Thanks for sharing your experience. It's so great to hear from others who have gone through the process. We are building a house out in the country, as well. We are planning on doing the back up generator (we are in wyoming) so it's nice to hear that it is worth the extra cost. We are not putting in a basement (the water table is too high on our property) but I do have some concerns about my laundry/mudroom. I don't know the dimensions but we ended up stealing space from that area to make our master bath even larger. In the end we are doing a stackable washer and dryer but that will leave me room for a big closet for coats, as well as, a smaller closet with a doggie door for the cat boxes. We will also have room for a bench/cubbie unit. I've worried that I will hate the stackable washer and dryer (I'm short and with 3 small kids they will be used alot) but I thought I'd appreciate the extra storage. The mud is ridiculous here but we've been living in a mobile home on our property for a year while we built so I'm hoping that just the extra space (3 kids, 3 cats, 3 dogs in less than 1100 square feet now) will help me look past the mud that will be inevitable for a long time. We are afraid to pave our road because my hubby worries he will just tear it up snowplowing with his tractor in the winter. And it's true that gravel is cheap (relatively) and can make a big difference. We are doing a playroom in the bonus space above the garage but otherwise our house is just one level - thank you so much for sharing.

geokid, that is actually what I think my husband and I will be doing! What a coincidence! Over the weekend, we tried almost all the layouts suggested (much to my husband and everyone who had to help's horror), even went back and forth a few times, and have settled on two arrangements that will work best for us. In either arrangement, the sofa is going to face the fireplace. We'll have two slimmer side chairs with a opposite from the sofa. We most likely will have the TV mounted on the long wall with a smaller cabinet or mounted cubbies/shelves (something) for the electronics. I might add in a small tufted bench opposite the TV if we need more seating, but the two side chairs should work for now, and when my family/friends come over to play video games (which seems to be really often lately), we'll pull the chairs over. But realistically, we all sit on the floor. The piano will stay along the stairs, and to balance the open wall space between the piano and the sofa, we'll mount some shelves for decor and books. We tried mounting the TV over the fireplace, and I surprisingly liked it, too! It totally cleared up the floor space and made everything so open, but...it was kind of uncomfortable to look up at the TV. I'm only 5'3"; I don't mind a few minutes like that, but not for a couple of hours and not for game-playing. It's fine for my husband, though. I'm still keeping this an option, as I think we won't really know what'll work for us until we start buying some new furniture. I tried placing the piano in the dining room; no good because it ate up too much room. The bookcases are currently there, and I kind of like it! LOL. We have no dining table yet, so it feels like a special reading room. Haha! I like the idea of the bench along the window. If our chandelier was centered in the room, would it look weird for the table to be off-center? Otherwise, my plan was to buy a narrow table, have bench seating on one side (probably closer to the bar area) and regular chairs the other side.

Since that one is handmade, you probably won't find something just like it. Here's an option from Wayfair - https://www.wayfair.com/storage-organization/pdp/manzanola-shoe-cubbie-bench-in-drifted-gray-lfmf2978.html Maybe when husband has more time, he could add some trim molding around the top. Here's a great one on Etsy for $795.00 plus shipping https://www.etsy.com/listing/617022358/large-rustic-wood-cubby-unit-primitive?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=mail%20sorter%20cabinet&ref=sr_gallery-1-1&organic_search_click=1 Overall - 80" tall x 54" wide x 15.25" deep

Wow, Cool house! Is this the room with the dumbwaiter/lift? By the looks of the wear on the floor, it sure looks like a lot of foot traffic in and out of there! Reminds me of my best friend's old house in small town Ohio. I absolutely LOVED that house. There was a warmth to it. As soon as I closed the gate behind me & drove up to the house, it was like a wash of warmth & calm came over me. The property was formally a dairy farm and the house built in 1896. Around 1900 the home was renovated, made bigger. It had a very quirky staircase. Different from yours but still quirky.