You have small windows on a large house. Yes I think there is not enough light coming into the house. I will ask our architect friend about widening the guest bathroom by 6" and replacing the entry door to 36" (from the current 32"). That should create a 3' x 4' clear area between the toilet and vanity. The shower door is currently 30" wide and the shower has a 36" diameter space inside the walled area. The plan is to use a curb-less shower design. That's all fine but it's an obstacle course to get around the toilet to the shower and there is not enough room on the shower side to get in and out of the shower. A wheelchair needs 60" turning radius. And go watch people sometime who use walkers and how hard it is to maneuver. This bathroom as drawn will NEVER be friendly for those with disabilities. Look others have been treading lightly. JDS who is an excellent architect in your neck of the woods tried to say it nicely and so did Casey. I'll be more blunt. It's not a very good design as it is now. Now having said that, I will say I feel your frustration. I've been adjusting and changing my plan for a year now, partly because of zoning miscues, partly because we just decided to add more land and mostly because I started on here like you with a very poor elevation that read nothing like the craftsman I wanted. Of course my needs are different than yours. My house is in SW FL and this is our forever house in that we're both in our 60's already. Here's the thread that gives links to all my threads (second post down): Link to the Saga of Cpartist's craftsman home And here's the link to the latest since we bought additional land: Cpartist's latest saga My point being to take all the offered advice and really think through what you need and want. It can only get better if you're open to changing what is there. Also one other thought. I might be wrong but I was under the impression that underground garages are harder to keep dry, etc?

A runner is the fastest, easiest, cheapest option. Sadly you have 4 different finishes inside of one stairway. You have dark stained hardwood at the top. You have natural oak for the stairs, you have outdated tile on the landing and then more oak going down and then you have brown laminate at the bottom. Without changing ALL the surfaces in the stair well (and don't forget banister and trim...and all the horrible fiddly stuff surrounding this area) you will still have +++ mismatch no matter what you do. If refinishing the treads are out of your budget, then pretty much every other option is out as well. A colour matched runner (either a nice brown that matches the two "wood" surfaces or something like sisal with a brown binding on the edges) on both sets of stairs AND a MATCHING AREA RUG on the LANDING (the carpet company can custom cut and bind the same carpet used on the stairs to create a custom area rug). Done and done. In essence you will be camouflaging the "mismatch" as much as possible. The actual surfaces won't change, you will just cover them up as much as possible. Personally I would work with a natural sisal runner with brown trim. This will tie in the gold tones of the wood work (banister, stringers, etc) with brown stain of the hardwood/laminate. Or you change out EVERYTHING to get a match to the hardwood upstairs (you won't find a match to the laminate unless you have 15 boxes left over). And that is already out of your budget.

Hi EC, love your color schemes (both of them!). I'm not necessarily averse to brick, and as Ken says it will be more maintenance-free if you don't paint it, but I feel like there's TOO much of it here. It's a shame when they built the house they didn't make those windows bigger... Is that yellow clapboard that you will be painting? Or vinyl siding you will be replacing? If replacing the siding, I wonder if it's possible to bring the siding down lower over the brick, to soften the house a bit? As far as landscaping, it's usually best to wait some time to get an idea of your sun situation, as well as using this time to really look for ideas and then research if your ideas will work in your area. Maybe wait till your carport is done before you do any major planting to see how it will work into the design. BTW, congratulations!!!! :) Dee

A lot will depend on rules in your area about how property lines are what you plan on doing in the interior since designing an exterior involves changes on the interior. I would not get hung up on the style of the house whan making decisions . Messing with a roof is not as simple as just cutting it off. IMO you need an architect .