I bag full of groceries. I was expecting out of town guests and had rushed to the grocery store with a very specific list. When I got home and unpacked the groceries I was missing the sliced mushrooms, cream cheese, triscuits, green onions, etc. I called the grocery store and explained that I was missing a whole bag of groceries. They checked and said nobody reported a bag being left behind but the manager said to come down and get the items I thought I was missing, no charge. I headed over to the produce section and there was no more sliced mushrooms. I usually buy whole mushrooms and slice them myself but time was at a premium. It was really at a premium now since I had to make an extra trip to the grocery store. I noticed a lucky someone's basket with two boxes of probably the last slice mushrooms and was feeling pretty envious until I noticed triscuits, cream cheese, green onions, etc. My grocery order! Obviously I started shopping with one cart, walked away from it and began shopping with another cart. Funny, there wasn't anything in the other cart that didn't look different to me. I proceeded to the check-out and had to sheepishly tell the manager how much I appreciated his believing in me and had to own up to my stupidity. Oh well, at least I didn't have to slice mushrooms!

Did anyone see the episode a few years ago in California's wine country? This spoiled, dry, unsmiling couple toured three gorgeous homes, large homes that anyone would consider to be dream homes. The man walked into one of the kitchens, a huge affair with cherry cabinets, granite counters, stainless, etc., and pronounced it very low end. My DH and I were incredulous. If that was low end, what does he consider high end? Titanium appliances? Gold-plated fixtures? Diamond-encrusted cabinets? Sheesh! Also, I don't understand why people need these huge homes. 5000 sq. ft. might seem impressive, but don't you get lost in that? How do you keep it clean? How do you afford the maintenance. Repainting and reroofing a 50000 sq. ft. home is going to be much more costly than a 1500 sq. ft job. Do you really need a separate exercise room, a separate wine room, a separate play room, a separate theater? Don't even get me started on the spoiled 20-somethings who are buying their first home for $500,000 OR MORE and sneer that a perfectly serviceable kitchen or bathroom is a "gut job." My favorite HHI was the one in Slovenia where bees had built a hive in the house (or was it bats?) also the one in Buckinghamshire, England, with the thatched roof.

There are some lovely details to your plans, and I love the elevations! With a home of that size I would make each bedroom with an ensuite bathroom including the boys rooms. It will make a difference for resale down the road. Upstairs you have 2 bathrooms not attached to bedrooms. I would lose the half bath and make duplicate baths where the Jack and Jill is now. or, keep the half bath and add the second ensuite. The extra cost for 2 baths with those bedroom is minimal compared to the overall cost of the home. The bath in your daughter's room is huge. Bigger is not always better. (I have had big bathrooms and a big house and sometimes the bigger rooms feel like a hike to get across! Especially the distance to the toilet in the middle of the night. The toilet should be closer to the bed in case there is a middle of the night in the dark trip to there) As the mother of a teen daughter, I would recommend a double vanity/sink, huge counter space and expansive well lit mirror that will accommodate a gaggle of teen girls putting makeup on and doing hair to get ready to go out or just because. That will make a bigger difference than all the floor space in there :)The only reason I would make that attached bathroom that big is if I thought I would use that room and have the kids doubling up in the other bedrooms there when smaller so you are all close. I would move the closets in your daughter's room to between her room and the other bedroom for sound proofing. That would allow some reworking of the bathroom. Noise proofing between rooms will go a long way to peace between teens who are playing music or games. Downstairs, where does the dining room table go? I would swap the entry closet with the half bath that is right by the front door. This moves that half bath right across from another bath, and it might be more clear one can be eliminated. Or keep both for big parties. The closet by the front door it too far as is. Awkward for guests to be arriving while other guests are exiting the bathroom right there! If guests come with purses or coats, where will they drop them? Maybe you already planned a bench in the entry area? If there is a long hallway that is interior and will be dark, I really like a window with direct eyesight as you walk down the hall. Such a window in your daughter's room such that if her bedroom door is open, you see out it if you are going down the hall. But it would give her more privacy if you had her bedroom door off to the left and the end of the hall could be a closet or lit shelves or niche. There is also an opportunity for a window at the end of the hall on the extra bedroom past the game room. If that is a guest room, not to be too paranoid, but would you want a guest up there with your kids so far from you? Is there supposed to be a door on that room? It can be made so the bathroom is outside of the room. It is far enough down a hall it is private if not attached. I would consider adding a closet to the "den" downstairs as a better guest room/bedroom alternative/extra storage space, and adding a door there. In general I try to avoid long halls since they are wasted space. I would add more closets overall such as to the game room. You can't have too many closets :) The mud room layout is inconvenient. You have to come in and go around the wall. I would have it be a bigger room without that dividing wall that is easier to maneuver and drop armfulls of stuff off (coats, backpacks etc). Folks here can give you more specifics. Overall, You have a very nice plan. There are just some nitpicky details I would change if it were mine :) But it is not mine, it is yours. So read all of the comments. Ignore the ones that are not right for you. And keep making changes til it feels right to you incorporating the comments that you agree with! As others said, you need thick skin to post here. So hopefully you will get some helpful ideas from all of the comments! :) :) I hope no one scares you away. I will look forward to seeing in progress and finished photos of your home! lafdr

I keep digging things out of storage and adding to my closet. I'll stop when it begins to defeat the purpose, but I find myself wanting more and more to be surrounded by things that just make me feel happy inside. That little rack used to hold potholders in our previous kitchen. Now it can hold bags. The pink scarf just needed to be draped somewhere. I bought that in a little shop in England on a snowy day, accompanied by my mother and niece. I remember even the grayish light filtering in through the multi-paned windows of the shop. It's more than a scarf; it's a memory. And so is this little guy. He's absurd and ridiculous and not something a woman who is nearly 60 "should" own. (That's precisely why I own him.) Again, bought in England on an earlier trip with my mom. Found him in a charity shop bin for £5, and after having just had a pint of elderflower cider in a nearby pub, I HAD to have him. I stuffed him into my backpack and walked around the little Suffolk town with his dorky head bobbling from the pack behind me. I'm sure I looked like some kind of freak but that only added to the fun we had that day. I don't know where I'll put him yet, but he deserves to not he stuffed in a box. Also found this photo of my grandmother at 15. So gorgeous. Of course it needs to be in my closet.