The vanity you chose is very handsome. The turned feet & slim molding give it a softer & more polished look than many of the strictly linear forms while staying casual & informal. Find closed cupboards & drawers easier to maintain than low shelving in baths for those less meticulous among us & the extra out-of-sight storage welcome for nondecorative grooming essentials & cleansers. The only thing I find disproportional compared to older furniture versions of this style is the skimpy size of the knobs, and prefer them with beefier substance more in scale to my eye. They come in a variety of materials & finishes. Stone tops are practical & classical. Consider marble the formica of the Victorian & Edwardian ages, commonly used with the arrival of indoor plumbing that spurred the trend of rooms devoted to personal hygiene. Here is a link that might be useful: Farmhouse knobs This post was edited by vasue on Sun, Dec 14, 14 at 13:08

shead - I'm going to post a few "hacks" I did. Maybe they have some merit, maybe not. HOWEVER, I need to mention something else. We asked ARG if it is possible to add a window from kitchen to see into side parking/garage/play area. In our current house, we use our kitchen sink window that looks into back yard, patio, garage, etc.. to view the kids riding bikes, playing in treehouse, grill, etc... It's a small window, but in our current situation it is invaluable. Given the amount of time we spend in the kitchen, the ability to see the fenced in back yard, driveway, parking, patio and garage is actually very reassuring as a parent. We picked this house over another when we purchased, for this very reason - as we could work in kitchen and watch small kids at same time. We realize in another 10-15 years, this may not be as important. The new build is a different animal with the terrain in that the play areas will be in the rear - BUT also on teh side of the house with the garage. This is why we asked ARG if possible. He put a very clever change in and provided a conceptual drawing. He pushed kitchen wall out 2 feet, then pulled back landry/pantry wall 2 ft, creating a 4 ft difference - enough for a window. Here is his idea. The net change to the sq ft is almost 0.

Once you have more info, you'll get some excellent advice here. Good luck. As I said, we built our retirement home a few years ago and moved in 2 1/2 years ago. I made it a point to post everything here and listened to all comments, even those that sounded snarky because there was some good advice hidden in them. My house lives very well. Might I suggest you start by reading an excellent book? The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka. An excellent and easy read that will truly have you thinking. I also suggest you look into what some things might be needed for as you age. Just a few examples from my build to give you an example: 1. We are in a flood zone so had to raise the house 3' so that means steps. However I designed the house with the ability to put in a ramp in our garage, just in case one of us ever needs a wheelchair or walker. 2. All hallways were supposed to be 42" wide. As it turns out, the builder screwed up and the hallway to the master is only 39" wide with molding on. 3. We put our laundry right next to the bedroom since most laundry is generated from the bedroom. Makes it easy to carry back and forth. 4. While we did put our toilet in a "closet", I had it designed so if one of us ever needed more room to maneuver, those walls could easily come down. 5. There is blocking in the walls around all toilets and in the master shower in case we need grab bars. 6. My hand held shower is on a slide bar that is also a grab bar. 7. I have a free standing tub in the master across from the shower. If we ever need the extra space because of a handicap, it's easy to remove the tub to give easier access to the shower. 8. We are on a small infill city lot so had to go up. My studio is upstairs as is the guest bedroom/exercise room and the guest bathroom. Because of this, we put in an elevator. It's great for hauling boxes and suitcases up now, and it makes a great storage closet too for now. 9. All door knobs are not knobs but handles. 10. In the kitchen, all lower cabinets are drawers with the exception of my prep sink cabinet. 11. There are no floor transitions. While we do have tile in our mudroom/friends' entry and in the bathrooms, it's all on the same plane as our wood floors. 12. The shower is curbless in the master. There's more but you can start to get the idea. I learned this lesson when I watched my very active Mom develop Parkinson's disease starting at age 72. This was a woman who went to the gym 5x a week and on the days she didn't, she walked on her treadmill or walked around her neighborhood. Near the end even the one step into the house was like climbing Mt. Everest. Luckily because she too had planned ahead, she was able to stay in her beloved house until the last 6 months of her life.

@3onthetree said "Love the attitude too, of "we're open to changes that get the best result." The checkbook usually is the judge and jury, but always good to think about stuff." --I have strong ideas, weakly held. I know what I like, and come up with lots of suggestions, what if this, what if that? Everyone on the team has been explicitly told to push back on these and tell me which ideas are bad, too expensive, etc. and offer up better solutions. We're we very interested in having steel I-beams suspended across the family area, but the cost, complexity, and mass are too high, so we're going to use box beams, possibly metal clad. "I'd probably check on that existing balcony structure. If it's a pole barn frame, then the balcony may only have a ledger and those brackets holding it up, rather than cantilevered." --Nice intuition. The balcony is supported by very large L shaped wooden beams. Too expensive to replace with cantilever, but we're going to reduce the visual mass by using steel angle iron and plates. " The entry is tall, vaulted and skinny. I might try to re-orient the Powder block to give a better proportion of vertical space..... Seeing through from the Foyer all the way to the Laundry door may not be the best view, maybe move the door and the skylight at the end draws your eye." --We will have an interior door at the end of the hall so you don't see the laundry room, and make that section of house more private. Reorienting the power room doesn't work. My office entry is in the hall in the entry, and moving it to the interior hall doesn't feel right to me. "Wine display/bar, which should be the "WOW." I like @Hannah Wolfson idea of moving the bar here. A groin vault ceiling, with brick groins (the 'ribs'). It's kind of a purposeful "ante-room" to the Living and turning into the Master Suite. So the essence of Napa with wine, brick, and vaults right away, then with glass in hand move forward to the . . . ." --Brick is out. We're very modern inside. Moving the wine display elsewhere is under consideration. "Maybe visual straight out the window to the pool area/fountain". --The pool is to be centered out from the kitchen/family room currently, not the dining area. "Why do you have a 9' flat ceiling in the Living?" Excellent question: that's the current ceiling. This was heavily discussed over the past week. The option was to slope from 9' to 12' into the family area. The view from all was that flat was more modern: "The only good angle is a right angle." (Yes, I know there are angled walls into the master bedroom--the architects are reviewing for alternatives). " - What is the A/V along the wide hallway next to Theater Room? Can the Theater access with double doors into this hall? With a snack/beverage counter, or room for retro arcade games? A nice barrel vault ceiling?" --Not really AV. Just a temp label (Sorry, Mark). The entry to the HT has to be in the rear, not the side, for the best acoustical performance (and for the WOW factor when you enter and find yourself inside a Star Wars Death Star hanger deck).. Snack/beverage counter, arcade does not go with our 'look'. Spare, modern. "Have you done elevation studies? I see a lot of 'punched' openings creating a standard rhythm on each side." The upstairs window locations are under review this week.