Japanese (and other Asian) maples are by nature understory trees and are accustomed to a part shade location. "Ideally", a situation that provided morning sun and afternoon shade is a preferred location, avoiding the more intense and hotter late afternoon sun. However, most red leafed maples can tolerate a great deal of sun without issues, provided all other growing requirements are met. Given the two locations outlined above and the size of the tree now, I'd not be too inclined to move it - it will be far less stressful and better for long term growth to leave in place. A JM with a 2-2.5" diameter trunk is a good sized tree and will not transplant easily. And you certainly do not want to comtemplate doing so now - if you must move, wait until dormancy.

i always look for lower budget equivalents. A smaller manufacturer might have a fantastic equivalent but you wouldn't know it since they haven't allocated funds to getting buzz and attention. That would double the retail cost. Of course one might wonder how well they can service later too... so if you have the money, get a Miele or a SubZer. Most of the foreign manufacturers have fridges that will interest you if you are looking for alternatives as I have been. I now own two small fridges: a 24" LG fridge (that is not on their web site), and an Ariston undercounter drawers fridge (fridge-only, no freezer, so the cooling circuit's only job is to keep things fridgey). Both quiet and cool. Along the way, I found 2-compressor fridges from Blomberg (a German & Turkish manufacturer), Vestfrost (Danish) and Liebherr, as well as single-compressor systems with complete separation between the fridgy and freezy air and cooling circuits in several Korean Japanese and European manufacturers. This complete separation idea is good, for all purposes, except one: when you want it to be as powerful as a restaurant fridge that takes a lot of "demands" or abuse : hundreds of door openings, a huge amount of warm / hot stuff shoved in at closing time and the fridge and freezer better have a power boost then and there or else you run health risks because the ambient temperature might really rise for few hours (uh-oh!). The small two-compressor Vestfrost was powerful and not high cost. It's available under other names too. Summit CP171, ConServ, etc. Since Home Depot could order it for you, other retailers avoided it. Then it didn't sell and got dropped. Summit still has it. Blomberg LG and Samsung may be good to check out. You seem to be interested in one large fridge, not two small ones. At applianceadvisor.com wthin a few clicks you can find out which manufacturer makes the other company's fridge, and you'll eventually figure out that there are only a very small number of box shapes and coolant systems that one can add to the box. On the Miele web site I found great displays of the guts of all their fridges -- which are the same as several competitors' fridges, since Miele is a rebrander when it comes to fridges. Having said this, I find Miele adds great value because they work smart and figure out how to improve the little things that are theirs alone, like the door bins, closed drawers, etc. hth

I would like to see even more of the existing layout and how the different levels relate to each other ... to pool, 'down' to game room, 'up' to bedroom, to garage, etc. Is the pool on the same level as the existing kitchen ? Is it right by the house or across the yard ? Is there any type of patio, covered porch, or deck off of the back of the house now ? Where does the driveway run - do guests park by the front door and come in that way, or does driveway have them parking by the garage entry ? Do the stairs at the front door go up ? Up to what ? Where does the door go under the stairs at the end ? Also, what are the dimensions of your existing furniture and any appliances you will be re-using ? What about items you are planning to purchase ? I am concerned that you may not be allowing enough room for clearance around your breakfast table because I do not know it's dimensions. Take the size of your table and add a minimum of 36" on all 4 sides just to edge/slide past or scoot around seated diners. You need 44" on the sides to allow someone to walk past a seated diner. In other words, if your table is 42"x60" and you add 36" to each side, you need a minimum of 9'6"x11'0" totally clear area just to scoot around seated diners. I am thinking something totally different than the plans you have shown. To get you thinking outside the box . . . . How about if you carve a niche out of the existing LR for a more formal entry with walls and doorways so the first thing a guest sees when they walk in the home is not the mess in the kitchen. Use the current Piano room as the family room overlooking the pool area. Put the baby grand in the current dining room and the dining table where the butler is currently. The table will run long ways from the front of the house to the rear. Open this new baby grand/dining space up as much as possible into one long room or, even better IMO ... depending on the size of your dining table, move the wall a couple feet so that the new dining end is longer and the baby grand end is smaller and they are separated by a wall with a wide doorway or arched opening. If the new dining space was 11x15 or 11x16 instead of 11x13, you could easily have a dining table 4x7 that would seat 8 and have room to pass around the end of the table to the doorway into the new family room. I imagine the new baby grand room to house the piano and some limited seating. A much better view when a guest first walks into the house. : ) Where you currently have the living room, it will now be somewhat smaller because of losing space to the foyer. Use the old living space for a combination keeping room with breakfast, desk/homework, sitting room space. The remainder of the current living room along with the current kitchen/breakfast will be the new kitchen. In my experience, most people congregate around the kitchen at parties and gatherings. This layout would make the kitchen and keeping room one big space which would be a great area for entertaining. Between the new kitchen and the new dining room (old butlers) will be a wet bar and storage space similar to what you have shown on option B. Be sure to also carve out room for a coat closet, vacuum storage, toys storage, and a designated space where mail/bags/junk, etc can land very close to the garage entry (but be easily hidden by cabinet doors or something if someone comes over). Depending on the pool and patio location, it could be nice to turn the double windows at the end of the of the old butler/new dining into French doors opening onto the patio. It could also be very nice if this was opening to a covered Lanai or screened porch.

I think for 70% of people, buying makes the most sense. Easiest to get a loan, you really don't need a whole heck of a lot of knowledge, your risks are quite low and you know exactly what you're getting. For 30% of people, they want something "new" or "different" and they should build. Of those 30%, 60% should "build" with a spec builder and make choices out of 3-4 things in a catalog. A lot of people struggle when there are too many options. 30% of those people should custom build with a builder. They know what they want or can hire someone to tell them (interior designer). They want something unique or have specific needs to address. They're willing to take on the headache involved in obtaining it, or have the finances to deal with whatever occurs. These people have the time and money available to really invest their time and energy into a custom build. The last 10%, are crazy. They will DIY their house. THIS to me is "building your home". Hiring someone to build is not building a house. My biggest pet peeve. Here, the stress and frustrations are through the roof, the risk is enormous, the banks won't trust you, the financial reality is hell. But you'll save money, have something custom, be proud of what you accomplished. The question for you, is where do you fit in, and what are you willing to live through?