Wow. Nicke360, you did a great job of pulling everything together in this plan. I like it a lot, but wonder about changing a few things. I really really like the covered porch and study and courtyard effect, the grocery door, and I love what you did with the dining room/hall area. Love the window seat in the stairs! I agree with Annie - I would like to keep the turret in the breakfast room (knowing we may have to square it off if costs don't permit - but I've kinda fallen in love with the turret idea). The only other two things I wonder about are: 1) The stairs (type and location). That is the south-facing view wall. Does it make sense to keep the stairs there or will they block light? I guess if there's a clerestory effect with windows on every landing maybe not, but I can't picture it well. Will sound travel up the stairs from the TV/Living room? There's really no privacy from the front entrance or hall window when walking down the stairs from the bedrooms (say in the morning in PJs) to the kitchen. Granted, we're not on the street, so it's less of a concern, but... I had thought I was married to the switchback stairs, but I'm not opposed to other stair designs if they might work better. 2) The angled foyer leading directly into the Living Room. I've always liked houses where the sightline from the front door goes directly through, uncluttered, to a window or other focal point (like a fireplace). I'm not sure about having the LR with the furniture etc to be the first main view from the entry. DH really likes the angle, but I'm having a hard time visualizing it. Does it continue to the second story? Anyone have any photos of an angled front entry? I can't seem to find any. And finally, it was not my intention to offend or alienate anyone with all my previous posts, so I apologize if I did. I'm so thankful for everyone here who contributes. I've just been so frustrated with this whole process, spinning my wheels over and over. I know my tastes have always been a little off-kilter from the norm, and didn't mean to imply that other people's open plans or kitchens or whatever are "boring." What I was trying to say is that I don't want to spend all this money and end up with a plain-jane ordinary tract-type house. And Mrs. Pete, I obviously do have a hard time communicating my wishes, but you and Annie and nicke360 seemed to be able to hear and decipher my thoughts just fine! And I really appreciate that. Thank you. Nicke360, can I email you? Or would you mind emailing me? My email is on MyPage.

the suggestion above for $2550 in improvements is really over $4000 if one includes labor with NO appliances. I would NOT renovate that kitchen. I would stage it with a couple hundred dollars. it has been shown time and time again that it is a MYTH that a renovated kitchen returns your money. REal Eastate agents say it does because $25K in renovations if done immediately prior to sale gets you on average $20k in increased price meaning increased commission for them but a net loss for you. The fact is if the kitchen is functional the great majority of people - ESPECIALLY empty nesters -- often have very different taste than you. Do not confuse "best reutun on your money" for profit. Getting $10k more in sales price for $12k in renovations is a "good return" but still a loss. REnovations LOSE money. It has been shown time and time again in every study of improvements and sales price: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,408045,00.html Renovating before a sale will make Home Depot, a contractor, and the Real Estate agent richer -- and you poorer.

Thanks so much!!! @Sophie Wheeler, no wonder it did not make sense to me...I did not realize cost estimators were always assuming NEW construction. Having a figure of $450/sf as a start for our guesstimating is immensely helpful. I think we need to move out of the northeast, or downsize to a yurt. :)

Thanks! The screened porch in total, including both the original porch and the add on, is 14x22, so it would be a generous dining room when we are able to make it happen. We normally do look to Restore and Craigslist for projects and affordably replaced a rotting wall of windows in our family room that way, but I can't imagine finding all the windows and doors necessary to do a space of that size and have them match. I have always wanted French doors instead of the slider, but it always seemed an aesthetic choice that did not justify the cost, but I love the idea of that space opening to accomodate the moving of the table! I do have a sink set up in that potting bench in the garden for washing dirty veggies and deslugging the lettuces (my least favorite thing about gardening, blech). One inside would be nice so it can be used year round, but not strictly necessary. The fridge will fit, I just don't know if we'll be able to recess it into the studs. There is a vent back there going to the level above, but we think we may be able to re-route it. Those are also 6" studs, so it really would make a huge difference, and I'd rather have a standard depth fridge if possible, but we are also looking at counter-depth options, too, in case that doesn't work, but we feel we would need a second fridge if we went that route, and our laundry and "garage" (Dh's workspace) are tiny. It is fine as it is, there is enough space even if it weren't recessed, but it would certainly help the space feel more streamlined and give us that much more valuable floorspace to have it flush with the cabinetry. I am planning on an offset drain sink so the garbage can be under but on the side away from the dishwasher and accessible from the left side of the sink where we will do most of our prep work. I'm planning on two faucets because as unusual as it is, the people who have them in busy kitchens love it. I don't have room for a prep sink, but two faucets with the prep space separate from the dish space means multiple workers can avoid interrupting each other. I had the dishwasher to the right of the sink, but I moved it over to the other side next to the cooktop so that we could scoot the peninsula out and gain those 6 inches in floor space in the kitchen. I think it will be awkward, but not more awkward than other solutions I've seen in tiny kitchens (like having it shifted over in a perpendicular run to the sink), and we'll keep the dishes in the 36" wide drawers and shelves across from the dishwasher, so what I lose in loading, I gain in ease of unloading. In weighing conveniences, I decided we'd rather have it be a little less convenient to load but unloading is easy and neither will interrupt the primary prep space, so meal prepping can happen at the same time. Really, the possibility of using that little alcove totally messes up my plan in that regard, lol, but as I said, I want to consider everything, especially because I know my choices are somewhat unconventional. We put versions of the kitchen blocking the doorway into sketch-up, and it really doesn't feel right with the other architecture in the home, especially extending the wall from the foyer to meet the front of tall cabinetry. It feels like a thing changed to accommodate a kitchen and not natural to the space and very closed in both in the foyer and the dining room. It closes up lines of sight that do a lot to make the smaller space and transitions work. If the wall between the two doorways (the one extending between the kitchen and dining where we currently have a header) weren't load bearing, and we could easily make one wider opening that also incorporated the space between the doors, it could work, but we simply can't afford the kind of engineering that would involve. When we recessed the fridge into the doorway, the ovens were squeezed in. Plus, it makes the peninsula shorter by 30 or so inches, and I do like having that space as our primary prep area. It is nice to be able to have younger helpers doing tasks across from me so I can assist when necessary or to converse with a child doing another task at the dining table easily. I feel like I need to keep that space at least 42" to keep it useful for things like cookie making, and it is 45" right now. I'd gain counter space, but not where I'd most want it. Anyway, I liked the kitchen space that afforded for the most part and was open to adjusting to working more at traditional counter space at a wall, but I pretty much hated how cramped and unnatural it made the foyer and dining room feel. I was looking at the Martha Stewart kitchens catalog I grabbed at Home Depot, and I was studying the layouts and laughing about how convenient it would be to be able to design a small beautiful kitchen that didn't need to fit a refrigerator or maybe a sink or a dishwasher, lol.