I know I don't post too often in here, but I've heard you talk about that staircase many times as a dream wish list item...which would make me closely consider trying to find a way to have it.

In one home we built, we speced skylights over two washrooms where windows were prohibited--too close to the side lot lines.

After six years of looking through regularly soiled skylights, ravens pecking on the plastic, excess outside sound (and water) and the occasional roofer wandering by as my wife left the shower, natural overhead light grew progressively unappealing. Didn't miss skylights at all anywhere in the next house. From that one, we learned that high-end appliances aren't always all they're cracked up to be. (Much like the Porsche in the driveway.)

Formal sitting room- gave up but increased size of living room, added more windows and a special spot with a window just for where I can put my tree.

Formal dining room- gave up but got larger kitchen with and eat in corner banquet with windows above on both sides and an island with more seating.

Separate bathrooms for my son and daughter- They have a jack n jill ( I know not popular here), with private vanities so they will only share toilet and tub.

We are building in California on a small budget, so the rooms I had to give up were in order to stay within budget , around 2500 sqf and still be able to have my top priorities of lots of windows, nice finishes and solar power.

I always wanted a place for a really tall Christmas tree! You know, a 16 to 20 footer! Always envisioned a huge two story foyer with a beautiful L shaped staircase wrapping around it and room for a tall tree right in the middle... with enough room left over around it to welcome guests and move from room to room. I realize now that I'd have had to have a foyer the size of most living rooms. LOL!

Ended up deciding that 10 ft ceilings through-out the downstairs were going to have to be tall enough and that I'd rather use the upper space that a 2 story foyer would waste on useable upstairs rooms. So, no tall entry foyer and no 16 ft Christmas trees. Haven't really missed it. The 9 footer we now get takes plenty long enough to decorate!

We're not done building yet, but so far, the only thing to get cut was a fireplace. There are several reasons, including money, of course. The biggest reason though was that a fireplace just doesn't work well with a small, tight, well-insulated house. A regular fireplace is hard to prevent from being a huge energy waster, and efficient wood stoves put out way too much heat. We don't have natural gas available, and propane scares me.

We will scratch that itch, though. I bought an antique mantel, and I'm just going to mount it to the wall. It occurred to me that if I bought one of those old cast iron 'summer covers' that they put over fireplaces, no one would be the wiser that there wasn't actually a fireplace there. My wife will still have a mantel to decorate for Christmas.

Time will tell whether or not I ever get to all of the moldings and wainscoting I have planned......

We have an interior powder room and we put a motion sensor light switch on it so you don't really notice that it has no natural daylight. It's not lie we spend a lot of time in there, and neither do our guests. We have an interior laundry room and dressing room area and we put solar tubes in there and it does brighten them up.

We managed to get pretty much everything we wanted out of the plan. I can't really remember any significant trade-off we faced that we didn't resolve.

Yeah, the staircase open to the living area has been on my wish list since Day 1 . . . but with this plan, ain't gonna happen. And I really like the rest of this plan. That's the one that stings.

No to solar tubes -- the powder room is solidly in the center of the house and has a whole second floor above it. Just can't happen.

The motion-sensored lights are probably the best answer. I have them now in my laundry /pantry, and I LOVE THEM. I love that they come on automatically when I have my hands full of dirty clothes, and I love that they turn off automatically 10 minutes later. No down side to that choice!

I'm also thinking that perhaps I'd do a "fake window" in there . . . you know, something small with mirrors /curtain. I'd put it a bit higher than eye level so it wouldn't be like staring at yourself when you walk in.

As for fireplaces . . . I have always had LARGE fireplaces, and I do understand their pros and cons. To tell the truth, we rarely use ours. In all honesty, though, I want it more for the LOOK than the function. I think I could be perfectly happy with a "fake".

I have considered a "fake fireplace" in the bedroom, which I would fill with flowers in the summer and candles in the winter.

Interesting to read people's thoughts about skylights and solar tubes. The only space in our whole house that won't have natural light is our guest bathroom. My builder steered us away from solar tubes but said a skylight would be okay and wouldn't cost but a few hundred dollars. I wanna go for it, but hubby wonders about leaks and such.

Worthy, I agree on the high end appliances. We have them now in our current house, but now it's 'been there, done that.' Like Goldilocks, we've learned from our ski house that carefully selected mid-range appliances can be 'just right' and that's what we will do when we build.

Some will find it surprising that one thing we've learned we can live without is a coat closet. I don't know how many times I have seen people commenting here completely aghast reviewing a plan without a coat closet. We live in the south where coats are needed about 3 months of the year (and not even everyday then) but even in our Colorado ski house where I might wear jackets even on a summer evening we actually had the coat closet (junk catcher) removed. I really much prefer our nice, sturdy, coat hooks in the mud room and foyer for guests and every day jackets and that other coats be kept in our individual closets. Funny story, my mother has a cool hidden coat closet in near her side entrance. About a month ago, while chatting with my 30 year old nephew and reached over and pushed the hidden panel and opened it. Nephew (who grew up visiting frequently) was shocked - he didn't even know the closet was there - and the only coat in the closet was a fur that I bet Mom hasn't worn in at least 40 years.

Worthy, I totally agree with you on the appliances. They're more of a "this is for the look" than for the function. Not worth the extra cost, which is pretty significant.

Also agree on the coat closet, but then I'm also Southern. We have a hall tree for coats, and it's fine. I think I'd rather have coat hooks on the wall, but a pocket door makes that choice impossible (I'm talking about my current house).

Mrs Pete, could we see the plan? Even if you can't have a staircase in that plan seeing everything else you like about it might make someone else think of a different houseplan that could work. I'd hate to see you lose a number one wish!

Funny you two say that about the coat closet. I'm a northern transplant to the south. We are building and the #1 need/want on my list was coat closets! The house we're renting doesn't have one and it drives me CRAZY! I had hooks and a coat closet in the north and I plan to have both againâ¦.I miss the coat closet. We've been renting for 3 yrs now so we've had plenty of time to get used to it and adjust, and I still miss it! :)

Didn't get my generator...GENERAC panel is in and all wired and ready to go but too many other priorities.

Aimless, it doesn't make any sense that your builder is fine with a skylight for only a few hundred dollars but won't do a solatube. Solatubes are much cheaper and can be used in spots where sky lights can't.

I'm currently wishing we'd made our staircase smaller. The architect designed them, and I didn't know any better. Now that we have a hole where the stairs will go, I see it takes up about a quarter of our space, and all the trades comment on how oversized it is. We talked to the architect about making them smaller, and he talked us out of it, calling anything smaller "entry level". We're now having temp stairs built and they're telling us they've never seen such a big staircase. Granted, they only do builder grade stairs. But we don't have a big house, so big stairs seem like a silly waste of space and money.

amberm145, how wide are your stairs? If you want to use the extra space, perhaps you can build them out with bookshelves so that the space can double as a library?

We did not get solar panels because we decided to keep as many trees as possible. It is okay!

MrsPete, I am rooting for your staircase. You have some time to figure it out, right?

Hmm, I not happy with a few things, but as they can't be changed, guess I'll deal. Wished our room and the laundry room were bigger. So far no coat closet but think we have a spot to put one in. As well, wished for separate or a jack-and-jill for our girls, but just didn't happen, but at least they have their own sinks.

In our original plan, we really wanted a 3-season room, but cut it out as a cost saver. Then 3 yrs later, we went ahead and had the deck converted to a 3-season room, and of course it probably cost 3X as much as if we had done it in the first place.

We live in zone 3, so a coat "room" was a must have for me. It's about 10X8 I think (not square); one side is all shelves for storage, and the other side is all coat rack. I will admit that sometimes it's a bit of a clutter catcher, but better there than someplace else. DH is involved in many civic organizations, and there is so much "stuff" that he stores for them. And that's where it goes. Lots of baskets on the shelves for gloves, hats, scarves, etc. And extra small appliances from the kitchen that I rarely use, also are stored here.

Love our solatubes. Unlike skylights, you won't see the dirt and bird droppings that are on the outside.

This has been a fun topic. Interesting all this about coat closets. We have one. It's full of coats.... old coats. The ones we actually wear usually are on a coat tree. I can't even see the back or the bottom of the coat closet at all.... LOL. I've always wondered about not having one at all.
Staircases.. I usually think of them as being a waste of space as well. Trying to find a balance of 'dramatic' or 'beautiful' and not 'gigantic waste of space' is a difficult thing.
Things I want in a new house: A real fireplace. A huge one really. An office of my own. (right now its a capture room off my son's bedroom).
My Wife wants a craft room.
I keep going back and forth about a high ceiling somewhere. The dreamer side says why not, but the practical side of me says its a real waste.

Amb, Why on earth do builders build TEMPORARY stairs? That sounds wasteful. I'm sure I'm missing something big. If your perm. stairs aren't "in" yet, couldn't they cut down the size? Give an extra foot to the nearby room, add a closet . . . or something?

Yeah, size of the pantry, laundry room, bathrooms . . . those are things upon which I'm not willing to negotiate. This is to be our retirement home, and I want adequate size. I'm tired of scootching up sideways to reach in the dryer.

Yes, Joyce, I understand your point about coming back later to do things . . . at three times the price. Budget isn't a big sticking point for us, though I do insist upon good value! So I want to do it right the first time!

I can relate to the closet full of old coats! We have a TINY coat closet . . . located so conveniently past the great room, down the hall next to the master bedroom, a good 30' or so from the entrance! What a waste. For everyday use, we have a nice hall tree near the back door . . . and at the end of the winter I clean the coats and put them away into the PACKED little closet. In truth, I could throw out 2/3 of what's in there (nothing but old coats) and no one would ever notice.

I agree on the back-and-forth about the staircase: On the one hand, it's a necessity. I mean, you DO want to reach the second floor, don't you? On the other hand, it is a very expensive item and eats up more floor space than you might realize. Maybe that's why I want so badly to have it "open" to the great room . . . using it as a lovely spot to decorate for Christmas means it kind of pulls double duty, earns its keep . . . for a month out of the year anyway.

Yes, I'll post my plan within a couple days. At this moment I don't have a "pretty copy" to scan and post . . . and I'm not willing to show off my scribbles!

I've been kicking around the idea of opening up the staircase -- not to the great room as I wanted -- but to the small office. This would mean removing the office doors and making it open to the entryway . . . but we could insert a pocket door at the far end of the stairs so that the whole office /entryway area could be shut off for quiet. The issue here is that my husband likes to go into the office and blast his music -- and although I don't mind, he THINKS I mind, and he wants the ability to close himself off in a room. This would mean re-thinking the office . . . but it may be worthwhile. It wouldn't give me the staircase in the great room . . . but it would give me the same "Christmas look" at the front of the house, which I think might be a good alternative.

A chandelier lift for the Schonbek chandelier in the foyer with a 20 ft. ceiling, at the time the electrician was willing to install it for $800. Should have taken him up on it... scary to get up there on a ladder and clean those crystals by hand!

My master bedroom is 1100 sq. ft. and has a sitting room, an office and 2 huge room sized closets. Would have deleted either the sitting room or office, pushed the closets to the area where the office currently is so they would have natural light and extended the upstairs hallway so we could have had 5 bedrooms upstairs. We only have one child, but I think an extra bedroom would have been better for resale value one day!

I would have made my laundry room larger, I always wanted counter space to fold clothes on, instead I end up using my kitchen island. lol

Probably would have deleted my formal living room. It is never used.

Would not have added a shower in the downstairs powder room. It has been used in 15 years a total of one time. The thought was that if we ever had mobility issues it would have been nice to have a bedroom and full bath on one floor.

That's pretty much about it... we spent many months with an architect designing our home and we are very happy with it.