i have posted before about coating glazed urns inside with roofing tar-to make waterproof.i think you can use the same method for terracotta.you can read about my method at www.cottonarboretum.blogspot.com OR see below: Making glazed pots into FOUNTAINS, and cleaning them Posted by arbo_retum z5 ,WinchstrMA (My Page) on Mon, May 1, 06 at 14:38 SEALING/WATERPROOFING THE POT: We have converted three large chinese red glazed and blue glazed earthenware pots- to fountains. we have plugged up their bottom drainage holes by putting black duct tape underneath the hole, and then from the inside of the pot, filling the hole with 'Bondo'. after the Bondo has dried, we apply a thin opaque coat of roofing tar to the entire inside of the pot, up to the glaze. once that has dried thoroughly, the pot is ready to put in place,fill with water , and insert a pump, which we put on bricks.over the pump's water 'nozzle', we then put a piece of tight-fitting black pvc pipe , cut long enough to make a nice fountain but not too high or low. (this height issue and the water fountain 'look' that you want are what takes all the tweaking.)you may also want to play with various pump sizes. ELECTRICITY: even though electricians don't recommend this, we then plug in the pump to an electrical outlet using outdoor green electrical wire- like you use for outdoor xmas tree light.we don't bother to bury the wire(unless it crosses a path); we put mulch/shredded leaves over it to hide it as needed, and we do not take it up for the winter. the one drawback to this system, where we plug up the hole, is that you can see the electrical wire that hangs outside the pot, but that can sometimes be camouflaged. we use sealed pots for fountains but also for growing waterplants (cannas, elephant ears, water iris, waterlilies). we bring in our pots onto a screened porch but in z.5 they can be turned over and left outside if they are raised up off the ground. CLEANING: the ugly white milky lime deposits we eventually get on the outsides of the pots-i clean in the fall or spring.we tried Lime-Away but it didn't work well. Instead i devised this system: I use XXXX grade-the finest- steel wool dipped in BOILING vinegar(i plug in an electrical fondue pot next to the pots i'm cleaning to keep the vinegar boiling!!)I go over the outside glaze once-gently but firmly, keeping my st.wool very wet w/ the boiling vinegar. then i let the pot dry. if it still has lime, i go over it again and let it dry. then i coat the pot with a thin coat or 2- of butchers wax, buffed with towelling. the pots are placed on columns/pedestals in the gardens. i personally feel every garden needs some form of water. what a difference it makes.our gardens are on a busy main street so we have fountains and waterfalls spread throughout the garden. the sound is soothing and inviting and helps mask the street noise. i hope some of you find this info useful! best, mindy

Congratulations on your plans! I really like them alot. Elevation is beautiful. Inside is nicely laid out for the most part. There were just a handful of things that stood out to me as needing some tweaking: -The roof height change between the left wing of the house and the garage bothers me. It also appears that the roof of the left wing is higher that the roof of the right wing--is it? We encountered a similar challenge with our exterior plans. We opted to raise the height of the roof on the garage so the rooflines would match up. -Is the family room big enough? I see you have furniture placed in there on the drawings--is it based on your actual furniture? If not, it needs to be. Based on the furniture layout & the required walkways around it, your family room effectively shrinks from 19'2" x 15'4" to 13'2" x 9'4". I would definitely revisit this space. -There is ALOT of square footage dedicated to play/toy area. That's really enough space for a full on guest suite/in-law suite. Do you really need all of it? What are your plans for it once the kids are grown? -There is not a full bath on the main level. Not necessary but nice to have should have need of one (i.e. injury that doesn't lend well to navigating stairs, in-laws need to move in either temporarily or permanently, overnight guests who may bunk in the playroom or library, etc) -Are you planning any island/peninsula seating? If so, how many seats? In many of today's plans, there is a plethora of seating for meals where all family members fit--4(+) seats @ island/peninsula, nook off kitchen and a formal dining room--total overkill. If you have enough room for everyone in the immediate family to sit at the island, you could pull the nook wall back and make it part of the kitchen allowing more cabinetry for storage, more counter space, more light into the main room itself & you'll knock a nice chunk of square footage off that you say you need. -I see you've already posted the kitchen in the kitchen forum--that was my suggestion as well. -I'm not wild about the layout of the 2nd floor shared bath layout--alot of wasted space, IMO. Have you thought about flipping the vanity to the opposite wall and put the tub in the alcove where the vanity was originally, then put the toilet on the opposite wall where the tub was originally offering some privacy for whoever may be using it. You could make a toilet closet there if you want or just leave the short wall in place. You could also place a window in that area too for natural light. The linen closet could also be made larger in this scenario as well. A compact stacked washer/dryer may even be able to be accomodated. If desired, you could make the bath accessible from one of the bedrooms as well. -Love the big closet in bedroom 2, however, the door eats up valuable wall space (for furniture placement options) and puts 2 doors side by side. Have you considered moving the entry to the bedroom back into the hall just far enough to accommodate a closet door on the right as you enter the room? (looks like we're only talking about inches needed to accomodate this) That would give you back the precious wall space in the main part of the room, make use of the dead space currently not used, & take care of the door by door visual issue. -Do you need a linen closet in the ensuite bath for bedroom 2? How big is it drawn? It looks really tiny. What linens were you planning for that space (I'm guessing towels, soap, toilet paper, etc). Could the space under the sink be used for storing those items and remove the linen closet altogether allowing for more space in the main closet? Or maybe some shelves inset 1/2 way up the bath wall allowing for storage in both the bath and the closet. -Love the shower in the master bath, however, I'm not sure the rest of the bath feels as well laid out--almost as if everything was set in place based on the shower placement & layout. The space between the tub and the walls/windows does not seem very wide and will make entering/exiting the tub a challenge. There's a door collision issue between the bathroom entry and the toilet room which also makes getting to the toilet room awkward--think morning sickness/tummy bug/etc as worst case scenarios that happen on a somewhat regular basis not to mention one person trying to enter the bathroom when another is trying to exit the toilet room. Typically the purpose of the toilet room is to free up the rest of the bathroom for use by another when the toilet is in use. Currently, both doors will be closed anytime someone is in the toilet room which somewhat defeats the purpose and if someone does enter the bathroom while the other is in the toilet room odds are they will leave the bathroom door open causing a collision when the person in the toilet room tries to exit. I'll look at the master suite some more and see if I come up with any ideas on how to make the space more efficient. I don't like identifying a "problem" without offering a solution, but non are coming to mind right off. Overall, I think this is an excellent first draft and it won't be long before you get your finals. Hope this helps!

Kate, I had a VacuFlo in my old house and wouldn't even consider another brand in the one we're building. That said, I fully intended to have the HAH option, which wasn't available when we built the last house. There are two FacuFlo vendors in my area. Both bid on our job. Neither has ever installed a HAH system and both were very iffy -- maybe I could say downright negative. I'm sure it's their lack of experience with it. One even admitted that. They did encourage the Vroom over the dustpan, and I decided to put them both places I'd planned dustpans, but sadly, gave up the HAH. We were told it would double the price. My biggest concern was that neither really knew what was involved on a first-hand basis. I do know that it requires a larger motor to retract the hose back into the wall. The first bid was almost double what we'd budgeted, based on our square footage. I panicked, seeing my CV flying out the window! The second one came in just a bit over budget, and we felt more comfortable with that installer, anyway. So I'm getting the system I wanted, less the HAH, which I regret, but it's not a disaster. I'm getting a hose and an accessory kit for each floor, so I won't have to lug them up and down. My main point is just to look around. If we'd just called the first place, I might not have a central system at all. Good luck!

Hey again you ALL! Sorry I've been missing in action from my own post. I've read and REREAD all the replies and each one makes sense to me. Guess I'm easily swayed. HA! I'm not going to call you all out by name, but I do want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughts. I very much appreciate the compliments on the exterior of the home because I can't tell you what all we've done to and spent on this place in the last 2+ years. As one example, about two feet from the little curved gate that you see in my wall pic was the biggest pine tree on the whole property...ole Granpappy! Yes, I'm saying it was between the front gate and the house...where you see those stepping stones.....the tree was maybe eight feet from the front door. I was terrified the day the tree guy took it down. I loaded up all my dogs and we went and hid out at Sonic till it was over. My stomach was in some big knots...mostly from my own nerves but the chili cheese dog didn't help either. And then the interior renovations started and I now drink too much. LOL! A few thoughts I have. I think the house looks blah in person. I think in these pics you guys are most likely seeing the color of the landscaping. I originally was going for kind of a "Cape Cod" look I suppose. And honestly, the house was already painted gray, so being that I have no imagination when it comes to paint, I picked a slightly darker gray color. My husband calls it "Gray Crap." Yikes. Now just some general questions about roof color. Okay, so if I don't do a version of red, should the roof be darker then the house paint? Or lighter? Should the roof be a solid color or more of a varigated blend? Shouldn't the roof have SOME gray in it? Interestingly enough I have had some roof experience lately...I'm not a total virgin. We have another home (that we haven't been able to sell) and we had to replace the failing roof. It is a totally different style to say the least...old Chicago brick, dark brown stain (SW Shag Bark) on the gables and trim. We chose Certainteed's Landmark shingles in the Heather Blend color. It was between that color and Burnt Sienna that Prairiemom referenced earlier. I really never thought about either of those colors for the lake home, but maybe......see the link below for Heather Blend. It is not as brown as Burnt Sienna and has some gray. Whatcha think? Thanks, pup Here is a link that might be useful: Heather Blend is the fifth one on the top row