Kalonkakon, what a wonderful idea! And I love the way you will make it a parable for their lives and their learning. I really like Rodney's salad idea because you can make something for the class to eat without having to cook it. These are the things that grow fast, are good in a salad, and can be successful indoors: all the greens (as mentioned above): lettuce (there are LOTS of different kinds and colors and shapes), spinach, bright lights chard (very pretty), mustard greens, kale, arugula, mizuna, tatsoi. These are all things that would be in a mesclun mix, and I've grown them indoors under lights with good success. You can add to this some pea shoots. Research this a bit -- you buy the seeds that are meant for shoots and grow them in a soil-less mix. They grow very fast and are sweet. You can't use normal pea seeds as they may contain bacteria, and you'll be eating the actual plant -- the ones for shoots are certified for shoot growing. Radishes and chives sound great to add to a salad, and I know radishes grow quickly, but I don't know if they would bulb up under indoor conditions--I don't have experience. Herbs, as mentioned above, are a really nice idea, too. Just keep in mind that some herbs tend to take a long time to germinate (parsley takes up to 3 weeks!) and they also take some time to become plants, so they would be great to send home with the kids (they can keep them growing at home on a window sill), but maybe not the best for your quicker salad. (They could be used to teach patience :) ) With some grow lights and/or a south facing window, some potting soil, and a bunch of seeds, you can absolutely grow a salad in several weeks, and make this teaching moment come true. Lucky you -- a class of only 24! Have fun! Elisa This post was edited by elisa_Z5 on Sat, Jul 13, 13 at 23:22

So I am terribly trigger shy and definitely sorry for being such a bother. I spoke with realtors and as I imagined and you all suggested, we will lose value and buyers with a 2 bedroom house. I have been thinking of some alternatives. 1. Use 1/3 of the office space to the edge of the window as a large closet for the master bedroom. Turn the window in that office to a door to the backyard and make the kitchen space and the remaining 2/3 of the office an open kitchen and dining area. Steal 2 feet of kitchen space or add to the current half bath, to make it a full bath and make the dining room bedroom #3 with full bath. We will probably end up using that space as the office. 2. Move the kitchen into the dining room and use the window in the current dining area as a door to the backyard. Remove the half bath and include that space in the kitchen to make a kitchen/dining area. Wall off what was the kitchen,to create a bathroom and walk in closet for the office, which will now function as a small master bedroom (11x9). 3. Use 2/3 of the office to make a closet and bath for the master bedroom. Make the dining room a bedroom, and expand the kitchen to include the other 1/3 of the bedroom, and the current half bath for a kitchen/dining area. Use the kitchen window as backyard access. The only trouble I have with that idea is the fact that you will have to walk to the other end of the house to use the bathroom if you are in that 3rd bedroom. The layout of this house has been kicking my butt for 4 years now. I will not let it win! Do any of these options make sense? Any thoughts or suggestions. I think the one thing we decided is that we are not moving unless we have to move outside of this area altogether because of work. Let me know if you have questions.

"... planning to bring the drive up as high as possible now, though ... we don't want it so high that it starts to block that lower-level window on the left." Your problem with getting good feedback is going to be that you're starting this process without properly introducing people to the surrounding site. We have only a snippet of information ... more or less a theoretical house front. Not a complete front yard or a driveway or even a good picture that shows the land/house relationship. As it is, every solution offered is already limited by your own preconceived notions, which limit what you show us. We've been here before and didn't come to a conclusion that you got excited. The set-up now is little different. Whatever you do architecturally, outside of changing the main entrance to the basement floor, will make no difference insofar as solving the problem, which has not yet been clearly identified (the path from parking-to-front-door problem.) No one can investigate how changing the approach to the house might work toward solving your problem. Most other threads on the forum seem to reach a more or less successful conclusion because they involve a little planting or a simple problem. Here, the problem is much more complex, but the base information is threadbare. Like a newspaper that starts with the front page headlines, and then goes to article titles, and then on to elaboration of details, is how you should be presenting information. We should see the whole front yard at a distance, some sequential pictures that show the present approach, some wide span scenes (from slightly overlapping pictures) that show the area from at least 2, or maybe three different points of view, since there is topography involved. (Each point of view should be a complete scene ... not a disconnected picture.) A landscape architect could not assess and explore the issue with so little information to go on. I'm not trying to be a downer about your thread or issue, but trying to say if you want to be happy when you leave, you've got to produce enough information to work with.

I'm liking where this is heading. There is always going to be some trade-offs in everything. You just have to decide which is better or worse. In your last one I'd switch the powder room so you have a toilet and sink along the same wall ie facing the opposite wall and put them along the left vertical wall in your drawing no matter what. Then I'd also add an access door from the laundry to it, but that is only because of how we live it would be useful for my family's usage in daily life - ie leaving/coming home with kids who have to go or forget to go before we leave or come in from the outside and need to go. I know you have easy access to front door from outside, but it would give me two dirty areas to clean daily. Now having the access from the front door side will be nice when in the main part of the house during the day or when having guests so they don't have to walk into the laundry for access. Seems like your arrangement is the best of both worlds if you can accomplish that. I'm not bothered by the fridge location. In our house even when there are 4 kids hanging around they wouldn't be in that area long enough to where it would be an issue with accessing the fridge. Not like anybody keeps the fridge open for very long. The only thing to consider is the traffic path into the house will be through the prep/cooking area. This is where you have to decide if it will bother you or not. With sometimes 4 kids hanging around my house that path is the shortest path so would be used and they wouldn't walk around the island. In my house I would consider it a potential accident waiting to happen. The worst I can think of is carrying a pot of pasta to drain and having someone collide with me. On the other hand this arrangement allows you to be much more social while cooking as you are able to partially face the family room and also face the dining table. If there was a way to rearrange and actually have the entry from the laundry be between the kitchen and family room that would keep the traffic out of the kitchen and also make access easier from all other parts of the house to the laundry as well. Meaning you don't have to take your laundry all the way through the kitchen to wash. It would be a closer walk to where the laundry comes from and needs to go in the end as well.