo redo tomorrow morning. The thing that you might find interesting is that they are converting a lot of area into lawn to save on maintenance costs. The cost of bark mulch and weeding has been killing them. The maintenance crew cheif loves it more than anybody. Mowing equipment is very fast and just about anyone can do it with good results. Environmentally incorrect? Well, here's the thing. There is high nitrogen in the ground water from septic systems that migrates from miles away toward the coastal ponds in the area. Lawn is a heavy consumer of nitrogen. One way to look at that is to assume that excessive fetilizer will be dumped onto the grass to try to make it greener than green resulting in the excess going into the groundwater and eventually causing algae blooms in the ponds. An alternative is to harness the grass's ability to consume nitrogen by using wells to remove the existing groundwater with its excessive nitrogen from the ground and feeding it to the grass. The water returns to the ground and continues on to the ponds with less nitrogen than it had before because the grass uses it up. I'm sure that it is a very different ecosystem where you are than what we have up here, but it is interesting in terms of regional differences. Think about all of the conditions the various parts of your site are in such as lawn, natural woodlands, perennial beds, younger shrub plantings, treed areas, understory areas, buildings, pavements, surface water or whatever else there is. Ask yourself and others what they really like about where the current landscape. That is how we started with this and another similar condo redo project that I was involved in. That will give you (the collective you) a better understanding of the quality of life issues that are part of what you as a community value. Those quality of life values have to balance out with other values such as cost, environmental consciousness, or others. It can be very easy to make a mistake in applying only your own balance of values and imposing them on your community with only the best of intensions. You stated that one of the problems that is driving up the cost of your maintenance is the mature planting. You also make a strong statement about the unused lawn area in terms of energy, water, emmissions, and money. The assumption is that what lies between these two extremes of conditions is either very little in terms of area, or does not drain your resources. Could converting toward those undescribed conditions keep maintenance costs down without introducing an experimental condition or changing the quality of life that the community enjoys? Look around your area to see what is working on other sites before you become a pioneer. Usually, good ideas catch on and become common place especially if they are economical. If you don't see fabulous swathes of wildflowers as you envision it is much more likely that they are not so easy or not so economical than thought rather than you being the first to consider it. One of the best things you can do for economy, environment, maintenance, and successful landscaping is to put in place what would grow naturally. You need to be more proactive than just getting a list of native plants. You need to know the local conditions very well and recreate what would grow there if we all disappeared and nature reclaimed it. You also have to be very aware of what might try to "reclaim" your plantings. The biggest problem with the wildflower "set it and forget it" seed mixes is Darwinism. Competition. Sometimes it is competition between what comes out of the seed bag, but more likely it is going to be some other crop that is better suited than what was in the mix. Local conditions are going to weaken some plants dominance while enhancing anothers. What will you wind up with? Hopefully, others in your area have found out and it is good, but you should do your best to find out before you commit.

This week we had my son's 5th bday party. Instead of having the movie theater "package", I treated the guests to the movie and out to lunch at Wendy's (my son's fave restaurant, lol). The package at the theater would have been $300 plus I would have had to pay for any adults past the first 2 (dh & I). I would have had to supply the cake and they would supply popcorn, soda & candy and a souvenier (sp?) for my son and we would have had to tip the party hostess and pay 8.75% tax. Instead I spent a total of $225 and that included: the movie tix for 10 kids & 9 adults (plus 1 toddler), Cheez-its snack packs for during the movie (smuggled in, another 5 y.o. fave), lunch for all, cake (we called ahead and asked permission), party supplies (i.e. tablecloth, forks, candles, cake plates, etc), and favors for the kids. Everyone had so much fun and the whole party lasted 3 hours. The theater package would have been the 1.5 hr movie and 1/2 hour after for cake & play. I am in NY and childrens parties are big business. I have 2 sons and am proud that I have been able to come up with creative ways to celebrate, that are enjoyable and at a savings. I hope I never have to do a "package" party. My other great savings was I received a free vintage sink on freecycle.org. I am a member and frequently offer out and also frequently receive items. We are renovating in the summer and I have been shopping out fixtures. I had my heart set on an old white sink with attached drainboard, but could not find one anywhere feasible (except 200 miles away on ebay). This was free and was a 15 minute ride to pick up. It is in excellent condition and just needed a new home. I had found these new for sale online in England but the cost with shipping was beyond my budget. It would have been close to $800! I can't imagine paying that much for a sink, but I know many people do. I am just too frugal/cheap. Even if it fit my budget, I could not do it. I would rather use the money somewhere else or save it. That's my story for savings this week! I hope to have more to cheer about next week ;)

I found a locally owned store that sold Chelsea flooring that we just installed. What I liked about it was that I got a great floor made here in the US, and supported local business as well. I did have to make, at least for me, a huge compromise. I wanted walnut so bad, but it would have been at least $2,500 more. Wasn't in the budget. I still got the brand, but had to go with a darker ash hardwood flooring that is wire brushed. Do I like it as much? Not even close. But I got it for $5.35/sf (product only), in a combination of 3", 4" and 5" laid in a random pattern which turned out beautiful. I got a Home Show discount. I think I got a great deal.

Honestly before you look to save money with this plan, I think you need to look to fix the plan so it will work better because now it will feel dark and closed in. I agree; this first floor just doesn't work. You have to wander through the sunroom AND the dining room to enter the house, and then the master bedroom eats up the whole back wall. You can find LOADS of plans similar to this one with better flow. Here are two examples -- the first one's not quite 1900 sf, the second is just under 1600:Both of these houses' exteriors are very similar to the one you're presenting -- -- but imagine yourself walking in from the garage (as you'll do every single day). Isn't the path better? Imagine your boys coming in from the back yard. Isn't it better? Note the front door entrance too; you want a bit of a transition from outside to inside. Mainly this is about good flow. Okay, neither of those have the two-story great room (that's what you're asking for -- a two story great room; an open floor plan would mean the living-kitchen-dining run together without walls between), so here's another similar plan with good flow AND the two-story great room -- it's about 1850 sf: Note that in these plans the rooms are more proportional to one another, and the traffic patterns are better -- and the master bedrooms aren't hogging the prime backyard access. Bbq'ing will be something we do, but the walkway to the back deck doesn't bother me as much as taking away or rearranging the back of the house would. Wait, wait, you'd rather walk all the way around the house (or through your bedroom) every time you want to use the back yard or barbeque for years and years and years ... instead of altering a drawing now? I mean this in the nicest possible way: Are you perhaps burned out on this process? If you need to take a break, do so! Doing it right is better than doing it fast, and complete lack of public room backyard access is very much not doing it right. You could save money by having only one sink in the bathrooms. A good idea; the master vanity especially just doesn't have enough space to support two sinks, and by using the space for sinks, you give up drawers for storage. I'd also remove the door that divides the boys' bathroom; doors like that are always in the way and aren't really helpful -- two kids can easily share a bathroom without being able to close off part of it. How do you plan to use the den upstairs? Will it overlook the downstairs? Do you live in an area where basements work? If so, would that provide the space you want for your boys' area? In the right areas, basements are super cheap, and you could plan to finish it off later -- like when your boys are in middle school and want some space away from you. If you're really counting pennies, lop off the kids' space -- it falls into the area of "nice but not necessary". Get rid of the fireplace. They are expensive. I personally wouldn't lose the fireplace, but I would consider a woodstove, which can be less expensive. Keep in mind too that fireplaces don't all cost the same amount. High-end fireplaces take the brick or stone to the ceiling inside and have masonry chimneys outside. Lower-priced fireplaces utilize inserts and have little inside brick/stone ... and vent with only a small flue /no chimney or a wooden stack that houses the flue. Use carpeting instead of hardwood or laminate. I'd go with laminate instead of carpet. Laminate has a longer lifespan and is more forgiving with kids. Eliminate the sink in the laundry. Good call. We had a sink in our laundry room when I was growing up; it was a place for junk to collect. As an adult, I've never had one and have never once said, "I wish..." We could build larger, but the most important thing to us is that I am able to stay at home with the boys if I wanted/needed to and also that we can support them when they begin to drive and go off to college. Building below your means is always wise. Also, if we made the sunroom have a long hallway rather than an outdoor walkway would this help cut down cost? I wouldn't mind a long hallway to hang pictures etc on the way out the back door. Like a breezeway? Perhaps with a sliding glass door on each end? That's a practical choice. Cpartist, where else would we put it? We want an open floor plan with Windows across the front and a loft at the top for our boys. Anywhere except where it is -- the bedroom is really what's throwing off your whole plan. At 1/3 of your first floor, it's as large as your living room, and it's oversized for this plan -- worst, it's preventing you from having backyard access. You can have an open floorplan with windows across the front and a space for your boys without this problem. Google "3 bedroom cape cod" or "3 bedroom Southern House with Porch". You'll find loads and loads of plans with just what you're wanting. Note too that if you bring the stairs to a more conventional center-of-the-house location (essentially flipping the stairs and the kitchen), you will have those windows in the kitchen. About the stairs: Switchback stairs are sf hogs. You could trim your square footage by going with a straight set of stairs. Or you could make the stairs do double-duty by placing a half-height closet underneath. On the subject of the bedroom, if you steal 2" from the bedroom (which you can easily afford to give up), you can enlarge your master closet enough to add 1/3 more storage space. I'm no clotheshorse, but I can't image not wanting this. I agree no access to the deck from the kitchen is a LITTLE inconvenient, but to be honest we had a deck right off of the kitchen in our last home and we never used it...ever. I think everyone else here disagrees with the qualifier "little", and the person who pointed out it'd make your house impossible to resell is right. Bpathome, we would like to cut off about $10-15,000. We are almost at our target budget so I am curious as to how much removing the third door to the garage would cut back (without downsizing.) Building always comes with surprises. If you want to stick to your target budget, you need to begin fairly well under it (at least 10%). Removing the garage door without downsizing will save a few hundred for the door ... but you're talking pennies in the grand scheme of things, and then you'd have a garage with reduced function. I agree with you: No point in this cut. We've a two story foyer in our past 2 houses and our next house will have no 2 story anything because the sound transmission is really annoying, imo. I used to think lofts were great -- until we rented a lake house with a loft. A person watching TV in the living room disturbed a person reading or napping in the loft -- and vice-versa. This was made worse in the house we rented because everything in the house was "hard" -- wooden floors, shutters on the windows, no drapes, the only soft thing was the sofa /chairs. This is not something you want in your everyday house. This isn't about your family being close or not -- as your kids grow older, you'll want some separate space. You're not going to want to listen to their music or them play video games with their friends. Our family's very close too, but that doesn't mean we don't need a space where a couple people can watch TV while someone else is doing homework. You're going to want to make a phone call without hearing the boys playing upstairs; they're going to want to call girls without you in earshot. However, this is only a 1900 sq ft home. We aren't trying to make the powder room it's own wing. If you have suggestions on moving it somewhere that is cost efficient be my guest at letting me know where. If you go with the breezeway idea, the powder room would work great in that area. It'd also be convenient to the backyard. I absolutely loved this plan before posting it on this forum. You guys have picked it apart and not had any positive feedback...except a few of you. I still love it, but I am concerned guest will come over and instead of seeing its charm and open-ness will see the same things you guys have see Honestly, I don't mean to be harsh, but I see no redeeming features on the first floor -- I like the exterior very much, and the upstairs is nice. Other things I can see that'd save money: Look at this circled spot on your plan:Exterior walls are quite expensive compared to interior walls; thus, this walkway is extremely expensive. It'd be cheaper to "bring the house over to meet the garage". Porches aren't as expensive as interior space, but they also aren't cheap. Consider downsizing the porch from full-width ... to partial width ... or even just a stoop over the door -- this could probably be a difference of 6-8K just on the front of the house -- and you could go with a deck out back instead of a porch: