There is a mature 12 to 15 ft Ponderosa Lemon tree growing well about 4 miles from me. It produces loads of thick skinned navel style lemons, similar to Italian lemons, which I understand are even hardier and will grow here in Eastern North Carolina. 3 years ago the owner rooted over 100 cuttings, which he sold ready potted. I bought several at $5 a pot. These were 1 to 2 foot tall small trees, which is pretty good value. I kept one for myself and gave others as gifts and also work colleagues were paying for them. Unfortunately, I planted mine in an exposed area, open to the north wind and quite honestly didn't look after it like I should have. It died after 2 years. In the ensuing years I have driven past the mature lemon tree to have a gentle nose. Particularly in the winter. We have had temps around 20F and slightly below and yes it does it appear to have died back on some of the branches after such cold weather, but it springs back to life again come 'Spring'. It is semi-exposed to the weather, being behind the main house and in front or to one side of a shed. The owner doesn't dress the tree for frost protection and it seems it has to be 20F at least before die back occurs. I guess I know it's there and that i can always get another small tree from him, so I haven't bothered re-visiting the notion. Instead, I am growing an Owari Satsuma. It's been in the ground since March and doing well, of course it hasn't gone through winter yet. The Owari satsuma is a spindly specimen and nothing like the orange trees that we had in Arizona. I have planted this in a south facing location with staking and tying and with some degree of protection from the north wind, about 15 feet from the back of the house. Safer would have been directly against the back of the house, but then there's the house foundations to consider. Anyway, all I can say is that lemons and they are 'true' lemons are alive and well here in Eastern North Carolina, half way between Richlands and Jacksonville.

If you love your view, keep the windows. You won't have the window coverings closed all of the time, so you will enjoy the view. Our two story great room faces due West and has two stories of windows on the West side plus two stories of windows on the North side. We have mature trees about 160' back from the house, so the sun only bothers us for about 2 hours, max, each day. However, we usually only close the blinds when it is excessively hot out because we just move to another chair, instead of closing the blinds, if the sun is in our eyes and it isn't too hot. We love looking outside. I regretted not having enough windows in our old house. I have never thought that we had too many windows in our current house, and it has a lot of windows. Good luck!

We were mulling over the same question a few years ago. We started out thinking screened porch but then realized how much we needed a 4-season gathering space when we entertained. Friends who had gone the 3-season route told us they were essentially 'no season' rooms because they were too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter (you know Minnesota extremes). So we decided to ante up for a 4-season room and we are so glad we did! We went 16'x24', put in 2 sliding glass patio doors to the deck, plus 8 good-sized windows, and a double French door to the dining room. It is a room of light all year round! We followed our furnace guy's recommendation to put in a gas fireplace for heat and a ductless minisplit for air conditioning. They both work splendidly and we can just turn them off and shut the door to the rest of the house when we're not using the room. We love the room in all seasons. With the help and advice of some very skilled siblings, we did almost all the work ourselves and it cost around $40,000.

Summerfield ~ What an absolute treasure you are to share your talent! How excited I was to see your beautiful software illustrating my family's potential home! Thank you so very much!! I really love your design (especially the balanced front/north half) and I am so grateful that you found a way to reduce the amount of hallway space! We do need to reduce the overall square footage ~ 1800 is the new target, with 1900 being the upper limit. What would you think about reversing the kitchen/DR with the LR? Our best opportunity to create an outdoor room (playground space for our kiddo) is on the west end of the south side (top right). Our land then slopes downward beyond this area. I also like the idea of the kitchen being the heart of the home!! To reduce square footage, I'm wondering about creating another dual purpose room in addition to the fitness/guest room. What do you think about combining the DR and office spaces utilizing built ins that can hide the office away? I am going to start a new thread to get some feedback on this idea! Another reduction idea ~ changing the walk-in master closet to a reach-in or step-in?? Like Lavender Lass, we really love screened porches!! To increase passive solar potential, we put our main "public" screened porch on the west side and had a smaller "private" one attached to the master. I love tree houses and the relationship with nature they afford. With large sliding doors, we were hoping to create that outdoor connection, enjoying warm summer breezes without the bugs :)! Finally, it may be a quirk but my DH and I sleep more comfortably in bedrooms where the bed is placed along an outside wall with the entrance door opposite, or across from, the foot of the bed. Perhaps this is strange? In any case, would it be possible to shift the master bedroom to the east (left), attach a small screened porch to the south (top), move the bathroom north (down) [or maybe west of the bedroom?] and connect it to the laundry, and have the closet accessed from the bedroom? This is assuming that moving the office to the DR makes sense. I'm not sure if this is possible without creating more hallway to reach the master bedroom? I printed out the plan you created and have enjoyed many smiles as I continuously look it over ~ thank you for reigniting my inspiration!!