I know you are all going to think I have totally lost my mind... I took a ton of advise off of this website and from some of my friends and made some changes to the plans. Please look again and let me know. I have added a door in the garage, and I am in the process of moving out the master bedroom and deck another 2'. This will give my covered deck a total of 8.5' x 12'. We will use the open portion of the deck way more than the covered... Thanks again for all the input. I think I am liking the idea of the closet in the bathroom more and more. My wife likes to turn on the light so she can trapse around the bedroom to bath to closet to bedroom to closet to bath to bedroom... (she shares a closet with my daughter right now so my daughter is going to be happy to get her out of her room) The link is below, as usual I don't know how you are able to post pictures... someone please inform me. http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii176/saftgeek/plans_2-29_Page_2.jpg http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii176/saftgeek/house_2-29-2008_Page_1.jpg http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii176/saftgeek/house_2-29-2008_Page_2.jpg Saftgeek

We always light the candles on our table every night at dinner. We purchase a good quality, non scented candle, usually Colonial Candles of Cape Cod. There are very specific instructions for safely burning a candle and rather then risk listing them all I linked them below. I don't want to sound like an alarmist but while candles can cause fires it's really about 4% of home fires and most of those occurred in a bedroom when the occupants fell asleep with the candles burning. Smoking is the number one cause of residential fires followed by cooking and electrical problems. Why don't you light some this afternoon and see how you feel about it when no one else is there. Since you don't normally burn candles you still might not feel comfortable having them lit when your company comes especially since you'll be busy serving as hostess. If you do decide to lit them you could ask a trusted friend to help keep an eye on them. Personally I love burning candles but we don't have pets or kids and we only burn them in the same room that we are in so that we can keep an eye on them. Obviously there are no combustibles near, we keep the wicks trimmed, votive candles are in appropriate holders, we avoid drafts etc. Here is a link that might be useful: candle safety tips

I disagree the master bath should be entered from the bedroom. I can't tell you how many nights I wake my DH up because our bathroom in our condo opens to the master bedroom. Or in the middle of the night DH wakes me when he goes to the bathroom. No thanks! In our new build we are doing like you have in your plan, in that one walks into the master hallway to go to the bathroom. Instead of trying to find something to fit your ideas, why not engage the services of a good architect to put something together for you? You'd get exactly what you want, and have it work the best for the site instead of trying to have to adjust something that may not even work for your lot?

Re bathrm off DR: codes vary greatly from area to area, but make sure that bathrm conforms to local regs. Where I live, a bathrm cannot open directly into an open kitchen/DR area like yours, when it's new construction. There must be a hallway, a corner turn, or at least 2 doors to pass through. Also: you're going to need a really, really powerful rangehood if you cook a lot. I dearly love our open plan LR/DR/kitchen, but odors go EVERYWHERE - especially foods like burgers or deep-fried items! Me, I'd want a bigger kitchen. I'd pull that kitchen counter out into the Activity Room, and create an L-shape peninsula into the LR. Easily doubles your counter space, which it looks like you'll need if you're going to seat 8-10 for meals every day. Also, it doesn't look like you've allowed sufficient space for pulled-out chairs when people sit down. There looks to be very little room for people to get by if others are seated at the table. You don't want kids/adults in the Activity Rm having to go all the way around your counter and walk through your kitchen aisle in order to reach that Bathrm #3.