The plan is well worked out but there are some minor issues. I would flip the power room so the door is farther from the entry area and there is less of a view of the toilet when the door is open. That allows the vent stack a more direct route through the second floor too. The wall that contains that stack should be thicker. Is the fireplace gas? If so, the vent should be shown through the wall or passing through the second floor. Perhaps the pocket door in the hall could be closer to the entry so the basement stair door would be in the back-of-the-house and the hall shorter. The end view of the desk should be carefully designed since it will be in full view of guests at the dining table. On the second floor you might try to rearrange the bathroom and laundry (?) so the toilet and lavs are not against the wall of bedroom #3. The same goes for the master toilet. I would round the prominent corner of the first step of the main stairway. If the windows are double-hungs, I would put a bit more space between them; tight mulled windows is another detail made possible by modern manufacturing methods and it loses a lot of traditional charm. Even if the windows are casements I would avid putting a mullion at the center of the sink. An awning window will work better there. The wall between the living room and the dining room across from the entry corner will be an awkward finish/decorating challenge.

So...we basically so far have 2 votes for Sailboat, one vote for Tidal Foam, and 3 votes for keeping the existing rug. Does anyone else think the existing rug is too small? What about its design clashing with the design on the chair? (if I kept the same fabric on the chair). Anele -- The current fabric on the chair isn't in terrible shape. I could just have the foam in the cushion replaced. It certainly would be the best choice to preserve the original integrity of the chair. My mom has been telling me to not change it for awhile, but I trust your taste more than hers! daisychain - I don't think I can do much with the fireplace surround/mantle. Paint it black maybe? A decorator awhile ago wanted me to paint it white like the trim. My husband would have a cow. But if my plan is to replace it in a few years anyway, I guess "ruining" the wood by painting it wouldn't much matter. kristinekr -- thx for the compliments on the house. It really is just a late-90s real estate boom fast built cookie cutter subdivision ranch. I'm trying to work with what I have to make it as "interesting" as possible. I wonder if I could find or make a long low cabinet for under the long painting to house the subwoofer and maybe the speakers...

Ae2ga contacted me off line soliciting more substantive critique on her board. Apparently we weren't critical enough--step up, people! :) So I took her tile and design elements and did a couple boards. I thought that her underlying problem was that it is hard to use two vivid, contrasting colors in a design in balanced quantities and intensities without making it look like a college sports jersey (Go Cal Bears!). So I did one design where I let blues predominate and one where I let yellows take the lead, although a lot of the elements are the same. I focused on the color balance, and the styles of the different elements don't work together as well as I would like. It was devilishly hard finding things in the right color, let alone the right color and style. Anyway, feel free to rip these apart and let ae2ga know what you really think works and what doesn't with her tile. Floor: .....Yellow: Checkered Marmoleum in Butter and White Marble .....Blue: Daltile Micro Flecks in Moonlight Swim Cabinets: Kraftmaid square raised panel maple in Cinnamon Cabinet Hardware: Plymouth knob and Allison antique brass pull from eknobsandpulls.com Range: Bluestar in blue Counter: .....Yellow: Silestone Yellow Dream .....Blue: Silestone Blue Enjoy Tile: Ae2ga's tile Rangehood: Frigidaire stainless chimney hood Paint: Benjamin Moore Barely Yellow Rug: .....Yellow: Blue oriental rug from therugfactory.com .....Blue: Fronter Moroccan ivory & yellow hand-woven wool rug from Zinc Door Table: From ae2ga's pic, sorry for the loss of resolution Chairs: Furniture Classics English country ladderback side chair from homefurnitureshowroom.com (chosen to resemble ae2ga's, which lost too much resolution to use) Art: Bridge in City Park by Charles Woodward Hutson, ca 1910-1920, from 1stDibs.com Frame: .....Yellow: Paint swatch of Color Guild Galaxy Blue from myperfectcolor.com .....Blue: Paint swatch of Benjamin Moore Midnight Navy from myperfectcolor.com Lighting: .....Yellow: Ikat batik drum pendant from ShadesofLight.com .....Blue: All yellow giclee pendant chandelier from eurostylelighting.com (this is the wrong yellow and wrong style, but I couldn't find anything that really worked)

hmmmm this is interesting.....i've actually changed those 2 or 3 rooms around alot. I originally had it so that you had to walk through the laundry to get to the PR, which was the big no-no. We ended up with the PR on top, and laundry/storage in the south. What is interesting is that all this time (6 months!?) no one I've spoken to - architects and contractors and friends and family, had a problem with having the PR on top. In fact, while we were discussing how to not have the PR accessed through the laundry, everybody felt that it makes the most sense for the PR to be right next to the entrance to the stairs to go downstairs. That seems to be where people expect the PR to be - by the entrance. While, the laundry was put directly next to the entrance to the MB for convenience. Everyone who saw that thought it would be great to have the laundry there. So now that you guys are telling me not to have the PR there, I really don't know what to think, and don't know what to do. Personally, having the PR with easy access to the kitchen/living room is actually a plus - why would I want my guests to hunt around for the bathroom when they need it? People like peeing before they leave a restaurant/party/house etc. Personally I never thought it would be a problem to have the PR so close to the kitchen, since it has a door anyway. And also, putting the PR near the entrance of the MR would not benefit me at all - whoever lives in the MR (me) won't need to use the PR so close. Having the Laundry there just seem to make most sense? I'm just shocked that I've never heard this rule before. I guess I have not been to enough nice houses? And I have come to some conclusions on the fridge locations - splitting the fridge looks nice due to symmetry, but the problem is, just about every example of a split fridge I've seen have both relatively close together. OK, I accept that in reality you either need the fridge or the freezer, you don't need them close by, but once I got the tape measure out, and saw the actual distance - 13.5', between the freezer and the fridge (which is also the length of the island), thats just too far away.