Thanks for your thoughts and comments! We are also downsizing from a traditional 4700 sq ft house (with formal living/dining) to 3600 sq ft with a great room design, so it is taking some getting used to, but we really wanted a house where we used every inch rather than having all these extra rooms we rarely used. Our old house was large, but didn't use the space the way I would use it--my laundry room was tiny (a closet really) and the bedrooms were large but the kids rooms had tiny closets. So, with this house, we made made sure the kids still had large rooms like they were used to and got larger closets and their own bathrooms to boot (my son doesn't really care, but my daughter is super excited to get her own bathroom and walk in closet :)). Once they move out, we'll have mini suites downstairs for guests. The kitchen/dining/living area is 41' long. Looks like we will be working with roughly the same area for those spaces. :) What is the total sq footage of your house? Of our 3600 sq ft, there is about 1930 for the main and about 1670 for the LL. Nice that you were able to fit 3 bedrooms downstairs and still have a nice sized rec room and play area. We will also have a wet bar down in our rec room. :) Great idea about adding water line in one of the storage rooms for laundry! We do plan to add stairs from the deck outside but just couldn't decide where to place them so figured we would wait to make that decision at the time the deck is being built so we could see what it looks like. I love that you will have an outdoor shower. Love those! We plan to put a hot tub on the deck right outside the master. Thought about putting it down on the LL patio, but my DH really wants it on the deck. Gotta give in to what he wants every once in a while ;-).

Thanks Julie...I've been looking to :) Hey Ladies I am still trying to figure out why I don't get the instant doorbell notification when someone posts on my thread. I started a new thread under the houzz topic hoping to get an answer. I want to see if someone posts to this new thread if I get a notification and see if maybe its just this thread. Here's the link if you could just post anything so I can test it. Thanks! https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5944324/help-with-user-activity-notifications

Rl, do you mean you like the hills by orange and navy rug? I like the colors in it and think it goes well with my cow painting which is hanging in the same room. I just hope it goes with my sw latte walls (which I wish were a griege).

Consider a grouping of four swivel chairs in front of the fireplace and a pair of upholstered benches at the two windows; game area in the corner if your bunch enjoy that kind of family time. I see a chain hanging from the ceiling which reminds me to ask about lighting. What kind of fixture lights the stairwell? If you ever want to add TV, consider enclosing the stairs with a pony wall pre-wired for TV on living side and for a pair of sconces on the stairs side. Here are some fun and comfy looking chairs. These are a bit more traditional; what's your style? One take on the pony wall idea.