Could use a shot of the whole front of the house, the ones you took show portions of it, but not the whole thing at once. Definitely an odd sort of planting for this kind of house, with the little shrubs lined up in a row. Are those light fixtures colonial style? Hard to make out in the photos. The house isn't really symmetrical, it's more "L" shaped. The only things that are symmetrical are the plantings. Once you get rid of the little shrubs, it will look much better. The double doors look too big for the house, and changing the color to one that is closer to the color of the house body would make their size less apparent. Right now they look massive and heavy. You might try it before replacing them to see if it helps, or do it with photoshop or something. Basically, the way to create an asymmetrical design and still have "balance" is to imagine a line down the middle, and give equal visual weight to each side. Imagine a see-saw with you on one side and two or three small kids on the other. Equal weight, but made up of unequal size (or visual weight) elements. Fine textured objects look denser than coarse or airy textured ones, in general, so they may "look" heavier. So a plant with small, closely spaced leaves like a boxwood is fine, something like your palms are coarse. Fine textures can also give the illusion of being farther away than coarse, a handy tool if you want to force perspective. You probably already know this. Are you going to enlarge the beds so that you can have plantings and still have them stay clear of the house? You can probably start by sketching in some overall shapes of plants and add texture without choosing specific plants until later.

Thanks for all of the nice encouragement. There are several areas of the kitchen which I feel pretty strongly about, and then there are the ones I am uneasy about. I think the Marcolo / rhome concern of too many steps for something as simple as a bowl of cereal is certainly worth considering, and I am going to work to tighten up those functions which are common for us. I have one of those little "planning desks" in my current kitchen and at any given time it is piled with papers, bills, kids pemission slips, and mail. If I have somebody coming over, I quickly dump it all into a basket which quickly becomes a black hole! My little room behind the cooktop (Rachel's space) is to allow my mess, keep it close by, but keep it out of the kitchen area. I know this little space will be a favorite, and it is really there only to handle a roofline issue. The home planning area, is where I was thinking the kids could do homework --- they would be close by, but not in the loud main room --- I knew it would be darkish, and would have no windows, but that is a bit by design as the computer will not have a glare and the printer and all of that stuff can be tucked away in here. The butler's pantry will likely house the more formal china, and it is where guests can help themselves to wine, beer, drinks and a food buffet, though I think it will mainly function as a bar during parties, and food will likely be on the island. My thinking is the butler's pantry is a good connector to the dining room, and the great room, kitchen and porch. The corridor is wide enough for some milling around, and there will be a sink in there, but the related clean-up area will really be on the island. I'm OK with that. One of the other things that you've all made me consider, is the steps to do things like get cereal. What if the 2 cabinets flanking the kitchen table have a fridge and freezer drawer, coffee maker, mugs, sugar bowl, glasses and bowls on one side. On the other side, what if they have 2 big drawers (size of fridge drawers) filled with the cereal boxes. Silverware is another issue. Would it make sense to keep the daily silverware over by the table? If so, couldn't I just take the silverware basket out of the dishwasher and take it (or have the kids take it) over to that area to empty. In that case, a daily meal (cereal and coffee, and juice) would all be handled right there at the table. Clean-up would involve setting the dishes through the little pass through (I could make this a door, but I think I like the pass-through) and then loading the dishwasher, etc. Not too bad, it only involves the breakfast and clean-up area. Now, things are more complicated for other meals. Setting the table would mean getting plates, etc. out of the "dish pantry" area. In my little baking area, I think the comments are totally on --- I think I need to put uppers here for baking supplies. That would allow me to put drawers below for things like mixing bowls, pans, mixers, etc. The toaster could also go out here as well. I know I have lots lots more to figure out --- but thanks for all of the help thus far. Marcolo, thanks so much for the design and reclaimed wood, etc. encouragement. I have always loved these things and sometimes people look at me like I'm crazy, but I really love them. Good to know that I'm actually going to be current for a little while at least!

You had me at this: "walking distance to our kids' grade school". As a mom that was huge to me when my kids were in grade and middle school. It's healthier for kids to be raised knowing that they will walk to school rather than being driven everywhere, and socially it was great for my kids and me to see other kids and parents every day, walking to school, and have them nearby for ad hoc playing and get togethers. Kids in my neighborhood are still friends with their grade school "walking group", even though they're in college now. And I'm still friends with the parents. (And now enjoy the younger generation walking past my house.) New houses don't have wear and tear, but that doesn't guarantee that they're well built and worry free. I've seen plenty of scary stories on this forum. And the existing house you could move into right away, instead of waiting for a new home to be built which could take more than a year. (Plus the existing house looks wonderful!) So... you know my bias. But, it does sound like you have two good choices! I hope whichever you choose works out wonderfully for you and your family!

Your first response to Elmer included a quote of what I had written, which explained the use of the Backspace key. And included in that response of yours to Elmer, you said that pressing the Backspace key once would take him to the top of this page, and pressing it a second time would take him back one page of his browsing session. That is incorrect. Pressing the Backspace key once (when not in the Comment box, typing like I am) will take you back one page in your browsing session and pressing it a second time will take you back one page further in your browsing section. If you are reading on a page and you want to get quickly to the top of the page, press the HOME key. The PAGE UP key will also move you upwards, but not completely to the top with one press. Depending on how far down the page you are, you might have to press the PAGE UP key several times.