We have a large family too (not quite as large as yours though :) ) We have the Duet and have been extremely happy with it. There have been no issues whatsoever with it besides having to replace the drain pump because a pocketful of BBs went through the wash. We have found it to be extremely reliable. We have had it over 5 years. I would recommend the Duet to anyone, and if and when we do need to replace ours, I am sure we will go back with the Duet. If your wife wasn't impressed with the cleaning ability of the FL, do you think it could have been due to using the wrong amount or type of detergent? So many people think bigger load so must use bigger amounts of detergent. I know I was guilty of it at first! Good luck!!

I think it would be helpful for you to solve the room layout issues first, so that you can prioritize with respect to budgeting and remodeling. One thing that would make decorating a lot easier would be to combine the TV and fireplace into a focal point. That would be a great focal point since the entrance faces that wall. Then you can orient furniture around that focal point, and create some pleasing symmetry. Realistically, how much is the room used for TV watching? Is it 20% or 90%? If it's a high number, then IMHO it would be worth decorating around comfortable TV watching. I don't know what the best solution is but you don't appear to have a lot of wall space suitable for the TV (the wall opposite the sun room would be glare-y. I have a crazy idea. Mount a mirror TV over the fireplace with a drop-down mount. The mirror in the photo below is actually a TV - crazy huh? Available in various frame styles and sizes. Samsung LED Mirror TV And use a down-mount like this so that you can view TV at a comfortable height. I assume all that would be expensive, but seems like it would solve a lot of problems? At the same time you could build in some storage on either side of the fireplace to deal with the inevitable media gadgets and clutter. Perhaps a "tree" like the one in the Comfortvu photo above would add some life and texture as well. Some of the fireplace-flanking window photos in previous posts look really nice, but they all appear to be on much larger walls than yours? Dimensions and proportions are going to be critical.

How wonderful to be living in such a beautiful area. I've been up there (in July) and it was wonderful, if still chilly. LOL. And thank you for turning the drawing around. :) How big in width is the property? I ask because the house is deep and I'm concerned that you won't be getting any natural light. North light is not great for much except as an artist. :) If you have more width, I would consider widening the house so your main rooms are getting lights from both north and south. Your southern light is being blocked by your mudroom, your laundry and your pantry. Because of that, I'm worried your house will be constantly dark. I am in SW Florida which is known for lots of sun. My friend and I went to the Parade of Homes and toured a beautiful house with the backyard facing north and the front of the house being blocked by the office, the mudroom, etc. Similar to yours. It was the middle of the day and the house was dark. Ideally you want southern light which will help warm you in winter. Please read up on passive solar/heating and cooling.I do agree with others that ideally you don't want to walk into the foyer where you greet guests and see a laundry room as one of the first rooms. You have a nice mudroom but if your kids are like mine and so many others, they will not go into the mudroom to remove their stuff and hang it up. They'll drop it where it is. That is why the best mudrooms are actually part of the entry so when you come in, your seat and cubby is right there as you walk past. Your coffee center is front and center in the kitchen but the fridge and freezer are a walk around the corner from the sink. If you stick with this floor plan, I would highly recommend posting your kitchen on the Kitchen Forum for some expert advice. I believe the kitchen could be better functioning. (Architects normally make the worst kitchen designers.) Consider putting the master bed on the living room side of the bedroom. Otherwise it's quite a hike around the bed in the middle of the night for the person who is on the side of the bed closest to the living room. I've lived in a bedroom like that and still have the bruises from banging the bed frame. If it were me, I'd probably switch the tub and bath location in the master. My thinking is I would rather walk into the bathroom and see a beautiful tub versus a shower with all the shower stuff. YMMV. Actually I'd probably flip the master bedroom with the bathroom! This way your master would have windows on two walls. A sink in the kids bedrooms is strange and then creates its own problems with water on the floors, etc. I'm also not a fan of jack and jill baths because someone is always being locked out. I also don't love that there is no natural light in the kids bath. Also there is nothing to block any sound between the two kids rooms. That is why homes normally try to put a closet between bedrooms, to act as sound barriers. Notice the gas fireplace in the dining area will make walking around the table cramped. The deck seems kind of puny with the barbecue on it. I find that when one is barbecuing, people love to congregate to talk to the chef. That's a huge mechanical room. It's larger than your living room! In this day and age, why such a large room? Where is a balcony or something overlooking your beautiful views. The house seems to be all interior space and no exterior space. Don't you want to be able to enjoy summer on an outdoor area?

I put together a crude "mood board" of my living room to help me visual things and whether they will "play" well together or not. This is what I have so far. I will streamline my drapery into something more simple, like solid cream color panels with Navy blue banding or trim, something like that. Keep that in mind. So, this is my actual rug, my actual sofas, & pretty darn close to my actual chairs. I played around with different paint colors and this is SW Eider White on the walls. (of course you can't tell much about paint colors on computer monitors). I really like these black end tables I found on a blog....they are the Noir Bellini tables. I was trying different coffee tables and to my surprise, I think I would like a brass & glass coffee table of some sort for in front of the floating sofa. Seems like any kind of wood finish is going to be heavy in the room, or maybe the room just needs the metal & glass for sparkle & keep things from being so flat. I found a representation of map art for the wall above sofa. A couple of leopard pillows to keep things interesting. I feel like this is a good representation of the "feel I"m trying to create. Something traditional, timeless, and maybe a wee bit eclectic.