Dear carolina8bn I live in Myrtle Beach and understand what you mean about the brutal heat! Your home is adorable and Charleston is a lovely place to live. I like the circle drive and to me, the center sidewalk is inviting. You could install pipes as youâd mentioned and build up the ground area but you can get plenty of privacy from plants and trees too. Here are plants that Iâve had success with in Myrtle Beach. You could add a dogwood tree and a dwarf magnolia. Both flowers are very pretty. Fill in the other areas with a few large rocks and add a couple gardenias and some hibiscus both of which will spread out a little and grow to be over 3ft tall. My hibiscuses are huge and seem to like the sun, the gardenia prefers a little afternoon shading but they smell so good. Add a couple Crape Myrtles, and an azalea too. The azalea is really popular here as they mark the arrival of springtime but after they bloom, their flowers turn brown and are ugly, pluck the dead blooms and the shrub will stay green. You could also add a Camellia which grows well here in the south and their flowers bloom in the colder months, this shrub is slow growing but beautiful, especially after a frost. All of these should be small enough to grow under your power lines. To save money, you could try ArborDayFoundation.org. I was able to buy something like 12 to 16 trees and shrubs for under $90. I planted them in pots until I had my area prepared. They were small but grew very well and this worked for me because I like to watch things grow. Also, the crape myrtle is super easy to root. If you take some clippings and place them in water, they will almost always grow. Ask a neighbor if you can clip some, we southerners love to share our plant clippings. You had mentioned the color of the gray driveway not being desirable and I see that you have retaining edgerâs near the ditch. I would add edging around your entire driveway on both sides to really define your drive. It looks like your driveway is gravel, if it is, then you can refresh the drive with a gravel that has natural colors. To me, defining your drive will add great curb appeal. The sidewalk through your new lush flowers will be nice and inviting to walk through once everything starts to grow. I donât know about your HOA but perhaps adding a small arbor on the sidewalk near the house and then adding some clematis vines to grow over would be nice. Happy planting!

Hi, I'm wondering why you have the double doors to the left of the hallway-- there's an access to the master bath from outside the master bedroom? So will this be a shared bathroom? If not, you could gain a lot more space by eliminated that hallway access. As for the bathroom itself, a couple things immediately jump out. It's a large bathroom, but things look a little "cramped up" -- probably because the shower's so large and seems to take up disproportional space. The vanity area doesn't look near large enough for two sinks. Maybe you could separate the sinks and have two vanity areas. Finally, I would want something directly in the sight line of the long hallway as you enter, eg, center the tub so that's your view as you enter the bathroom. Good luck.. your closets alone will be to die for! :)

hi there. overall it looks like it will be a beautiful bathroom! i agree with the previous poster that toilet compartments aren't for us. we have a kneewall and it works just fine for us but to each his own. :) there are 2 other comments i'd make. 1) we have a giant walk-in shower with a bench that's all done in tile (floor, walls, bench, and ceiling) and it's ridiculously hard to keep it clean. it needs to be re-caulked every 6 months or so (as ours is on an exterior wall in a cold winter climate - i see yours is interior so no problem there), and i always feel cold despite 2 shower heads covering me with water. the warmth of the shower isn't contained because the space is so large. if you've had a big shower like this before and like it, just ignore these comments. :) 2) one thing i really miss in our master bath is a nice place to sit and primp. i have a large walk-in closet as well, and put a seat, little shelf, and mirror in there, but the lighting is terrible with no natural light. you have so much space that i'd suggest a place for a low vanity for sitting and styling hair and putting on makeup. (or standing and putting on makeup). maybe there's a nugget of something helpful in these ramblings? good luck!

How often do you use your microwave and what do you use it for? Mine is in my laundry/pantry room, just a few steps from the kitchen. I use it so seldom that this isn't an issue for me but it would be annoying if you use it more regularly. I guess I'm in the minority as I rather like your kitchen layout and location in the house. I can totally understand why you'd want your dining and living areas to take advantage of those great windows and proximity to the deck. And the kitchen is still close enough to take food to the take for outside dining. You have a wall so people directly entering your home won't see the kitchen anyway. I didn't see where you are planning on your DW. Does Kosher require two DW's? I don't know much about that, sorry. I'm not clear on your dimensions but if the sinks can be moved while still providing clearance for someone to be working at the sink and someone else to be cooking, your DW should really not be in the major prep zone between sink and cooktop. I think what bothers me most about your current design is the bathroom door opening facing the living spaces. Especially the close proximity to the dining table. Yuck. I would place the door towards the entry and train family to close the door when finished using it. At least with the door in the entry way, if it is left open, the toilet is more obscured. And if you go to answer the door, you could always close the BR door if someone left it open as it would just take a quick tap to close it so your visitor isn't greeted by the toilet. I think you said the table would usually be smaller than shown here in the plan? And only this big when extra leaves are added? If so, the cabinet should be OK there. But if you will have the table extended most of the time, that size cabinet would be crowding the table too much. I don't know if you were planning this as additional storage space for other things but bringing it into the DR would allow for storage for nice serving pieces and other pretties you don't use daily. It would also make a good location for a coffee/tea bar.