Sorry for the hiatus. Moving and working and kids - well it's a bit inconvenient. Hahaha! Appraisal today. Now the only thing left is the health department to check the drain field and water. I hope we have a closing date soon. momtoblondie-*LOVE* my doodle. :) She by the way is having the hardest time out of everyone with all of the house showing/packing/routine changing upheaval. ;) We are not fans of that funny little angle by the front door either. We will be addressing that and the windows when we meet again on Monday. I am still trying to figure out the front laundry closet area with the windows pushed together-it is a struggle. I am also pondering the kitchen layout. The mudroom however, we like. I asked for a place for lockers, a separate closet, a small 'pocket' office and to be able to close the dog in. This is what we got and I do like it: The doorway off to the right by the closet goes outside where we will have a covered porch for grilling and also where we will let the dog in and out. The doorway by the 1/2 bath leads into the kitchen area. The square footage - hmmm. It is about 300 sq foot over what we were hoping for. So we need to look at that. Likely the mudroom is a little big because I don't feel like the actual rooms are too large. But we don't have any 'extra' rooms that I feel we could ditch. We are not including the screened porch (to be finished later) and the basement (also to be finished way later) in our sq. footage 'wants'. It's about 1700 on the main floor and 550 in the upstairs. I also need to having things figured out - this has been driving me nuts. I wouldn't say you are starting to soon but yes I concur it is overwhelming and sanity breaks are needed (chocolate also helps). We didn't think our house would sell so early. Happy it did so we can start this fall BUT the plans aren't ready and so now I feel rushed which is not what I wanted at this stage. :/ I too like watching every size build. It sometimes causes my eyes (dreams) to be larger than our budget but it is exciting to watch nonetheless! I can't wait to watch your build progress as well. When are you hoping to list your home? It kind of sneaks up on you so hang on to your hat! Thank you for your kind words and blessings - right back at you. There are a few kindred police/fire spirits on here. :)

I have been told by plumbers this is not a plumbing issue, but I am not convinced! Have noticed a strange odor around the entrance to my master bath, as I enter from my walk-in closet. I live in a condo that has neighbors on either side. My initial suspicion--because of the location and my Googling (disclaimer: I know NOTHING about home improvemnt or DIY or plumbing) was sewer gas. Plumber #1: reset loose toilet on the same seal. Would not check anything else. I went away for several days, came back and didn't notice smell til I started using the fixtures. Was particularly bad after 3 loads of laundry. Plumber #2: came midday and smell was not present-despite my best efforts to make it happen. He put the otilet on a new seal, said basement floor trap was OK, and visually inspected other things. Our condo maintenance guys did a quick check of roof vents-said all mine smelled OK, but one of the neighhors' smelled similar to the odor in my bathroom/closet--and these are the neighbors on the side where I notice the smell in my condo. They were going to ask the neighbors to pour water in their traps. Smell was back right away. I pushed, and .... Plumber #2 came back with a colleague to do a smoke test. They walked in bathroom-smell was present, and said "this isnt sewer gas." They had different ideas...chemical smell, woody smell, etc. Smoke test did not reveal any leaks, and smoke came out of my other roof vents and out of the neighbors' as they would have expected.. Their (large) bill says that this is not a plumbing or vent issue. Other details: The air with the smell drafts out around the pocket door that is between my bathroom and closet (which I never use). We know there is an unfinised area behind the closet that is a plumbing void. Also, the vent stack supposedly runs somewhere in the wall where this smell is located. There are times when the smell is a cooking smell--clearly drifting from neighbors. This is driving me nuts! If I had DIY skills I would make some holes in closet drywall to inspect unfinished area and to visually look at vent stack. Someone mentioned putting insulation around the pocket door,but I am hesitant to do this without knowing what the smell is. Any suggestions?

I totally agree with cpartist. You are really limiting yourself by staying in the footprint you made for yourself. Considering the investment you will make in the addition, I would want to do everything I could to make this room and possibly the laundry room/office work. I would also think about landscaping. Maybe your bedroom doesnt look to the patio because you move it to the back of the house, but you have succulents and cacti planted in front of the bedroom windows for a beautiful view. I'd start over with a fresh piece of paper and think about every option. I say this because I am doing a master suite addition to my house. I put a lot of thought into what I wanted. The people on this board also really helped me and I hired an architect. We came up with a great plan and will be starting this week on the project.

Loving the thoughts, and I’ve been battling so many different ideas here. The master at the back has been intriguing, as the ceiling would be easy to vault above that side, and could open up the space as well. To the previous comments, this house has a basement that I can easily open the basements, so plumbing on the right side would remain a straight through path if I keep it aligned. The laundry room variation is a great thought, although it would make me somewhat uncomfortable as the “kids” bathroom needs to be usable for visitors needing to go... we decided against a kids bathtub, as baths are supervised while they are young, or earlier in the evening as they get older (I really don’t see the point of a bath... but my wife insist on a freestanding one). I’ll have finalized measurements on Monday, and will take these design thoughts back into a new diagram. Your feedback has been awesome!