Just as an aside re: age and forever homes. My husband and I built our dream home when we were in our mid and late 20's. We spent a year designing it and 18 months building it. It is a 4500 sq.ft. center hall colonial with an 1100 sq. ft. finished basement. At the time we heard a lot of these same criticisms, it's too big, wait until you have kids, this won't be your forever home, it's too much to maintain, no one needs a house that big, etc. I have now lived here for almost 18 years. I absolutely *love* this home and have no intention to sell until we retire (I am 43 now). Yes your family changes, we now have an 11 year old son, but your house will change along with it. (Ex: we converted a room into a play room for him when he was younger and needed it, we built a huge bar and entertaining kitchen in the basement, we have completely replaced all the floors in the house to hardwood, we have a completely new kitchen etc.) It was my dream home then and it's my dream home now. So many blood sweat and tears have gone into this house, I simply can't imagine living anywhere else!

it won't be long before your child is out the door to college and beyond. Another way to look at that thought: You intend to stay in this house at least a while, and you'll have an adult child in the moderately near future. You should build him a bedroom that'll hold a queen or king-sized bed so that when he comes to visit with a wife in tow, you'll be able to house them comfortably. I understand where everyone is coming from on the take advantage of the views aspect, it seems whimsical and romantic to wake up to a gorgeous view everyday. But what is the reality? This makes sense. If you have an ocean-front or fantastic mountain view, I can imagine you'd pay more attention to it than you would a pretty woods view -- and that's what more of us have. I'd say what matters more -- for most of us -- is orienting the house properly towards the sun. Also, the reason for us moving to this location and building this house is so we can be closer to my parents and hopefully enable them to stay in their own home as long as possible. They will be less than a mile away. With them so close, your chances of needing to move them into your house is greatly reduced. You can get to their house quickly to help them with heavy cleaning or cooking. Soon your son will be able to drive -- well, he can ride a bike to their house now. This is all good. Having a spare bedroom for them will give you space to let them stay with you briefly -- say, during an illness -- without the need for a full-blown place for them to live. My son frequently comes in the house and immediately has to take his clothes off in the laundry room before he is allowed to take one more step into the house. Perhaps it'd be wise to group his bedroom, the back door entrance, and the laundry room close together. Sounds like it'd be convenient. It hadn't occured to me that the distance from the garage to the pantry would be an issue. Don't bank on what you're doing now. Think through how you'd do it in an ideal world. My answer: We're planning a large pantry just by the back door ... and it'll include a workspace (a place to set bread to rise or to let a crockpot run). We'll come in the back door, go into the pantry and both sort and put away in the pantry. It's not just distance. It's also walking through the kitchen. You want your food to be a straight-line process: Food comes in ... is stored near the entrance ... when it comes out to be cooked, the prep area is right there ... then it goes to the table ...you want to keep things moving in a straight line rather than "backtracking". I'm just trying to explain why we made the choices we did in hopes that it Sometimes explaining makes everyone say, "Oh, okay. That's not typical, but it makes sense." Other times it's simply justification of a bad idea. It's important to be honest with yourself about which one's which! Disclaimer: This comment is just a general thought; it's not related to any specific item being discussed here. The office is really just an area for us to store necessary household papers. An office can mean a whole lot of different things to people. For example, we're close to retirement and neither of us works from home (I'm a teacher, he works in a lab). We want something along the lines of a "pocket office", and our needs don't match yours at all: We need a place to store boxes of craft items, shelves upon which to leave laptops to charge, a mail-sorting spot, a printer ... and a small spot for my husband to sit and listen to music on the computer with a closed door -- and he prefers a small desk over an easy chair. If you really just need to store papers, I'd consider a couple large filing cabinets ... perhaps in the laundry room? A laundry room /office combination could work out nicely.

We also have 3 children. Our children are older: 2 in college 1 in HS. Our current house has 4 bedrooms up. We've raised the kids here. We finished the attic above garage as their 'hang out'. Not as big or nice as basement but it worked. If younger kids I'd do their bedrooms upstairs. If older kids, putting them in basement might be ok. The problem with younger kids in basement; when you entertain and they go to bed. Plus safety [walkout]. Also when your kids are older if some have a sleepover or just friends over even they'll be hanging out in basement likely and others might get annoyed, etc. plus potential issues teens basement beds and easy to sneak out [lol]. Our basement will not be walkout [i wish]. If it did, I might have done 2 beds main and 2 beds down. But again, I'm semi-empty nester. We are doing a 1.5 story house idea. 2 bedrooms main [1 will be office/guest] 2 bedrooms up for college kids and future grandkids and 1 bedroom basement for teen [probably office/guest once he goes to college]. Whichever you pick, I would consider putting stairway near the Master so you could run up/down as needed in night for kids. Lastly i think it's nice to have all kids when younger corralled together so they can chat in morning at bedtime, etc. Mine would sneak into each other's rooms etc when little. So assuming younger, 3 beds up; master on the main and keep the basement for guests/office and hang out [kids will love this separate hang out space]. Or if you can afford the sprawling ranch [we could not] and like the look, then do all bedrooms main and walkout. That's my perspective for what it's worth. Best of luck. Trish

I studied and grew several members of the four o'clock family. There is a member that is native Minnesota and one that is native to the American Southwest. 1. Thomas Jefferson grew this one: to https://www.selectseeds.com/heirloom-fragrant/four_o_clock_fairy_trumpets_seeds.aspx Yes, it was beautiful and fragrant, but in my garden it was too low and sprawly; it was not a "stop and look/sniff" plant. 2. This one I still have: https://www.highcountrygardens.com/perennial-plants/unique-plants/mirablis-multiflora Text from HighCountry Gardens: "15-18" tall x 48-72" wide (seed propagated). In its full afternoon glory, Wild Four O'clock has few rivals. A mature plant will have hundreds of magenta-pink flowers open at one time! This short grass prairie wildflower is one of our most xeric species with an enormous, deep-growing taproot. Plant it in any soil, even clay, where it will get plenty of sun and heat. " Also, I have learned to mark where this one is planted -- it comes up only when it gets warm and settled; this year it didn't poke up until the first week of June! I have it planted in almost pure sand it a hot location. It is glorious in late July -- it is easily over 5' across and covered with flowers. It has never reseeded; I wish it would! 3. This one I wish I had NEVER planted: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/wild-four-oclock Yes, it is native, beautiful, and tough. But, its long vertical tubers ensure that even one year old volunteers are hard to eradicate, and it self-seeds with abandon. In sandy soil, it can form a dense canopy. I have been trying to eliminate it for two years, and although I've put a dent on their population, I have not been able to eradicate it. The good news is that I've not seen it in the clay areas.