lyfia, thanks, and we agree. The glass company said building codes only require us to use safety (tempered) glass for the two end panels; the center three could be annealed, if the glass started 18" off the floor. How crazy is that? We'd never want to take that risk, either. Yikes. Fortunately the bid for tempered glass was only about 15% higher than annealed glass (which really surprised me.) So we'd only consider tempered 1/4" if we use glass. Laminated glass (with the plastic skin in the middle) would be the safest, but it's super pricey. I think safety glass would be OK. Another option is 1/4" plexiglass, which I think would work as a substrate for the glass mosaic, as long as I didn't go too big with the panels. (I think big plexi panels might flex, which isn't good for a grouted mosaic...?) At some point I need to go ask the folks in the stained glass/mosaic forum here. So far the pricing for thick plexiglass seems comparable to tempered glass. There would still be small grouted glass pieces on one side of the divider (we could put it on the low traffic side) but I don't think the surface would be risky for kids, since all the sharp edges would be embedded in grout. And it would be pretty hard to break. We considered colored plexiglass panes too, but it just seems so "mod" for the informal, earthy textures in the house. Colored tempered glass and frosted tempered glass are way too expensive (pushing $1000 just for the frosted glass idea, for five 5' panels.) I considered frosted films and frosted spray paint, but I think those ideas have a limited life span (especially if the house has active kids) since the spray frostings can scratch off. And DH keeps wishing for color, and he's got me agreeing. It has to be somewhat transparent or it blocks too much light. So, now considering a fairly open wooden framework, with smallish glass mosaic panels scattered. Still playing with ideas...!

Stove, as a symbolic hearth, rules; sink slinks as much out of sight as possible because, IMO, not only is it not nearly as handsome as many are encouraged to think to justify expensive hardware, but it tends to collect uncharming detritus around it. Let the eyes just pass on by, which is happily an era-compliant look. They didn't know a sink was supposed to be, even could be, a wow! feature back then. BTW, they also didn't tend to know about large, deep 1-sink sinks into which a whole dinner's worth of mess could just disappear. I LOVE mine. BTW, the stove doesn't HAVE to rule, of course; that's a more current idea, and it actually often wasn't a feature at all in those days. Your kitchen might benefit by letting it also disappear into a handsome unified design meant to rule as a whole. My own (sort of traditional kitchen) is a drop-in cooktop with drawers beneath--so the counter and counter line are straight and uninterrupted. The oven's under counter elsewhere where it's not very visible from outside. (In my case, attention goes to the decorative wood vent hood above the stove and the windows flanking it.) I'd definitely keep to a simple open galley, as symmetric as possible--most attractive and space efficient of all layouts when it must be totally open (except a very symmetric U, which takes more space and may have function problems if not equipped with an island). A galley is also among the most highly functional of all layouts. If there's nothing going on at the right end of the island, why not slide a stool around there? Then someone could sit without presenting his back to everyone else in the room. I love white kitchens and have one, but if you're going to do flat-panel simple cabinets to go with the architecture, wood, even very light wood, I think is more handsome than plain white, which usually seems to lack something, even for me. (There is a higher-end high-gloss that looks very good, though; my DIL is trying to talk our son into it, and I'm on her side.) In any case, although I've never wanted wood, in your case I'd at least consider seeing just how light I could go with Ikea flat-panel wood for the lower cabinets, blending with a similarly pale honey-colored maple floor (one of my very favorite features from that general era), and then go white or off-white for the uppers to blend in with the walls. BTW, I don't remember her name offhand, but someone just posted a picture of her simple modern kitchen with green stone counters that's just gorgeous. Shot my "I-would" wad. I'll enjoy seeing your personal vision for your new home develop.

I am confused. Is the long side with brick facing the street, the long side with siding facing the street, or the short end with the garage doors facing the street? Well, obviously the garage side is connected somehow to the street, but you know what I mean. Anyhow, the thing I have to add is that I ran into a problem with my decorative full-view screen door when it was a few years old. The big screen frame would not stay stuck into the channels of the door any longer. It was as if all those times I opened the screen door with my body up against the screen, instead of my hand on the frame, came back and bit me in the butt. Looking at it, though, I could see that there was room for a lot more than just the spline that was supposed to be holding the screen in place in that slot with the screen. That gave me an idea. So I measured the width of the screen and went to Lowes and got a piece of plexiglass that was wide enough to fit into the screen door opening and partway into the slot on each side. I got it a couple of feet shorter than the screen panel, however. When I got it home, it snapped right in with the screen into that slot. It snugged the screen up tight again, too. I left a foot of screen open below the plexiglass and a foot of screen open above the plexiglass. That creates a chimney effect, drawing cool air into the space between the doors and up and out of the space at the top. Ta Da! No more saggy screen frame, a strong surface to lean against when I enter and exit with full arms as I did everyday for work, and an air-cooled front door. Since I put the plexiglass on the inside of the screen, you can't even see it until you are right up near it. This is the solution I found for using the Full View storm door with a nice fiberglass or steel front door. I got the strength of having the glass panel in place during the hot part of the year when I could not use the glass but had to use the screen insert in the storm door.

Agree that the "official" names of,the rooms mean nothing, notice how the PO used the first room as a home office! We rarely see people want to gather in a formal LR, but in the cozier room. You could do as I have seen done by many families: the dining room becomes a playroom (handy to the kitchen, toddlers love to watch the cars and bikes and dog walkers go by, and look at that wonderful windowseat you have, just toddler-height!). Then the room to the left of your front door is the dining room. Between playroom and dining you could put in a door or, more easily, hang a curtain (I'm picturing a drop-cloth curtain). As baby gets older, like school and teen years, you might even turn this into your own sitting room/mom central/"butler pantry". The cozy room is for family tv and reading time. I'd put the TV next to the fireplace so you can see it from the kitchen. And the sunroom is for everything, reading, gathering, playing. My friends' boys had all their Lego bricks in the sunroom, they loved the light, and there was no furniture to get in their way! The flat floor was good for building, spilling, rolling trucks. And when moms gathered, the kids played happily in the sunroom while we chatted in the connecting family room. I,really expect that even if you want to entertain in the LR, you will be shooing people out of the FR and kitchen, so why fight it?