wow....a lot of reading for the mind and soul during insomnia. So many ideas and so many things to think of..... This post just reiterates more that we are all products of our "families" and our experiences. The bad comes with the good and we grow and we hope to make the best of it and for some....I suppose the main goal is to not repeat some things that have damaged us the most. Brings us to the OP and the reason for custom homes. We all have a dream of the way we want to live and how we want our dream home to be a part of that life. I understand that most downsize to below a 2000 sq ft ranch. That doesn't mean it has to be done that way. I'm not trying to sound ridiculous or anything, but is it more a modern thing for people to down size or is it regional? It seems I know very few who have done this. My Grandparents just closed off their cellar and upstairs and lived in the main-level. They made adjustments when needed to the bathroom. I suppose it must be more modern as farmers used to stay in there homes and their family would move in and care for them. Nowadays I know a lot of farmers who give the "home place" to their youngest and then build a new "retirement" place for themselves. Just wondering?!?! Anyway....I'm from rural, farm country and where most have large families and super extended families. Most of my friends and family were raised in ranch homes or simple 2 story homes. Average sq ft being 1800-2100, often with a semi-finished rec room in the basement. The trend with my parents, their friends and our family is that they usually stay in the home until they pass away or a few go into a nursing home. I can honestly say that all 10 Aunts/Uncles and many family friends have added onto their homes in their 50's or early 60's. Actually 1 moved instead:). They all wanted a larger "gathering" room and built on for that reason. Many (prior to building on) used the lower-level rec room for this and then just for reason of stairs, location to kitchen and bathrooms, aesthetic, etc had added on to accommodate. So, they were all adding onto their homes, when I suppose many would think they were getting closer to downsizing. They all now approaching mid 70's and some into their 80's and are still in their added on homes. We have just found over the years that when a hall or other place is rented out for a holiday, etc....our family loses it's closeness. All the cousins arrive, eat and leave. We have found it more inviting, relaxing, etc to have it in the home where we can hang, relax and gather for hours. So, if you don't want people for hours, rent a place with tables and folded chairs or go to a restaurant :-) My parents actually were the ones who built a new place 2 years ago. They had owned acreage/wooded for years. They originally built a cabin on it and found themselves spending so much time there, they decided to build. Oh, we were so against the idea, everyone was! Too far out, too far from hospitals, too much land, too much too much. My dad said everyone thinks we are crazy, but it is what WE WANT, do you think we really haven't thought about all these things.....we will sell and move again if and when it becomes too much. So, they did what they wanted and they are thrilled. It is a smallish ranch with an open floor plan and a guest bedroom for occasional grand kids sleep overs. However, they have a large family room that is very cozy most of the time. They have the furniture placed in a groupings with large walk-ways all around. For Christmas it takes 2 people to move their one couch to open the room up and make room for all. And there solution to host really large parties was a "finished garage." They finished the walls with drywall and had breadboard added all around below the chair rail. They added cabinets and a counter top with electrical (crockpots etc) and a refrigerator. They have ceiling fans, highly insulated, and a nice epoxy (???) floor. They have a half bath directly inside the house from the garage. It is party ready just by backing the cars out. Of course they have an out building for all the junk that most people would have in their garage. What they didn't know is that it is the younger grandchildrens favorite place. It works out lovey when the young ones are out there....we pull out some old cars and trucks and they go crazy and then the adults can converse and hear each other. So, just to mention a few ways that many others have actually added to their homes in order to manage growing families. Personally, in our new build....we added on a huge dining room with surrounding wrap around covered porch and hope to be able to entertain large numbers in this space for many years. OP...I do wish you the best with your new home and your family is lucky to have you and a wonderful place to spend with you!

If window units will keep you comfortable, then mini splits will as well, but with less noise and higher efficiency. Although window units are getting better all the time, mini splits will probably do better humidity control too. Mini splits vs. ducted systems is more of a continuum than it used to be. There are mini split ducted units that can handle more than one room. The difference, I think, is that the static duct pressure is much lower so the design approach is totally different. In a well insulated and constructed home, heat and humidity move between rooms a lot faster than through the exterior walls. That's why zoning does little good in economy measure in that kind of home. It will help you with any uneven temperature problems. Complexity, as Austin pointed out, increases with the number of units so that is a negative. Keep in mind that with more than one compressor, you throttle back to a lower output than with one large one running three. That keeps you out of the cycling mode longer and keeps humidity under control better if you are not running all three units indoors. I've posted a lot about mini splits on this forum even some this week. Take a look.

Hi Doug, IMHO, it's totally fine to paint the different floors different colors, even if you have a common wall that shares both floors (like mine). I used a darker shade upstairs (more sliders, light and 15 ft ceilings), and downstairs in my 8' ceiling bedrooms and even lower hallway, I used lighter colors. You don't really need accent walls... Maybe just take whatever color you use 2 shades darker? The lighting is going to cast shadows depending on time of day, etc., anyways, so not really necessary... If you go on Pinterest, there are so many nice combinations of color that are very popular and calming, so you can get ideas. The dust blue seems like a fairly dark gray? And you may prefer a softer/warmer gray that is not as blue? Look at the 'warm grays' in the last photo. There are some very popular shades that work well with beige and gray (greige).... Here are a few snapshots of what's on Pinterest if you need some ideas... It's nice to see them side by side (as some gray goes blue, or green or beige...). My vote would be to pick from any of their top 5 grays or greiges and you can't go wrong....

@fsq4cw - how about a ballpark price just for the air-to-water heat pump? Just out of my own curiosity. Note that due to @mtvhike having a fairly large solar array and the specifics of his tariff scheme, I'm not sure that any significant capital cost to reduce his electricity usage will pay off well. This shows one of the oddities about specifics of solar tariffs. As I understand the way it works is this: his base tariff for electricity is 9.5 cents/kwh. Any solar he generates offsets the electricity he consumes (calculated annually?). BUT: any solar generated in excess of consumption is only paid at the wholesale rate, which is dramatically lower than the retail rate (call it 1 cent / kwh). Right now - without full year data - he expects to consume somewhat more than his panels generate. The upshot is that his savings from reduced consumption are limited (You could analyse this differently but I find it easier to just take what he already has as the base case, I think the conclusions are the same). Let's say, for example, he consumes 4,000 kwh annually more than he generates, for a bit less than $400 (netted out annually). If he saves more energy than that, every 'extra' kwh saved only gets him 1c / kwh. At least unless or until he adds some significant extra load, like buying an EV or putting an aluminium smelter in his garage or something. So: I'd say it makes sense to consider a minisplit primarily for the air conditioning comfort and if it also offsets some of his straight resistance heating, great, there's some modest savings there (within a 'limit' of however much his consumption currently exceeds his solar generation). Spending much additional for the 1c/kwh savings just won't make much sense financially. This is pretty simplistic as right now he has historical data for consumption and the solar array is relatively new so annual generation only estimated, and of course from year to year both may vary. And at any rate, a good argument to not rush into anything with high upfront expenses or to prioritise other projects for the time being.