We have stained hickory, installed over 15 years ago, and I would do it again in a heartbeat! I love these floors, they’ve stood up to three active dogs, visiting grandchildren and active homeowners. I’m posting photos, yet IRL, the darkest one is how they look normally, the two lighter shots are due to the flash. IRL the floors appear to be darker than in the photos. They are Mannington, and the stain color was Nutmeg. Hickory is very high on the hardness rating, so there are only a few minute scratches, even after all our activity. My son installed Brazilian cherry in his house and was distressed at how easily it shows scratching from their dog.

Live_wire_oak, lighting is certainly a concern and we added a dormer above the breakfast area which lets in a great deal of natural lighting. We are planning on undercabinet lighting around the entire perimeter, have 3 gooseneck barn lights to go on the 2 walls and we'll have island pendants *if* I can find any that have long enough cords/downrods. Having a hard time with that one... rtwilliams, Thank you so much for posting pics of your kitchen! Your cabinets are so, so similiar to what we've chosen and we even considered having just the island painted white to blend with the white trim thru the rest of the house. Your island lights look fantastic, too. I'm having a hard time finding any indoor or outdoor lights that are long enough to reach a 2nd story - where did you find yours, if I may ask?

@jn3344 Thanks for your comments! The current garage window is facing the backyard, so I think we're okay on privacy. I think I'm concerned that a window there might impede storage, but we're probably okay on storage... @bpathome We would be renting out the guest suite to interns short-term (usually three months) - not people we know personally. If you look closely, the guest suite actually has a minikitchen area which will have a small sink, microwave, and a minifridge so they can use that for their own things. And tech interns in our area usually get free breakfast, lunch, and dinner at work so I anticipate them not doing real cooking at all. The perfect people to rent out to. :) Of course we might not do this at all, but it's nice as a possibility. The guest suite also has separate access via the sliding doors in the back - I imagine the interns parking their bike on their porch to get to their room (not using the front door or garage entrance), and rarely ever seeing them. We are easy biking distance from major tech companies like Google & LinkedIn. I really need to read more about solatubes vs skylights! Do solatubes let in the same amount of light? @Mama Rachel: We debated making the mudroom have direct access to the office which would make the office more like a dining room, but my husband doesn't want two entrances to the office. My mom is definitely worried about this, but oh well, we'll fake it if/when we sell. :) Others have suggested making the pantry the mudroom (with a nice window perhaps) before, but that directs traffic directly through the kitchen cooking zone. There is already a washer/dryer in the guest bathroom. :) And like I said, tenants would enter the guest suite via the sliding doors in the back, so the idea is the sliding door stays closed when there's a tenant, and stays open most of the time when the guest is a family member. @Oaktown: Thanks, I'm so glad you like the floor plan. Did you notice I took your suggestion from last time of creating the mudroom hallway for more circulation? :) Yes, the floor plans don't match the exterior yet but I told the architect to update them so I'll replace the floor plan in the OP once he does. Ack, you maybe don't like the 3/1 casements? I will wait in suspense for your further comments. I think we're actually going to do two tankless water heaters on the first floor - one on the kitchen side, one on the guest suite side. And then separate tankless water heater(s) upstairs. I think the utility area will house the boiler for our radiant heat (perhaps overkill for the area, but it's soo nice!). We'll mostly use a whole house fan for cooling, but are considering adding forced air and air conditioning for the upstairs only (so that we don't need ducting on the first floor). With all that and 2x6 walls instead of 2x4, I'm hoping it'll be a very comfortable house to live in. Maybe we won't even need all the utility space the architect created. Moar pantry or garage storage?? Hopefully we will begin structural engineering next week. That will take 3-5 weeks, during which we'll create construction documents and detail the inside of the house and specs. We've done a lot of advance homework on this so I think this will go well. After structural engineering is done, we'll apply for permits and simultaneously start getting bids, or maybe doing a negotiated contract with a builder (we're interviewing GCs right now). That's a whole other topic that I might post here about. I keep hearing that the city of Mountain View is relatively easy with regards to permits, so hopefully we could break ground as early as August or September! I'm not sure if I'm evil hoping it won't rain during the early stages of my build, with the drought and all. xD In the worst case we could always start later - the current house on the lot is being rented out, we have no mortgage on the house we're living in now, and we're pretty young so there's no real rush.

@User Thank you!! So helpful. see answers to your questions below: do the boards run horizontally between the door frame? also, how visible are the bedrooms from the common areas? are they in a hall or are they somewhere you will be looking at them all the time? Only one room is visible from the common area. This room has a natural transition with the way the wood runs so will look like the first photo you posted. I keep this door closed though. The other two bedrooms are in a hallway off the common area, and the hallway can be separated completely with a pocket door (which is usually kept open). The transition from the hallway to the common areas will be a natural transition with the way the wood runs. BUT the transitions from the hallway to the bedrooms run vertically, so I guess our guy will need to create a transition. He did the amberizer on the hallway when he refinished the bedrooms last year. It's a small area, and does not get a lot of light. I could have him re-do the hallway to match the common areas, but if the transition is not that noticeable from the common areas maybe keep as is? Thoughts? I will ask him to do a sample!