Anything in the mint or basil family... both families are full of heavy re-seeding perrenials that will come back year after year. Mints: List Basils: List Lemon Balm (in the mint family also) Oregano (there are a few varieties ranging in scent/taste) Sage Lavender Thymes (i suggest regular thyme and 'lemon thyme', latter of which is amazing, but there are many, ex: Caraway Thyme, Italian Oregano Thyme, Orange Balsam Thyme, Lemon Thyme, etc.) Tarragon Anise (great re-seeder, great smell, not many practical uses I've found, good bee attractor!) Shiso --- if you want purple shiso seeds, please let me know, i have five million of them and will spend the postage to send you some, this goes for other GA GW members as well! reseeds profusely! Lemongrass Chives, garlic, scallions PEPPERS! I would also consider peppers, if you're a pepper fan. so many different varieties are available, in all types of heats. i just got turned onto using fresh peppers. there are a lot of things you can do to reduce the heat on peppers that would otherwise be "inedible" to most, such as jalapenos - take out the seeds, saute in a frying pan with oil, then add salt, and you can all but kill the heat. some light-heat/no-heat peppers i would recommend trying: poblano, sweet banana, anaheim, ancho, pimento. some medium-to-higher-heat peppers that are good to give a kick to your food: chipotle, jalapeno, serrano, guajillo I could probably go on and on, but you've only got so many pots! As all of this has been said, consider getting some long, rectangular planters (the 18" x 6" ones) and planting various salad greens. You can find nice hangers for these and easily dedicate a tall skinny section of fence to nothing but salad growing. they make drip trays for them also that will hold water. greens are pretty easy to take care of, especially on an east facing area where they're not bombarded by sun all day long (dries out the soil). consider using a "moisture control" potting mix and lightlight mulching the salad planters once they've gotten an inch or two of shoots showing.

Autumn, originally the draftsman had the door on that side. i moved it so it was closer to the bathroom. The way you have it now means a longer walk to the bathroom and a wrong turn means falling down the stairs. :) Oaktown, I'm not following. Are you agreeing with me that the door should be where I have it or are you saying it should be facing the closet? Aec, the upstairs will be Hardie siding or Hardie shake and downstairs will be stucco. The way I have it, it will be fine moving the furniture in.

The reason I don't LARGE face-on photos of family over the fireplace is it just seems like I am being stared at, lol! On the flip side, I covered my mantle at my old house with SMALL photos in ornate frames of friends and family members. Then a large picture/wood block print I loved in the center. I had wall mounted lights that looked like candle sconces on either side of my art, something you might consider., (either the lights or the sconce, well out of the way of little kid hands). That corner curio cabinet is GORGEOUS and I would put something on the mantel with a brown wood tone to tie in with the cabinet. Maybe a picture with a brown frame or some art with some color in it including brown. Or consider adding some colorful art or something on the wall kitty corner from the fireplace, so the room look a little more balanced. I don't see anything wrong with the sailboat photo, but then we are sailing people and love boats and the water and have spent considerable time thus engaged. If you're land-locked and have no association with boats, then it is a little contrived but will do until you find something that speaks to you. If it were me, and I had traveled the world, I would want pictures of that somehow. I have a large travel advertisement picture of a famous place I visited (Valley of the Ten Peaks in Canada, which is often used in Canadian tourism advertisements) which hung over my couch in the living room of my last house, and was surrounded by some other art pieces evoking the northern Rockies. Which made the space feel welcoming to me. Not saying you should copy me, but just sort of showing how you can develop a theme of stuff that reflects your live and loves in your "living" room.

I have been looking at these floorplans as well and have the same idea as cpartist on the exterior changes. I love the simple, more traditional look of removing the shutters an the extra garage bump out. I love the interior layouts of all of them as well, but am trying to cut corners (literally) to lessen the amount of bump outs in hopes that we can make it work with our budget. There are about 4 floor plans from the same designer that have a similar layout and range from 2000-2600 sqft. Here's the smallest of the floorplans