Oceanna - I just got done reading the thread regarding your split. Our is only slightly different than yours. The window above the door is that 70s bubble glass. I don't like it, but ours is clear bubble glass while all the other neighbors have yellow bubble glass. I feel lucky. We also have side lights on either side of the front door, also clear bubble glass. We painted the interior side of our door sort of a deep plum shade. I liked it at the time but would rather go with a very deep green now. Actually, I want a new front door, but that's another budget item entirely, and I'm not ready to go there yet. When we bought the house, the railings were black wrought iron with little gold splotchy things. The rail separated the stairs from the living room. We needed some of that space for my piano, so DH build a half wall from the living room window wall about half way up. On the entry side of that, we've hung two shelves just made of MDF and painted white. Currently there is NO railing from where that half wall ends to the top of the stairs. I was getting on DH's case to get something built there, but the contractors have suggested waiting until they're done with the kitchen. It will give them more room hauling things up and down the stairs. On that big tall wall over the stairs heading down, we have another MDF shelf that we use for some of my larger doodads. At Christmas, we fill it with greenery and have large glass bowls with ornaments and other Christmas items. Unlike you, our kitchen doorway sits off to the right of the stairs, so when you come up our stairs you come into a wall. Oh, our house appears to be a mirror image of yours! I LOVE what you have down at the bottom of your stairs. We have two boys, ages 12 and 10, and a 100-pound dog. We use that garage door as our main family entrance and exit. For me at this point, I doubt anything nice would stay in that location very long! I'm really looking forward to the kitchen being finished. Not so much looking forward to the process. My moto is to "keep the eye on the prize." I also have a goal of having enough money left over after the kitchen to replace at least the windows on the front of the house. Unfortunately, ours are original windows, single pane, and you can see the gaps when the wind blows. We live in a part of the country where 60 mph winds are normal in the winter - slamming right into the living room window - ugh! Oh, we replaced the light in the entry with a ceiling fan with light fixture. I realize it's entirely too modern for your decor, but it suits ours. Besides, I was pretty intent on getting rid of the huge orange globe that was there when we moved in! Also, the house is not air conditioned, and it can get quite hot here in the summer. The ceiling fan helps move the air around the living room quite a bit. Bonus. So, I don't have any advice for you on the entry. Most people here have really left the entries pretty plain. I would vote for painting the wood part of your half-wall white as well. However, we have spent most of the last five years slowly working on replacing all the "wood" trim in this house with white trim. I put the wood in quotes because it was very, very dark and not good quality wood. I had no guilt painting it! Oh, in the corner by our front door, we have a 3-foot tall stuffed moose dressed for fishing. Not a "real" stuffed moose, more of a teddy-bear stuffed moose. Again, I'm guessing that's not really your style, but frankly we are a bunch of nut jobs in this household, so it suits us. It gives me a smile whenever I walk up and down the stairs, and everyone who enters the house comments on him (his name is Morty). Let us know what you decide to do with your entry!

Hi live wire oak, Thanks ever so much for your continued support. I am lucky to have found this forum and people like you. Beleive me, we will not be making any changes without seeing the effect in 3D in walk through style like you mentioned. Like you said, I want to see what the view (outside and inside) will be to the bedroom gables if we redo the garage roof/and or bump the bedroom gables forward. If we do go this route, we will be sure to investigate tying in a roof plane for a potential foyer bump out/and or porch. I am investigating as many options as possible before spending another dime on construction. The architect that we worked with is experienced in both residential and commercial, he is a fully qualified architect and he has an amazing wealth of construction knowledge. He owns his architect firm and works in his profession full time. He was recommended to us by a structural engineer. Our architect used AutoCad for the design -- I don't think that is viewable in 3D. I imagine we could have paid for someone to have taken the AutoCad file and transferred it to something like Sketch-up. We should have pursued that. I simply did not realize until now how different a 2D elevation picture would be from the 3D real life creation. Tough lesson to learn for us! Carol

I am also curious if you ended up doing this as we are considering moving our split level entrance to the side.

Hi Everyone! We have been working on our plan with our architect, but it still bugs me that we have to have wasted space at the front door. We don't really have people enter our front door unless we are having a gathering. I just posted earlier today about our most current house plans, see my post in the stream requesting reviews. However, going back over my files today, I came across this picture. This is a hodge-podge of features that we like. I still am holding out that we can make it work in some fashion. I really do not want to pay for a large home, nor do I want to clean it. :) Looking at this image, I would make the most interior Family or Dining Room the actual Family Room and the exterior room at the back of the kitchen the Dining Room. The actual Den on the picture I was hoping could be a scissored stair and the room to the right, near the stairs, just off the foyer could be the Den. The actual stairs on this picture could be a hidden pantry entered from the kitchen. We would have a door from the back yard into the mudroom near the half-bath that is on the picture. Have I lost my mind? I really want a well-designed plan and I keep second-guessing myself!! I like the kitchen and master bathroom that I have in my most recent plan. See here. However, I am not unwilling to listen to suggestions. I am a planner by nature and I like to know where everything will be before executing my plan. By that, I mean even the kitty litter and dog/cat food and bowls! :) I have even planned out my kitchen in terms of storage of items in what drawers/cabinets. Please help me if you can! :)