Thanks so much for taking the time to offer your thoughts, insights and suggestions. It's amazing how generous people on this board are with their time and talent. It's always tough to get out all of my thoughts at once without boring everyone to tears. Lavander - I can see where the plan falls short based on the things of importance to me. I meant for the screened in porch to be a continuation of the living area. I would like it to be highly accessible from the kitchen for when we eat outside and from the great room. I envision the doors being open whenever possible, especially when we are entertaining. We have also considered a double-side fireplace where the french doors are located. I also should have mentioned that the views on the sides of the house aren't too shabby either! The creek curves around in a semi-circle so we can also see it from the side of our house. And there is pasture to the right of the house and the back left and I'm excited to see the horses and cows there. To enhance the natural light, I was hoping the windows on the non-porch side of the great room (which will be facing southwest when we reverse the plan) along with the skylights in the porch would provide plenty of light. As for the kitchen, my hope was that the window and the bright dining room would help there. Perhaps I should have more windows in the kitchen, I just don't want to lose too much upper cabinet space. One thing I've given a lot of thought over the past year is having the Dining, kitchen and great room all in a row. I feel that it wouldn't be right for us and it inhibits the flow that I'm going for. It's funny you call the DS bath utilitarian because that's exactly how I envisioned it since I'm pretty practical (about a lot of things - obviously not my master shower!) It gets the job done when needed. I was just going to have a half bath but i thought it would be helpful to add in the shower even if it's just to "hose off" after coming from outside. I wanted to have it directly accessible from the mud area but I also wanted the mud area to be closed off from guests so this location was a compromise. Although making it a bit bigger and moving it around could afford me a better layout, a bigger shower, and a useful vanity. I'll have to play with that. Duly noted on the garage layout, I want it be be 2 + cars so we have room for storage - I just haven't really tried to measure and lay it out accurately yet. It's funny no one gets where I was going with the upstairs bath arrangement. I thought having the extra half bath and vanity would help if two kids are trying to get ready at the same time or if one is in the bath and another needs to use the toilet. Good idea though about creating another bath in the front bedroom. I'm going to play with that too. mydreamhome - I've received some very helpful comments on the kitchens forum so far. You're not the only one to suggest turning the island 90 degrees which is the way I originally had it. Is there a specific reason you are suggesting that - perhaps something I'm not thinking of? My goal was to have the long side parallel with the cooktop as this is how I like to work. I'm hoping the prep sink will eliminate the need to use the regular sink a ton while prepping and cooking. The other reason it's oriented this way is that one of my husband's few requests was to be able to see the TV from seats at the island. :) I haven't figured out a good way to create pictures of my floorplan that can be easy to read. I increased the size of the dimensions so I hope you can read it now. Any and all help would be wonderful! One of the hardest parts about the upstairs is getting back to the bedroom all the way in the back where I wanted to have a cathedral ceiling. Another thought I had was not building out over the dining room, putting the master where the master bath/ closets are now, and then using space over the mudroom and downstairs bath for the master bath and closets... Perhaps making that section of the house 1 1/2 stories. Also, here is another plan that I played with - same footprint but the stairs have been moved. I haven't detailed everything out yet and don't have an upstairs, but this would help your idea Lavender - the front room could potentially be used as a guest room or dining room down the road. Again, thanks so much to both of you for your time and help!

When we remodeled our guest bath last spring, I was all into the counter cabinets. But after seeing the interiors of a few, I don't think they provide enough storage for the amount of counter space and budget they hog. I'd limit drawers--because of the drawer box construction and the drawer glides, there's not much space in them. You might consider an appliance garage instead of drawers. However, I mocked it up with boxes and found I couldn't even comfortably move my hairdryer in and out of the garage. Or use an open shelf cabinet if you're willing to store toiletries in decorative containers. Initially I worked with our custom kitchen designer, and he designed a 12" deep recessed cabinet that went 4" into the wall. It was less intrusive on the counter, and I had planned on using a mirrored front to the cabinet to minimize the bulk. I'll attach a photo from Houzz. You can increase vanity storage by adding a drawer at the bottom of the sink cabinets. They're not extremely deep but they can hold a layer of towels or TP. Since you've had stained wood for two decades, I'd do painted cabinets this time. Have you looked on Houzz for inspiration pics? [Traditional Bathroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-bathroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_712~s_2107) by Huntington Interior Designers & Decorators AMI Designs

Sure! I should have thought of that in the first place! Happy Floors - Crema Marfil ... Vanity top to be determined The goal is to have a cream on cream color scheme. I’m not sure I’m pulling it off so far tho.

IMO that granite is really not worth dealing with in anew bathroom no accent tile and IMO the niceset look in a bathroomis 12 x24 tile porcealin plain the same on the bathroom floor and the shower walls a nice new shower door trying to now get new sinks to fit where the old ones were will be a PITA and those sinks and those tiles IMO do not work together and I bet the toilet matches the sinks which IMO needs to change too . Then a nice simple quartz counter with the same greige color in it and new simple sinks.. I think a master bathroom needs to connect to the MBR so I would need to see that too. I think to try to save some of the cheapest parts will only cost more . I would do a nice light greige tile , white fixtures and stainless knobs and handles on the vanity leave the vanity the dark color and paint the walls the same as the bedroom a nice stack of white fluffy towels and maybe some blue pieces on the counter for showings. Please make sure all the lighting in both rooms is LED in 4000K and then clean everthing twice in the whole house a clean house will sell better even if some stuff is old. Remove all clutter from every space especially the kitchen all familt pictures also.