Lucky, as you said, you're getting older and if you want to still have a two story, then I would do so with the idea of putting in an elevator. I'm in your age group (well, you're actually my youngest sister's age), and because we're on a smaller lot, we had to build up. We're putting in an elevator just in case, and because we're in SW FL in what is primarily a retirement area. Our thinking was, by having the elevator, if we ever decide to sell this house, we haven't limited the pool of buyers and if we ever can't maneuver stairs, it's there for us. Additionally if you don't want to put one in now, you can always have it predesigned so they can just come in and add it at a future time. For now it could be closets. We are on a corner 9100 square foot lot and were limited to a footprint of 35%, which is the other reason we built up. We were also limited because the driveway had to be in the upper left corner and we weren't allowed to change it at all. All red lines are changes I made. And frankly if people have coats, they can put them in DH's study, not on my bed. Since you're also getting to "that age" I would definitely think in terms of how to make it elder friendly. My Mom did so in her house back when she was your age and because she did, she was able to spend all but the last 6 months of her life in her beloved house. So be sure to think in terms of easier egress such as from bedrooms, wider bathrooms or ways to make them wider (such as my master, if I need more room to use the toilet, it's an easy fix to remove the walls surrounding the toilet or if I need easier access to the shower, I can just remove the tub), no curb showers, wider hallways, etc.

While I'm not a fan of WIC in the bathroom, I realize many people like them. That's a personal decision. However like was explained many of the things in this house don't work because they are just not good design. Here's the changes I made to the first floor to give you better flow and to put the things needed where they will work the best. 1. Since you don't use a bath, get rid of it! If you want a bath on the first floor, put it in bedroom 2. 2. Your master closet is actually now larger. However I was able to pull in the wall so it now matches the wall of the dining room. 3. Now you have a straight shot from the master suite to the bathroom to the closet. And then as an added bonus if you don't want to wake your spouse in the morning, you can now leave through the laundry closet! 4. Instead of the powder room by the master suite, I moved your laundry room there. Think of how easy it will now be to do your laundry. 5. I pulled the closet across to meet the study. Even though it makes the house a bit larger, it will actually save money because you won't have the extra bump outs. 6. Your study is the same size but by moving it down, you now have an actual hallway that creates a "spine" for the house, so you're not making a jog through your great room to get to the master suite. 7. By moving the powder room to where the laundry was, it freed up space so you now have a good sized entry from the mudroom door and the garage. No more trying to shove one another out of the way. Plus there's now more room to store all those kids things. 8. The powder room is now near the side where the kids will enter and it's convenient still to guests. 9. I moved around your layout for your kitchen too. It didn't work. Lots of space but not well used. I moved your cleanup sink to under the window with the dishwasher next to it. Lots of storage space in drawers now to the left. I moved your fridge so it's now in the work "triangle". So now you take food out of the fridge, move it to the prep sink on the island to wash, then prep to the left of the prep sink, and then carry it to the cooktop to cook. 10. In the master bath, if you're planning on a glass shower enclosure, I would probably flip the toilet closet and the shower so the toilet isn't against the master bedroom wall.

you may want to try sofa on the wall across from the window and love seat on window side. good job not crowding the window, by the way. if you move the sofa, keep the loveseat away from the window (you should be able to walk behind it) more on that later. having the sofas across from each other will open up the room and say "welcome, come on in" when you put a sofa across the room it says, caution keep out. your choice on how you want the room to feel. keep the sofa and loveseat the same distance from the fireplace sides, center them on fireplace not the room. if you want to keep the black footstool, try your red throw folded and draped over it and/or add a woven tray similar to your beautiful basket. (the tray will act as a place for snacks/remotes etc.) A lovely tall/and wide plant would be great behind/and to the side of the furniture on the window wall. (use a quality faux if you aren't a plant person or don't want to maintain it.)

We've been snowed in for just about 3 days now and so I have had time to think about things, we are expecting warmer weather tomorrow! I'm confused about what to do with my fireplace. The hearth is flush with the carpet and it's hardwood. The sides of the fireplace are in ceramic tile. It all has to be replaced. I'm not sure if we should 1. pay a contractor to raise the gas fireplace just a few inches to have a small hearth 2. keep the fireplace low and where it's at and just embrace that everything is flush and don't have a hearth 3. Keep the fireplace where it's at and coordinate the tile and still have a hearth (maybe do faux stone?).