I've shared in a couple of other posts, but DW was having a really hard time with the custom home design process. She is extremely visual and needs to walk through and "feel" something before feeling comfortable on such a huge purchase and set of decisions. I'm basically the opposite and love the idea of starting with an architect and a blank sheet of paper to get EXACTLY what we want.

After going back and forth for months/years on this, we had a big breakthrough today. I finally helped her understand that we would never find a model or existing home with our exact requirements and that we really needed to trust our architect and builder to put our requirements down on paper.

This morning, she finally sat down with a sheet of paper and drew her own rough floorpan for the main and upper level. Instead of feeling pressured or out of control, she actually embraced the process that I find incredibly cool.

Anyway, this was a big step forward in our process. Taking a tract home suburban girl from the 'burbs to acreage and custom homes has been a challenge. Really starting to feel like we're on the same page, which is great. I know my wife pretty well and I honestly think we'll be able to breeze through decisions like cabinets, flooring, millwork, etc now that the floorpan is much clearer. Our tastes in style have grown very close together after 15 years of marriage.

Looking forward to sending the first draft from our architect to the forum for your valued feedback!