Hi everyone. Momto3 - This floor plan is indeed beautiful, as the pictures of the finished house show. And some of the suggestions given by others were little nuggets of gold to keep in mind! MyDreamHome, I love your laundry room - I have not come across one that is in that small a space and yet works as efficiently as yours does. The garbage bins for laundry are a wonderful idea! I too fold in my laundry in the laundry room as soon as items come out of the dryer - otherwise they need ironing, and I am not into that (unless it is part of my quilting - that is a different story). For those many people who were enquiring about how to make this large house smaller (I believe it is 5,000 square feet, give or take a couple hundred): some great suggestions were made about making some rooms smaller (ie - do you need a 30+ by 15+ playroom, and a 16+ by 14+ breakfast area? We would all like it, but...). However I have two other suggestions as well. This house, built as a single-story home, has a huge footprint. That means a huge basement or slab, and a huge roof surface. Furthermore, the roof will be quite high, simply because of the area it has to cover. So... You could consider moving some or all of the bedrooms upstairs, and while this may not reduce the square footage of the home, it will reduce the cost of building significantly (the cost per square foot will go down significantly because this area does not need its own basement/slab or roof). For example, if you put 1500 square feet of bedrooms/bathrooms upstairs, you will reduce your footprint and roof area by that amount - the size of a small-mid size house! With some interesting jut-outs, dormers and some sloped ceilings, you can make a very interesting as well as a light and airy second floor. In fact, a friend of mine did just this - they planned a large single-level house, and the architect suggested that with almost no changes to the roof other than a couple of dormers, they could put in a large master suite and two additional bedrooms and another bath on the second floor. They agreed, and then re-envisioned the main floor to keep the footprint the same size as before, giving them about 1/3 more living space for very little extra money. Just one word of warning: it will impact the layout of the roof trusses, and perhaps even the type of truss used, so that you have full use of the available height. So include this in the plan before you start building - even if you plan to finish the space later (another advantage of reducing the footprint - you can finish off the other levels later if money is an issue and yet you expect your family to grow). Similarly if you build the house with a basement and your land has just a bit of a slope to it, with some forethought you can have a walk-out basement with large windows and French or sliding doors...or at worst, finished rooms with large windows. Then you can put some of the bedrooms and the play room downstairs and still have them bright and airy. If you live where you have to do a basement anyway, you double the size of your (single story) house by utilizing the basement. A current trend in my area is for builders to use 9-10 foot ceilings in the basement to ensure that the area is not claustrophobic (and it allows for bigger windows if the house sits a bit higher). Often with a bit of landscape planning, enough of a slope can be created when the footings and the basement are laid down. Again here, if you plan to finish the basement (now or later), give it some thought so that you do not limit your options when you do finish it. For example, you may want to use longer or different types of beams to support the main floor to reduce the number of posts in the basement. And you may want to ensure that your posts are no closer that 12 or 15 feet apart - so that you likely won't have a post in the middle of where you would like to have a bedroom. It is also important to have a plan so that you can make the best use of windows, and put larger ones in if possible. Every bedroom must have an egress window (which is not very big), so don't plan on sticking a bedroom in the front of the house unless you are prepared to have windows at the front, etc. Plumbing is easier if it is roughed in now as well, although if you change your mind, it can be moved easily enough (but it costs $$). Has anyone tried either of these options? I would draw out a sample, but I don't currently have a couple of free hours - sorry... PS - sorry for the length of this post...

Okay, so yes, the upstairs bedroom has bunk beds but could fit two separate beds eventually. There is no TV space on purpose, we don't have one, don't plan on having one. Good catch though. I will definitely talk to the architect about making the dining room wider. The table shown is wider than what we plan to buy and is 'fully extended' in the drawing, so normally wouldn't be that big. But I would love to be able to steal an extra foot or two, if the structure alignment to the second floor is not important. We have family dinners with extended family about twice a month and would love to be able to host them (15-ish people currently in a dining room slightly smaller than the plan here, but it's cramped). And I think I'm leaning towards closing off the open to above entrance. I like the idea of a reading/study nook up there and a more cozy entrance. It probably sounds dumb but I was worried about moving furniture up and down with the enclosed stairs with the turn. I think I made them wide enough though that it wouldn't be much of an issue, and I don't plan on having a contoured ceiling over them so maybe it's not a big deal? I should have asked for this feedback way sooner. Thanks everyone. Keep it rolling if possible!

Wow! Talk about awe-inspiring! You all have done incredible jobs at transforming something regular into something spectacular! I can't stop scrolling back up and starting over again looking at these before and afters. Thank you. Each of you who posted pictures, thank you! Not one of my inside projects are close enough to finished for me to post photos. If I posted pictures now of inside projects, you all wouldn't be able to tell the difference between Before and During. lol Are outdoor areas OK to post here? I ask because we got sidebar'd from a couple indoor projects and started outside. The outside is much further along than the inside--and I have obvious before and afters. I'm scolling back up again -- gotta get me another fix of all your wonderful projects.

Mayflowers: "There's high gloss white tile from floor to ceiling on all four walls. Mirrors add shine. Painted woodwork in a bathroom would probably need to be glossy to make it washable." The white tile I have is high gloss, but I think, it doesn't exactly appear so. You see, the tile is not completely flat. It has a very slight wave in it. I think this reduces the "shine." At the same time, this window is north facing, so there is no sun streaming in. It also is a frosted window, so that also diminishes the amount of light entering the room. (Therefore reducing the shine?) You also say: "Painted woodwork in a bathroom would probably need to be glossy to make it washable." My husband is quite the handyman. He says that we would be able to find a durable paint without high gloss. We are a family of four, but only one of us showers in there. So perhaps the paint would hold up well enough. Also: "Right, the grain shows through unless you smooth it out with filler. That's an option I hadn't thought of and would work with your door style to give you a look of "just bought" cabinets." I could use filler when painting the trim white and see how well it covers the grain. I think we could do that. Then when it comes to the vanity, the cupboard and drawers, we could consider gray paint (only if the trim worked out well). But I like the idea of staining the vanity, cupboard and drawers. That would be more work. Staining is always a bit tricky---it's difficult to get just the right colour. I am wondering whether a grey wash would work. That would be easier. Nosoccermom says: "I could see the vanity in a grey stain but would keep everything else in the color of the tiles and tub." So just doing the vanity in a grey stain/paint is something I would definitely consider. I think I would need to paint the trim in the room white and work from there. "But I agree that painted oak cabinets will always look like "painted oak cabinets." Hopefully not. "However, do your cabinets/wood work have the regular strong oak grain?" Unfortunately, yes. Here are a couple of closeup photos where you can see the grain of the oak.