Wow! Lots of questions! Haha! Let's see. We live in New Orleans and are a very casual, fun, energetic family. DH and I are in our mid 30's and have a 9 year old and a 6 year old. Both kids are active outside of school. TV is a big part of our lives because of sports, movies, kids, etc. But Mike's Den is where lots of the sports programming will take place. :) We are planning to offset the TV and put it to the side of the fireplace for two reasons....1) Now that the kitchen is further over, if someone is in there, it will be more centered to the room as a whole and 2) it can be a bit lower and more at eye-level if it's not above the fireplace. We can make the built-ins accommodate the TV at a level more comfortable for viewing. There will also be a playroom/media room upstairs for the kids. So the Living Room TV will be the group/family TV I suppose. We take turns cooking but both work. So we aren't gourmet cooks but we enjoy cooking meals. We enjoy conversations from the kitchen, thus wanting the open plan. I'd say that because of kids' evening activities, we probably cook 3-4 days a week maybe? Other nights we grill or get take out, pick something up or go out to eat on the way home. The porch. The house (again, in New Orleans...flooding) must be elevated a bit). This porch is elevated with the house. I know we will also have lower space for a table and chairs and the grill, that we haven't laid out yet. We actually did talk about widening the porch. How wide would you suggest? My dad suggested 1-3 feet wider. What do you think? The front door...you see the stairs to the right of the kitchen? And the open pass-through there under the stairs in the drawing? If you go through that pass through...actually straight from the back door, you'd pass the turned stairs above you and a guest room above, master below (in the drawing) and the front door is that way. It's a narrow, New Orleans lot...50x122, which has made things interesting to lay out! :) Thanks again guys! Your feedback is great! Oh, and again, the furniture placement and the kitchen appliances, etc. is just there in the drawings as a guide. It's not fixed or anything. It's just a visual thing for reference.

I am in a larger home, 1675 sq ft. It it that style of ranch where the garage is what you see when you drive up, and the front door is in an indentation next to the garage. The living room is in front, next to the front door, but the living room does not come out as far as the garage does. I have heard them called "snout houses" because of the way the two-car garage looks, sticking out past the rest of the house Like a pig's snout. Behind that garage, there is the stairway to our basement, then the eat-in kitchen, then the family room. The dining area is defined by a funky ceiling. Remember how in the late 70s, people lowered their kitchen ceilings and had recessed fluorescent lights behind plastic, so that the whole ceiling appeared to glow? Our kitchen ceiling has an oblong space like this, and the dining area has a square one. Along the way, someone took off the plastic and put in light fixtures, then put a wallpaper border print on the inside of the soffits. Now-a-days, people build these into very tall ceilings and call them tray ceilings and they add to the value of the house. Mine are so low that I can touch the soffits defining the ceilings without getting on tippy-toes. Other than the dropped ceiling, I love my kitchen with the dining area on the side. I have an antique waterfall-front little buffet, a kitchen table, and leather-cushioned chairs. None of the woods are the same color, but the pine table's wood tones can be found in the distressed finish of the chairs, and the darker colors on the chairs tie in with the quarter-sawn oak of the buffet. We can have the table set up to go north-south without the extra leaf, or east-west with it. When the table is north-south, the rolling island is between the sink and the table. When the table is east-west, the island sits on the edge of the 6 inch drop-off into the family room, below. The dining chandelier has a couple of hooks in the ceiling, so it can be centered over the table, depending on the orientation. We have the east-west configuration going now, it is nice because the table is right in the kitchen (and extends into the dining area) and it feels very homey. Country-kitchen style. The other configuration feels more modern, and I like having the island near the sink and fridge.

You want details, I got details. I'm restoring my house after a fire. The 3 car garage is gutted right now. Because of recent changes to city code I will be able to convert my garage to an ADU without having to replace the lost parking. However, I'm not quite ready to do that. As I'm putting the garage back together I'm putting in the infrastructure, windows, sound proofing, plumbing stub outs, electrical outlet and lighting locations in their appropriate locations according to the plan above. I've already put in heating and cooling. Since I'm not going full on ADU right now, I will use insulated garage doors and use the space mostly for an exercise area, VR gaming and sometimes a car. The 2 right garage doors will be tweaked to open straight in and high and tight to the 10 foot ceiling. I'm investigating having them retract up into a lowered ceiling. The left door is one that is blocked by a beam so will be below it at about 8 feet. At least on side of the bedroom divider wall will have to be anchored to the big beam above it to keep it stable OR when I cut the slab I drop in a steel post or two. Because the garage doors open to an alley I personally wouldn't want a TV within grabbing range of the people passing by. I came up with the idea of a sliding wooden slatted gate that can be moved either in front of the side parking spot or it can be slid over to cover the open right side door. That way a tenant can utilize the parking space however they want, either for a car or as a spot for outdoor entertaining with the gate enclosing the space. With it moved over to cover an open garage door, the open slats over the door will provide at least some privacy and safety if it locks in place. Gate is red, track is black. Yes, I've got to figure out a way to cover the top garage door panel... although there is nothing to look at out there I hate to give up the clear glass with a film. The two opaque panels are about 4.5 feet... and the third upper is clear. One interesting thing that can be done with the door is that the panels can be uncoupled so when the door is opened only the top panel lifts, leaving the bottom 2 in place. The deflection in the floor is an issue. I've got to have a lot of cement work done and haven't gotten a big to repour the slab but will. The other option is just to used wood to wedge the floor tight to the doors to lose the 3.5 inch slope. The slab needs some major cutting for all the plumbing so it's not so crazy that I could replace the slab. If the inspector has a problem with the door in the closet then removing the door to the closet should solve it. Anyway, 5 opening doors even without power should be sufficient.

So you're stuck, so you think, with this design because of money. To solve your problem how about a rectangular skylight with a hanging live wall. Two sided with a recirculating water feature built in. The water can be very limited and doesn't have to reach the floor. Same with the plant wall. You may need timed led plant lighting. Power from the ceiling. You can diy this.