Okay, it sounds as if you just want a house with a front elevation that looks very similar to the Southern Living plan but which would have the interior rearranged so significantly that it would be an entirely new plan. If so, your local architect would only be using the image of the Southern Living plan as "inspiration" for the front elevation and would probably not be infringing copyright - unless he made the front of the house look identical to the SL plan. So maybe you don't really need to purchase a license to the SL plan after all. But it sounds as if your local architect doesn't "get it" even after seeing your inspiration picture. Perhaps you need a different architect. Or is is possible that the room arrangement you want simply won't fit into a farmhouse with a tall narrow front elevation (which is a good part of the charm of the SL plan). If you want a house that is tooooooo big, or you want too many rooms facing either the front or the back views, then your architect probably keeps winding up with something that is broader than it is tall... and therefore cannot possibly be made to look like the elevation you picture. I had a friend who once insisted that she wanted a nice compact basically rectangular one-story "cottage." But then she started describing all the rooms that just had to have a view of the lake on one side of her property and it quickly became obvious to me that there was no possible way to meet her desires. Her vision of the interior was just incompatible with her vision of the exterior. Ultimately she wound up building a long thin boom-a-rang shaped home that was mostly one room deep. It looked nothing at all like the "little cottage" she originally THOUGHT she wanted but every major room in the house has a view of that lake and it is a gorgeous home. If your interior floor plan vision isn't totally incompatible with your exterior inspiration picture, there is probably already a farmhouse design out there somewhere that comes close to meeting your needs and, when finished would look similar to the SL plan. Why don't you post your "program" (how many bedrooms? baths? garage bays? master upstairs or down? laundry upstairs or down? open plan kitchen/great room or not? office? media room? playroom?) here on GW? Maybe someone here will know of a perfect or near perfect plan that could be modified more easily than the SL plan. I know that finding the perfect plan is very difficult and when you hire an architect and he doesn't seem to be able to "get it", it can be extremely frustrating. BTDT, so you have my sincere sympathy.

I appreciate your thoughts palimpset on the style of this. I'd never heard of contemporary rustic and had to do some googling. Terricks- THX!. I tried to get the images to come up like that without success so I had to do it the other way. Think it's my mac. Ok on your questions. I haven't really thought about budget. I'd like it done nicely and not too pricey. This is our last home so might as well have it the way I want it now rather than later. I think the carpet and vinyl kitchen floor are ok in color, and would go with light gray, and wear so I plan on keeping them for a few years. I'm going to have that gold carpet tack down strip replaced with a silver one. I wish they'd done turn and tuck but I'm guessing you can't go back and do that after it's cut, right? Anyone know? I wanted a vinyl kitchen floor anyway, tile is too cold and breaks dishes. I was wondering about 3 pendant lights hanging over the island between it and the couches., maybe the ones from menards that the glass shades can be changed to different colors for different seasons, moods. I was thinking about some rope lights, perhaps in a color, for uplighting on top of those kitchen cabs too. Not sure about they countertop. I like laminate, most folks here don't. If I change it it might be to wilsonart high def aeon in a steel color. Any thoughts? Too dark? I was thinking about modern looking swivel stools at the bar area. The kind with the center post instead of 4 legs. White might be best. I don't see a cheap gray. I don't have any furniture yet. So direction would be nice. There are 5 of us- all adult sized, no toddlers. and 2 cats, no dogs. After looking at the contemp rustic furniture on google images I thought this furniturerow "madagascar table" with the giant sturdy legs and some parsons chairs would be nice. What do you think? It even stores it's leaves inside. I would put that where the current dining table is. I was thinking about gettting a giant ficus tree - 1- or MAYBE 3 AND putting it / them around the dining table, maybe with uplights or twinkle lights, +/or maybe a light that looks like outside lighting ( a lamp post maybe) to give the dining area a mood. If you google it, what do you think of this table? The right look? It might be too dark. The closest store is an hour away. - But I'm not really keen on med. oak anyway, and would hate to buy more of it to go with this house. I think those ceiling fans running down the vault line look stupid. Don't you agree? My Dad thinks they are to keep the heat down and keep people warmer in the winter, yes, WINTER, and I told him, I am too cold to have a breeze in the winter. We never turn our fans on in the winter here. ... but then we've never had a high ceiling. What do you think we should do about those fans? If they were gone I could get a light fixture off center in the middle of the seating area. Perhaps in line with the fireplace. I found out yesterday the ugly brass inset in the fireplace can be painted with a high temp BLACK paint, and the ugly gray vents above it ( they look like black boxes in the pic) I plan to paint these vents the color of the stonework. I'm not sure about that knee wall. It's probably a good thing. Maybe if I painted it gray also. I see they have planters for live plants that fit over a rail ( intended for patios) and was thinking some on the rail upstairs ( the loft) and some on the knee wall might warm the spaces. What do you think? I think that "foyer" pendant light looks like it should be centered in front of the closet door rather than the start of the stairs What do you think? It could be a different light too. The coffee table we get should be turned to go parallel to fireplace. So should an area rug beneath it. ..and finally, I hate to be so long winded. * Puff, puff!* I wonder if there should be something up high between those triangle windows, to pull the eye up and give it a place to rest, or if that would just be overkill. It is so cool to have a vertical decoration option. I'd like to take advantage of that! Maybe a sconce light... ok, fill me in on my ideas and yours....I'm so grateful for any help. :) here's a hug in advance. karen

I did it on the couch in the bonus room. One of the legs cracked and so I decided that was a good time to also raise the height of the couch. I bought the new legs at Home Depot in the molding department. You just need to finish them. The bolts/screws fit the old brackets, so it was basically take out the old and put in the new. That said the couch does not have a skirt so the extra height wasn't an issue with the looks. It makes the couch set better and I should have done it sooner.

Is this easier to read: Original plan: Our version so far: Here with furniture, our concept of course: We have made the kitchen on one wall only (and some high cabinets to utilize more space). Something like this: We would like ot keep 2 separate rooms for the kids. The 2 bathrooms cannot be moved a lot unfortunately as the main piping goes in the upper left corner and it would mean a nightmare to change. Yes, the in-between windows are there for some additional natural light to flow in. Also the positioning of washer, sink, toilet and shower cabin/doors are still under consideration ...