Okay, it sounds as if you just want a house with a front elevation that looks very similar to the Southern Living plan but which would have the interior rearranged so significantly that it would be an entirely new plan. If so, your local architect would only be using the image of the Southern Living plan as "inspiration" for the front elevation and would probably not be infringing copyright - unless he made the front of the house look identical to the SL plan. So maybe you don't really need to purchase a license to the SL plan after all. But it sounds as if your local architect doesn't "get it" even after seeing your inspiration picture. Perhaps you need a different architect. Or is is possible that the room arrangement you want simply won't fit into a farmhouse with a tall narrow front elevation (which is a good part of the charm of the SL plan). If you want a house that is tooooooo big, or you want too many rooms facing either the front or the back views, then your architect probably keeps winding up with something that is broader than it is tall... and therefore cannot possibly be made to look like the elevation you picture. I had a friend who once insisted that she wanted a nice compact basically rectangular one-story "cottage." But then she started describing all the rooms that just had to have a view of the lake on one side of her property and it quickly became obvious to me that there was no possible way to meet her desires. Her vision of the interior was just incompatible with her vision of the exterior. Ultimately she wound up building a long thin boom-a-rang shaped home that was mostly one room deep. It looked nothing at all like the "little cottage" she originally THOUGHT she wanted but every major room in the house has a view of that lake and it is a gorgeous home. If your interior floor plan vision isn't totally incompatible with your exterior inspiration picture, there is probably already a farmhouse design out there somewhere that comes close to meeting your needs and, when finished would look similar to the SL plan. Why don't you post your "program" (how many bedrooms? baths? garage bays? master upstairs or down? laundry upstairs or down? open plan kitchen/great room or not? office? media room? playroom?) here on GW? Maybe someone here will know of a perfect or near perfect plan that could be modified more easily than the SL plan. I know that finding the perfect plan is very difficult and when you hire an architect and he doesn't seem to be able to "get it", it can be extremely frustrating. BTDT, so you have my sincere sympathy.

Loretta sez:"I have a small flatscreen tv on the porch. So, one of my favorite things on sunday after church, is to sit on the porch and watch bad movies on the SyFy network!" Oh (groan) those old sci-fi movies were the worst. But at least you did not see too much gore like the newer monster movies have. I sure cannot watch those. Last night I found THE HOLIDAY, where the two young women swap houses for Christmas. It was full of eye candy for house lovers. I think it was my third time to see it. Now that we changed our phone system to cable, I got a lot more channels than before, and the cost is less than if I stayed with ATT phone service. I have yet to see the caller ID on the screen, but I'm sure it will show up when I figure out the settings. We're also getting some of the music channels, no spoken commercials (some text on screen but who watches music play?) I like the jazz, blues, classical, and less violent stuff. Nice. Sorry if I seem to stray off topic here. But sitting on a porch relaxing brings up such images. I think you are getting your money's worth from that porch, Loretta. I bet you have room for a glass of wine and a plate of snacks too.

@Carolyn87: To quote one of the regular architects here: “Don't put time constraints on the selection of an architect. It's akin to selecting a spouse, you will know when you find the right one. It's even easier, you don't have to sit through boring dinners or watch movies together.” And a funny story as to just how random finding an architect can be: I have a detached garage in front of my house (a bunch of design theory mumbo jumbo reasons for that which I'll skip here), it was August and I was standing in my courtyard between the house and garage, cooling down from a run. Hot as blazes.....totally soaked and dripping with sweat.....A little beat up from the run.....I'd taken off my shirt to facilitate the dripping..... dirty...filthy....hadn't shaved in three days.....smelled like a high school locker room....No question I resembled one of the bushwackers in "Deliverance". Anyway, a lady comes walking through my gate and starts asking me a bunch of questions about the distance from the garage to the house.....to the street.....size of the garage....height of the garage.....lot width.....height of house.....height of fencing....etc. She finally asks "Who was the architect?". I had no choice but to reply "I hate to admit this, but you're lookin' at him!" Turned out she and her husband had just purchased a narrow lot and were thinking of a detached garage and she was just driving by and saw mine. The discussion morphed into an impromptu interview, my first and hopefully last shirtless one! She asked for contact info so I went into the house to get a card, being very careful to hold it by the edges so to keep the sweat off it. Two days later got a "Let's go" call from her

hallway breezeway, roughly 4X8. I grew up in a house with a breezeway /connected 1-bedroom apartment, and several of my relatives have breezeways on their houses. NONE of them are this small. All of them are at least 10' wide and serve as living spaces as well as connectors. She wanted a 3 bedroom, 1700sf home originally. She's building a 2 bedroom, just shy of 1200sf. She's downsizing from a 2600sf house down to 1200sf. It's not easy. Is this about problems downsizing? Given that she's a single person, and she has access to your house as well ... I don't see why she'd need that much space. However, I saw my grandmother downsize from a large house to a small one (successfully) ... but when she downsized again from that small house to a large room + kitchenette/table area + huge bathroom + huge closet (at her son's house), she was not so successful. She wasn't willing to give up certain pieces of furniture, and she crammed it so full that it was not pleasant. Now I'm seeing my mom /stepfather downsize from a 3- bedroom to a 1-bedroom, and they're still very much in the awkward stage. My mom claims she LOVES the smaller space because she can clean it so fast, and it's enough ... but they "aren't there yet". I was trying to get the garage far enough forward that she could back out into the existing drive, the go forward down the drive I like the location of her 1-car garage BECAUSE it makes so much sense for her to be able to share your existing driveway. And you could do something special with that courtyard. The lighting will make things difficult, but it'd be a nice spot for a patio with an herb garden. I thought houses had to have a back door I don't think a house has to specifically have a "back door", but -- even if it's not a requirement -- every house should have at least two exits for fire safety. Since I assume she is not young, I'd recommend one door in her bedroom. Again, fire safety. an apartment sized stackable W/D would be a space saver. For a single person, this makes sense. She can always use your larger, family sized machines for the few times she needs to wash a large comforter. We hear there is a rising trend for multi-gen living. We hope to be living here for at least 25+ years. Then maybe we will move into her home and one of our kids live in the main house. If not, we hope there's a market for this kind of home. Like I said, I grew up in a house with an attached breezeway leading to a 1-bedroom apartment. Over the years it's been used for SO MANY THINGS: an elderly relative lived in the space, when we were teens we kids spread out into that space, it was a business, it was rented, and now my mom's living in the apartment. It's a tremendously flexible option, and I am sure it'll be sell-able in the future. Small considerations: be sure you have separate utilities and a separate entrance. I think you're on that. I went back to the other plan and reworked it so the walk-in closet is larger. I'd put a lot of emphasis on the closet /storage overall. She's going to want to bring in a lifetime of memories. The cheapest way to get the storage she needs might be to extend the garage a little. In the original layout, her bedroom is roughly 17 by 12 and she would like to keep it that size. In all seriousness, WHY does she need a bedroom this large? What size bed is a single woman going to use? Will she have furniture other than the bed in the bedroom? 'it's just you, why do you need such a big kitchen?' She just has it in her mind that that is what she needs. Three ideas: - Visit some houses and let her SEE some smaller, functional kitchen. - Have her go through her kitchen items and inventory what she plans to bring to the new house. Realistically, does she need ALL the things she has now? - Remind her that she can use your larger kitchen for big family meals. Remind her that if she goes with a smaller kitchen, she can borrow your big chili pot, etc. just by walking across the breezeway. 2BR/2BTh with maybe a larger living area for when the grandkids visit is much better and remind her that a smaller, but more efficient kitchen is better. Realistically -- I'm using that word a lot, ya know? -- how often does she have visitors? how often does she have overnight visitors? I'm suspicious that a Jack & Jill bath could work well here ... a full bath connected to her bathroom, and a half bath on the other side of it for visitors. Remind her that she's looking for easier maintenance. Bathrooms are pretty high maintenance rooms. Your children probably won't spend the night with her ... why would they when they can be with her, then walk across the breezeway to return home and sleep in their own beds? If other grandchildren are likely to be her visitors, could she do with a bunk room instead of a full-fledged bedroom? Do you have space for guests in your larger house? If so, that cuts down on the need for guest space in her house.