Hey, you gotta start somewhere! There's nothing wrong floros, they just aren't very aggressive and they create a very oddly-shaped light-sphere. Their effective range is around 4-6 inches at best. You really need to keep active growth areas in this realm. There are many tricks to take maximum advantage of long florescent tubes that are awkward to work with. There is a way of getting more light energy from long florescent tubes where you want it. Get foil tape (2' wide for T12 floros, 1' wide for T8s and make sure it has a clear adhesive) and very carefully stick it on the back side of your florescent tube which faces away from your plants and towards your reflector, directly on the bulb, be sure to avoid folds bubbles and wrinkles. Make sure the tape falls an inch or two short of the end caps as the bulb is hottest here and you definitely don't want the metal tape to create a short between the usually metal caps. If you got the tape on there nice and straight with a minimum of imperfections they will be noticeably brighter on the side facing your plants. This works by reflecting the photons directly back out the front side of the bulb instead of them coming out of the backside, hitting whatever reflector you have and then making their way back down to the plants. Its a bit tricky to do right, but yields a major advantage and can extend the effective range of a tube up to a respectable 8 inches. Many plants are also compatible with the supercropping technique, which is great to use on sprouts and the like before they go outside to get them nice and squat and bushy with massively thick stems which will support huge growth once in the great outdoors. You can check out the details on my indoor tomato thread I've linked to below. Oh, also, welcome! I've not been on the forums long myself, but I think you will find its a very supportive community. Here is a link that might be useful: tomato diary

A lot of curiosity might have been created during the msnbc special contrasting unusual behavior of people in Christendom against the backdrop of populations viewed as living a more practical existance. Behaviors cited as odd were among others,hoarding of obsolete objects(aka antique collecting),indulging in activities that don't further a greater good(aka entertainment) and , gulp , people who house and pamper worms inside their dwelling(aka vermicomposting). They never made it around to snakes or barnyard livestock so for the present they must be hip.

A hodge-podge of thoughts... I'm pretty sure we looked at this plan when we were trying to decide! The porches on the back seem closed off from each other. I would prefer to have the square footage open for entertaining. The front porches seem far from the kitchen and possibly not used nearly as much? Depending on the direction the house faces the Living area could possibly be very dark. I do love the optional gameroom. Bedrooms upstairs seem small. Our two bunk together and that area would work for them but would be tight. (We plan to keep them together for the time being, allowing the other two rooms to be play room and guest rooms). Our upstairs bath is small like the one upstairs in your plan. However we planned larger closets to allow for desk area in them for primping/storage - to keep it out of the bathroom. I grew up with that and loved it. The additional corners/bumpouts on the foundation will make it more expensive. Having the plumbing all over the house will be more expensive than having it generally in the same area. 12'x12'8" dining room... Our table is 4'x8' seating 6 without the extra leaves. Can be 4'x10'. Our table would not fit lengthwise in your dining room. We entertain a lot and need the additional seating. We wanted: 4 bedrooms, laundry in an accessable area, large kitchen and living room area with an open concept. Vaulted section (husbands elk mount - silly but what we wanted). Plumbing generally in one area. Large closets. Must have large pantry. Wrap around porch, Country living. We are outdoors most of the time. Function was extreemly important for us. Being on a farm and using the laundry to drop clothes and be near a shower was a necessity. Wanted tall ceilings (for the feel and to help with the wrap around porches and letting light deep into the house). Could NOT (!!!!!) find everything we wanted in the layout that worked with our views and driveway access. So we started drawing. We were aiming for about 2400-2500sq ft. We saved on keeping the foundation square, rooflines simple, and sub contracting out ourselves. We are dried in now and working on electrical and plumbing. :) Example of what we did. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=jennybc%20gardenweb%20&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&ved=0CD4QrAIwAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fths.gardenweb.com%2Fforums%2Fload%2Fbuild%2Fmsg0309084529850.html&ei=h0-fUcr7NYTc9QSFr4GwDQ&usg=AFQjCNFF3KXs5DfVIteq3OJlLSfsm5bNcw Didn't purchase plans. Bonus! Did have someone review the specs for beams and lengths for vaulted area, and roof support. I have to disagree with rosies: "And above all, wrap-around porches make the interior rooms gloomy all year, not just shadowy in summer, requiring artificial lighting all day long/all year long." No offense. There are so many reasons I think the statement is wrong I don't know where to begin. A house in the woods can be gloomy with no porches. A house with few windows is gloomy. I would say how the land lays in relationship to how sun rises and sets through the seasons AND the layout of the house in is much more improtant in determining the gloom factor. IMO I knew I wanted bright light in my kitchen in the morning. So I made sure the kitchen was on the back... etc. Keep these things in mind.

I think this topic will be rather a niche subject so have you considered doing a search for 'named' lighthouses? I am not familiar with those in the US but here in the UK we have several famous ones. The Eddystone, Bishop's Rock, Wolf Rock etc. and there is always the story of Grace Darling the daughter of the lighthouse keeper on the Farne Islands who rowed through a gale to rescue a stricken ship. Or maybe you could find something about R L Stevenson's (of 'Treasure Island' fame) Father, he was a famous lighthouse builder. Of course these might just lead you to Non fiction books, but they could be interesting. You could check out the website below for 'Trinity House' the organisation that controls all lighthouses/lightships round the English coast. Here is a link that might be useful: Trinity House