No stairs going downstairs /we don't live in basement land. A real window would be fine . . . if it were to fall in the closet, but I'm not sure whether it would bisect the staircase itself. If your landing is around the 5' mark though, I'd assume a (small) window would fit into that closet. I'm thinking that it could be a small, non-functional window -- after all, we'd never want to open it in the closet. I think the dining room roof overhang will end up being a BALANCE between letting in enough light for the sun-filled space I want vs. overheating. Perhaps we should go with a ceiling fan above the table. I have several pictures of dining rooms in this style that I love, but this may be a weak point in the plan. Yes, I count 12 floor-to-ceiling windows. We had them in our starter house (though only four of them), and I LOVED THEM. They're something upon which I'm willing to splurge, and I like the idea that we'll have a wide-open view of the pool. However, if we check the price and find them outrageous, I can see a couple possible downsizes: - On the back wall of the living room I've placed a bank of three. That could drop to two. Considering we have a single door there, perhaps two is the "right size" anyway. - I could go with standard-sized windows flanking the bed. - Perhaps the study windows could become standard-sized. However, even thinking about them being a big splurge, I wouldn't give up the floor-to-ceiling windows altogether. I loved them too much in our old house. They brought in so much light, and the cross-breeze was wonderful in the spring and fall. The garage isn't particularly drawn to any scale -- it's just stuck in there. I can't say I've much thought beyond, "Yes, we'll store pool things there". I should investigate just how much space is necessary for these items. We recently ditched our lawnmower and other yard tools and have no plans to replace them. We're done doing that ourselves. I do have rakes, hoes, etc. for flower beds, but those don't take up much space. We're Southern, so we don't store our patio furniture in the winter. We're still using it. Similarly, HVAC units are all located outside here. I'm imagining it behind the pantry, enclosed by a trellis box and surrounded by flowers. However, in reality, the HVAC guy will tell us where this should go. He might say it should go along the side of the house. I feel out of my element on this one. I don't share the concern about walking through the study. That was the last part of the plan that came together for us: We tried all types of staircases in the space that's now the study. Tried bumping the entryway forward to the edge of the bedroom. Tried all sorts of things . . . 'til one day we thought about the staircase going to the corner, and it was a EUREKA MOMENT. We both like the arrangement very much. We think we'll like that the bedroom will be more private, and it provides a nice small entryway, while keeping the stairs out of the way but visible from the living room. Yes, I can see that everyone wouldn't like it, but I think this is one of our favorite parts of the plan. I'm trying to work on an upstairs . . . but while I think I have a pretty good eye for one story things, I find myself unequal to the task of "going up". The problem is that I'm set on a 1.5 story, and I can't visualize how far everything should scoot "in". I know exactly what I want upstairs: A small seating area, two bedrooms joined by a jack-and-jill bath and good closets. And I want to keep the plumbing roughly somewhere over the kitchen (or somewhere we already have plumbing -- I want to keep it somewhat consolidated). I'm still playing with upstairs layouts, but I'm not feeling very successful at all. I suppose the best choice is to draw out my best and throw it out here. Y'all do make good suggestions, and even when I don't care for the ideas, they often make me think, which is good. Thanks, folks! I'm enjoying the ideas you're sending out.

I've lived in suburban Orange County, California all my life. I'm only 23 and everything has changed since I was a kid. I remember when Huntington Beach still had swamp land full of trees and big oil rigs on it. Now it's full of million dollar town houses ON the swamp land and a few oil rigs that just sit there. Rarely do you ever see one that's actually moving. I just bought my grandma's house that's in one of the still unincorporated cities that most people who have grown up in the area didn't even know existed. Traffic is awful. During random hours of the day it can take me about 10 to 15 minutes to get to work but around regular commute hours it could take 20 to 45 minutes. You learn quick not to use the freeway unless necessary. There are many nature preserves and playgrounds. And I love the fact that I get the ocean breeze even on hot days and I don't have to actually be at the beach.

Thanks Chris and Moccasin! I made a new link to an album with updated photos from after we moved in (sorry, there's lots of garden photos in there). But you can see more shots of what's been changed (it's all just cosmetic) - pergo flooring replaced the carpet (good for not scratching with the dog), and you can see the kitchen in progress and after complete. You will see a lot of cabinets were added where there hadn't been any, and the appliances were moved around. sink stayed where it was. floor was sanded (it was the only place in the house where there was a wood floor... what was under the rest of the house's carpeting was just sub floor). I will need to take some shots of the small 2nd bedroom, and the larger bedroom, but the only changes there are the way I set it up, and I painted lighter brighter colors which did help. My biggest issue is just prioritizing -- I know I need to keep functionality in mind. The house has lots of charm (it is just lacking a little in certain areas of functionality.) Perhaps I should focus on getting the room in the basement that we removed moldy wall board, in shape to become a nice storage area since its much dryer than it used to be. I like the phased approach, I just down want to spend money on anything that I may end up redoing. Ie. I wouldn't now expand on the south side of my house because that's the kitchen side and the kitchen is done now! You can cut an paste the link (sorry, was the fastest way I knew how to do this). https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152476143208302.1073741825.638023301&type=1&l=8f840a7f3e When it comes to advice, what have some of you done before -- ever consulted a builder you trust, or maybe even just a realtor friend. some people have such good vision. For me, I get a little bogged down since there aren't really clear cut obvious choices. I will have to work on some floor plans (I must have somewhere). I would love to be able to build my self a mini model of my house! When you are situated on a little hill like I am, it's much harder to envision some of the elevation changes, etc in 2D! Cheers, Valerie

bry911…she got lucky? atrocious? You dare to say that? You have absolutely no idea about what you are talking. I said buy the location. The facts are right there in black and white. Boston same home sales have seen an increase of 21.38% above inflation in 10 years. ------------ You are pretending that there is predictable arbitrage in an open market. There simply isn't any dependable way that people can invest in property knowing what the property value will be in 10 years. This just doesn't happen without insider information. The average Joe just can't get that kind of information and doesn't have the liquidity to take advantage of it. I have a former colleague who runs a real estate investment trust out of the Northern Ohio area. He can move around half a billion dollars into real estate deals on a few days notice, there is no way that most people can compete with that. We know that the real estate market is semi-strong form efficient and it tends towards strong form efficient. Prices in the real estate market tend to adjust before things are announced to the public. All the things that are known are priced into the market. Now this doesn't mean that people don't have houses that go up. It just means that you can't buy a house knowing it will go up more than average (which is not that great). You believe that your daughter doing well shows that you can invest in a home and do well because she did. However, Boston went up 21%, if your daughter made a 150% return (adjusting for inflation) then that means that 3 other people lost money or maybe that seven other people saw no increase at all. That is the way statistics work. -------------- There are several reasons that your home shouldn't be considered an investment. Chief among them is that it can lead to really bad home decisions. Homes don't do as well as the stock market, need constant injections of capital and are completely illiquid. A home can be a very good financial decision but just because it is a smart move financially doesn't mean it is an investment. I am 100% for home ownership, I have never said anything about people need to rent. But that doesn't make it an investment. ------------ As for me knowing what I am talking about, I once played a doctor in the school play, so pretty sure that makes me internet qualified to give people investment advice.