Wow, am I envious! I live in the Tampa Bay area and we are hoping to come in somewhere about $110-120/ft. Average prices are between $175-300/ft. The main thing to consider is that our building codes are probably some of the strictest in the country due to the hurricanes. The home is built to withstand 130mph winds. It is built from concrete block which definitely increases our cost substantially. As we are the GC, we did hire a manager to over see the entire project (he also did the slab/block/frame). But the money we are paying him to manage is definetly worth the peace of mind! He is very reputable in our area and has many many contacts so we are able to get his pricing. In the end, his management fee will probably wash with the savings. We are also going pretty high end with everything else from windows to appliances to flooring and so forth. In the end, it will all be worth it. However, our cost to build does not include what we paid for the lot. Land is NOT abundant here and you pay for it - ALOT. Our lot had a home which we initially wanted to add on to. But after talking with our architect and engineer, the cost was more to do that (by going up a floor) than it was to demo and start over. We went that route since then we are not limited to the footprint and could then have exactly what we wanted. Our new home is 4000 sq ft living/8900 sq ft under roof incl 1500 sq ft covered lanai/3 car garage/semi-detached 4 car garage. So, with all of this, in the end we should be about $450K (not including pool). For Florida, this is not bad at all.

Some initial thoughts: -with informal dining room table where it is, traffic from front door to living room will often go through kitchen, weird route. Consider rotating island 90 degrees so it is along the long wall of kitchen, then there will be a path between informal dining table and living room? -Powder room door is open to main area. This will make guests a bit uncomfortable using it. -No coat closet or anything near front entry--I'm okay with this personally, but make sure you are. -Why not put sink on exterior wall of kitchen? -Master toilet has no wall underneath it, so there will have to be a long horizontal pipe. I'm not even sure if you can do that and meet code, but assuming you can, it will be very loud downstairs anytime someone flushes upstairs toilet -It seems strange to have a 2100 sf house w/ 2 bedrooms. What if you bumped the right exterior wall out and made a bedroom where there is currently space to below? I'm not sure a dining room needs a 2 story ceiling. It really won't add much cost to add the extra bedroom, will help loan/resale/etc.

As mentioned you are no designer or architect and it's obvious. You need to consider finding a person of design talent or an architect to help you realize your house. I'm a fine artist. When I needed to create my website I didn't sit down and do it myself. I tried, just like you're trying to design a house, but I realized I didn't have the capabilities to do it right, so I hired a professional to do it for me. An architect or person of design talent has gone to school and studied design and architecture. They've been critiqued for their good designs and their bad designs and then they had to work in a firm for 3 years until they were even allowed to take the licensing exams. What you are doing with your list is focusing in on details when you don't even have the big picture yet. A house is not designed by putting boxes together or moving them, but by considering not only the interior, but the exterior and how it sits on the lot at the same time. Your house so far doesn't consider any of that. Taking that list you made above and making the changes will not fix the house because it overall does not work. (I apologize for my bluntness.)

Congrats! Since it's quite unnecessarily dark in there, the first thing I'd consider is more overhead lighting. Ideally you'd have some recessed lighting installed but a quick fix would be a bigger brighter light with multiple bulbs. I'd plan out ALL your lights (dining room, living room, lamps) so that they compliment one another in terms of style, material, color, times of use, etc. Lamps I'd plan for evenings when I want warm cozy light but during the day you'll want bright above for tasks. I'd also strongly consider replacing the sofa/love seat in time with something less chunky. The visual bulk dominates a small room. For colors I'd paint all the walls a single, light, neutral color since it makes a small house feel bigger, brighter, and more cohesive. Then I'd do pops of color that you can easily change out over time; pillows, vases, dish towels, throw blankets, etc. For any art/decor, I'd draw on inspiration from the nature around you.