If I'm understanding you correctly about the "back of the house is buried in rock up to about 5 ft up the wall" then everything your builder shows as 1st floor addition is really going to be pretty much underground. That's why that whole space is being given over to "mech room" instead of living space. Is that right? I think you're right that an L-shaped staircase would work better. But, unless you want to lower the slope of the roof over your kitchen and living room area, there is not a whole lot you can do that would result in upstairs windows being "closer to the floor." The roof height of the lower floor pretty much dictates where windows that face the lake on the upper floor can start. You don't indicate how you access the deck on the lake side of the house. Is there a sliding door or something leading from the living room? In addition to the things you mentioned that you didn't like on your architect's first draft, I don't like it that taking half that interior wall down leaves you with a view from your kitchen straight into the bathroom toilet. And, you don't mention where you keep the washer/dryer. If you don't have one currently, I would think that at a lake house, getting a laundry room to deal with wet towels and swim suits would be a priority. Here's what I came up with. (It really is pretty much what you suggested re L-shaped staircase and putting bathroom in the back right corner where the closet was; and from the exterior would look pretty much identical to your architect's plan. First floor: Second floor: The dimensions of the upstairs addition is 18' x 22' (since you didn't specify, I used those as the outer dimensions) and I've drawn the current plan as accurately as I could based on your sketch. The two closets upstairs closets are admittedly very very small but for a vacation house, small closets might be okay. And you don't have to go thru one bedroom to reach the other plus both upstairs bedrooms have a place for the bed. This is sketched with a 42 inch wide staircase with enough risers to for a 10 ft floor to floor rise. The plant shelf at the bend in the stairs, along with windows allowing light into the staircase, should make the staircase feel nice and spacious. Downstairs, this gives you a nice sized laundry room with room for some storage space under the stairs. Unfortunately, given the slope at the back of your house, the laundry wouldn't get any natural light unless you could put in a window well or maybe install some solar tubes. I've shown a normal sized dining room table for six. The space around the dining table is pretty tight but I think it would work. In order to keep the path to the staircase open, you would not be able to center the dining table in the room so an alternative might be to have a bench seating for 1/2 the table built-in against wall next to the bathroom. That way the table wouldn't require as much width in the admittedly small dining room space. I went back and forth about where to put the door leading into the laundry. You'd have more useable storage space if the door were over next to the door leading from laundry to mech room. But then you would always have to be working your way clear around the table to get to the laundry room so I think this is probably better. An alternative design might be to switch the laundry and mech rooms which would allow you to have a window in the laundry room (nice) but would force you to access it via the downstairs bathroom which isn't so great. There might be another alternatives swapping the laundry and mech room AND putting in a hallway leading from living room to laundry room if you were willing to tear out and completely redo the downstairs bath...but I'm guessing that a bathroom renovation is not in your anticipated budget. Finally, I think this would allow you to have small pantry which you desperately need and it blocks the view from the kitchen into the bathroom. Let me know what you think.

Thanks everyone! The door screen is at the hardware store being repaired, and we are also getting new screens made for most of the windows. We will probably pick those up tomorrow. We will also need to wash the windows before installing the new screens! @aniajs, we are indeed fortunate to have such a nice space. I am trying to figure out how to take advantage of it and show it off to its best potential within the limitations of what I know to be our levels of skill and available time. I had thought of dwarf citrus, but may reserve that idea for the 1st floor patio later. @Nil13, the hanging planters are pretty but I don't quite understand how you envision them working in this space. In any case, there are some existing hooks - large hooks 3 feet up in opposite corners, and then some small loops above some of the windows. They may have been installed by a previous owner, or even the builders. The architecture of this place is so late 1970s that I would not be surprised if it just automatically came with ferns. Anyway, I may try to use the existing hooks. Otherwise, I'm mulling over the suggestions from here, from a friend, and from things I have seen in books and magazines, letting a vision slowly develop. I think we should probably also start slow, adding a few plants and accessories at a time, and then building on that.

Your gardens and patio are beautiful. They look like a perfect retreat to relax. A few options for the furniture if you are still playing. First thoughts for the patio furniture on the higher patio. Embrace the sofa in front of window. It keeps your pathway from door clear. Place the coffee table so that one can reach to place a drink. Place the two chairs on each end facing each other on the short ends of coffee table. There are two thoughts for placement of the table and chairs on the lower patio. Pull the table out from the herb garden wall and turn the table so the short end follows the line. I can't tell from pics but that wall might make a nice seating area too if needed for the table. What is the cream/grey item behind dining chair on right side? Does it stay there? The other option is to put the table in the center area of patio. You mentioned not wanting to block the view but since the window is higher it might just work. Place it long ways to help the eye follow right out into the yard. For the space out in the yard (3 chairs shown there now) some outdoor curtains or shade cloth would make it even more private. The love seat could go there with 2 chairs again placed on each end. Good luck with your space and arrangements.

Ok I’ve had some more time to look at the space I have so much wall space at one end that I’m thinking I should put the bench/couch set up on that end the other option if I use That end for the table is to bring the table closer towards the center, otherwise it’s look very far away there May actually be enough space to put both set ups comfortably on that end and a couple chairs on the shorter end I never even thought about using the closed part of the sliding door as wall space