kats - thanks for your suggestions. Nope, we're no where near finalizing anything, unfortunately. I've actually told my designer that I'm taking a break for a few weeks to reconsider everything. This plan just does not wow me at all and if I'm going to spend a bunch of money building my 'dream home' I want to really LOVE it, kwim? I have been rethinking the steps to the master, and I think I am going to nix them. I love the idea of something different like that, but I think it probably should be eliminated for practical reasons (I really hate being practical though!) I don't really care too much about resale at this point, because we plan to be here for at least the next 15ish years. And we're on 10 acres of land where land in our area is a definite premium and highly sought after. But even so, I'm not going to build something totally undesirable for the next person. chisue, we are building in central IL. weedyacres, thanks for your thoughts about the bathroom. I do like your suggestions about rotating the shower. I'm still undecided on a j&j bath. Some people love them and others hate them. So I'm not sure... I definitely agree with you on the storage issue! I need to add LOTS of closets and built-ins. Unfortunately, we can't dig the foundation lower since we're so swampy around here. We're not in flood plain, but our sumps run CONSTANTLY in our current house. So we were thinking of other ideas on how to still have a basement (we need one due to tornadoes) but possibly not going down as far. any other ideas? My dilemma is what to do with the center of the home. Most all plans I've seen have the great room in the middle of the home, but we want ours bumped off the back with lots of windows. We don't need 2 great rooms, so what do we put in the middle? I also need to have my kitchen on an ext. wall because I want lots of windows above my sink. I do agree with you on the choppiness though, so I'm probably going to nix this plan and start over. ugh. the e-space is more of a homework/blogging space for my 3 kiddos and I. I don't want them to have computers in their bedrooms, so I need for this space to be centrally located so I can keep an eye on their computer use :) thanks again for all the input! I keep surfing house plan sites hoping I'll stumble upon the perfect plan, but after 3-4 years of searching I'm not very hopeful...

Maximizing resale value here is putting away the plans and moving. You are planning a very expensive remodel here that you will NEVER recoup the costs from. Which is OK if you plan to live there long term or are willing to pay for the increased livability as an expense and not an "investment". But, be very very sure you completely internalize that statement before moving forward with your plans.

Thanks to all for your thoughts! I think I'm sold on the wreaths in the windows idea, with a single tree or some other kind of decoration to the left of the double doors on my porch. I am afraid of ladders and the roof, and was hoping someone would have some magic extension pole product I hadn't heard about. darn it! My christmas tree will show through that big front picture window--do I still need wreaths on it? Or should I just do lighted garland somehow? We have aluminum siding so nails or staples are not possible. Do those 3M hooks work on aluminum? How do you all attach wreaths to windows? Again, the bottom floor double hungs will be easy, but I'm much more concerned about the second story double hungs. Also concerned about the wreaths blowing all over the place in the wind. Regarding the porch, should I get a tree or just a small topiary to the left of the doors? I really want to go nuts, at least as much as I can afford to within my budget which is somewhat limited. Regarding the japanese maple--we just had it trimmed (it hadn't been maintained in YEARS) and so it's looking sort of sad right now. It might still work to decorate it with lights ,but it doesn't look now as it did in the picture. I want to also hit the mailbox with some decorations, but not sure what yet. thanks to all for the ideas so far!! Judithva, I adore that house you posted--would love to achieve something close to that look!

I have four kids so I understand the appeal of 5 bedrooms, but as my kids got older, I wanted them less close to me and my bathroom - especially my bathroom:) My daughters like my nice tub. Now that they are older and come and go more on their own, they clomp up and down the stairs while I'm trying to sleep. What seems wonderful when they are little gets claustrophobic when they are older. The full bath in the hall is enough for 3 bedrooms to share. Sometimes we have had minor skirmishes - but again, I think it helps the kids learn to get along and be thoughtful of each others schedule. When I take my daughters to Parade Homes, they always point out how many bedrooms have their own bathroom - and I remind them grandma had one bathroom in a family of 7:) If that 5th bedroom is primarily for guest, nanny, mother-in-law visits or older child mostly at college, having it set up a little off from the rest of the family is a positive - especially if it can have its own bath. That might not be in the budget right now. We did not finish the basement and add the 5th bedroom till much later and some of our kids shared rooms for many years, which I think was good for them. Having 5 bedrooms has not much increased the value of our home - though the nicely finished basement did. With small families the norm these days, homes with excess bedrooms do not necessarily have more value. A guest bedroom is best if it is a little separate from the family - and that does have some value. We also thought of putting the master over the garage and making our old room the 5th bedroom. By the time we could afford the expansion, We wanted less kids upstairs with us, and it was less money to use existing unfinished space. If your laundry is presently in the basement, bringing it up to the second floor makes sense. Be sure the area used is up to the task of supporting a washer. Some second floor washers bounce around a bit because of too much flex in the floor joist. They can be strengthened to handle the job.