Some inspiration pics I saved before we started on our bathroom.... [traditional bathroom design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by san francisco architect Doma Architects, Inc. [traditional bathroom design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by new orleans architect Bockman Forbes + Glasgow, Architecture + Design Cararra with white subway [traditional bathroom design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by seattle interior designer Pamela Horton Mix of cararra, white tile and bead board [traditional bathroom design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by toronto interior designer Chris Kauffman [traditional bathroom design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by other metros interior designer Tracery Interiors [traditional bathroom design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by san francisco architect Gast Architects

Dave, I have to respectfully disagree. The term "pre-payment penalty" is a misnomer, as nobody is being "penalized" for anything. Prepayment penalties are completely mutually voluntary, and reduce the borrower's interest rates, or get them better terms (higher loan amount or longer fixed periods) or a combination of all of that... so, if a borrower feels certain enough that they won't be refinancing or moving for 3-5 years, they can often get a significant benefit by making the commitment to the lender up front. All else equal, a program with a commitment period (prepayment penalty) will ALWAYS be cheaper and safer for the period chosen for the borrower. As we've seen so much lately, all else isn't necessarily equal, stuff happens, and you could wind up paying tens of thousands of dollars for the 'right' to sell your house. When I was looking at mortgages, the ones w/ prepay penalties had the same ballpark interest rates as the non-penalty offerings. So it seemed pretty one-sided, heads they win, tails I lose. I forget which thread it was on now, but the NY Times article where a prime borrower was heading into foreclosure because of an ARM and prepay penalty of $40k on a loan of less than $400k seemed pretty heinous to me. That's starting to get into real money, and at >10% of the loan, is way out of line.

Hi everyone!! Not sure how many of you are still following this post that commented, but wanted to let you all know that I have officially paid off all of my student loan debt!!! Woo-hoo!!! I took advantage of the 0% interest and became really aggressive with getting down the balance. I’m in limbo with buying a home because of this terrible market for buyers, so I’ve decided to continue to hold off until the market starts to settle and just continue to put money in savings. Also, I’ve been in Atlanta for more than 10years and I’m not sure if this is where I want to purchase a home. I’m going to take some time to sort that out. My dream has always been to experience living some where in Southern California but sigh — cost of living. Anyways, just wanted to let you all know I crossed that major milestone!!!

decoenthusiaste Thank you for all your good advice and your time! Of course the baby is starting to crawl, so we’d like to have good space for him to move on 😊 but we also see the value in waiting and dreaming in the meantime. We also started ideabooks and figured that we’ll be able to do some things while we plan for others. That’s why we really appreciate the advice of the experienced Houzz-ers. Now about plans some of which we are ready to implement right away and some for the future: 1. Structural change #1 we need will be actually returning the hallway from Master Bedroom back to where it used to be. This will resolve the issue of obnoxious draft in the Laundry Room from the heater above. That in its turn will leave us with a tiny LR or we might even move LR elsewhere (garage is an option.) 2. Now about the access to as well as the size of master WIC. You noticed it right away! That's exactly a HUGE minus in the layout and the reason we are thinking about actually moving it into another space and dedicating this current space to the Bathroom #3 adjacent to the Baby's Room (bedroom #2) and the LR. That will resolve another issue of not enough Bathrooms. They can be connected. Yes, we know, there are pros and cons to having bedroom/ laundry room together, but in our case it might work. The sewer and water are already there! Or we can make it possibly separate- with a door from that Bedroom #2 right into the newly formed bathroom, but not sure about this because of different reasons. That's structural change #2. 3. Structural change #3 We also see an option of moving WIC into the part of the current Dining Area (the door from the Master Bedroom is already there) while dedicating another part of current Dining Area for the Pantry Room that is VERY needed. Below you can see hand made changes to the plan :). This will resolve four issues: we get a Pantry (1), which will resolve the small sized Kitchen issue (2) and a bigger WIC (3) which will also mean that we don't have to go through the Master Bathroom (Hooray!) every time you need to change. What do you think? That leaves us with two options of having either front room for entertainment/ dining or having the family/ dining room multi-purpose space. Both are good options with garden views and a lot of available daylight, but there'd be a better natural flow from the Kitchen into the Family/ Dining multi-functional area adjacent to it which is also close to the patio/ garden entertainment/ BBQ area. With big windows these areas are very much interconnected and kind form a General Dining Indoor/ Outdoor Zone, including the Kitchen, Family/ Dining Room, BBQ area, and Patio with Garden. Any ideas? There is still an issue with the entrance/ foyer area which right now is not organized at all. Should it be screened or zoned otherwise?