Hi Lavender.
I am loving our house and I find we do use most rooms.

The dining room we use for company and holidays but we always eat in there when we have guests.
The great room, we only use when we have wood burning fires which isn't too often only because I spend winters in FL (which wasn't planned when we built the house).

Every other room gets used every day.
I sit in the gathering room during the day, but retreat to the sunroom at night when DH has the TV on (I like that the rooms are right next to each other b/c we can still talk to each other through the doors but I don't have to have the noise all the time).
DH usually spends his time in the gathering room or kitchen breakfast nook since that has a comfy table and armchairs.
Conservatory/library, my dad visits and sits in there all day/night and I go in there to read sometimes.
Then the bedrooms of course, I love having the master on the first floor, I adore my big master bath and the dog room's functionality I miss desperately when in FL.
We didn't really need four bedrooms, could have gotten by w/ 3, but that wouldn't really be practical in a house this size I don't think.

I find I really enjoy having the space because everyone can do their own thing on the main floor w/o anyone having to retreat to a bedroom for quiet if they want it.

I think the big reason why I use mostly the whole house is that none of the spaces are redundant, each has its specific function (Gathering room & sunroom could potentially have been, but the sunroom has a daybed and the gathering room doesn't and I love the daybed later at night or for cuddling w/ the dogs w/ a book)

Long-winded answer, but I hope it helps! I haven't been on here as much lately, how is your project coming?

Beagles- Thanks for answering. I think your entire house is lovely, but the sunroom sounds like a great space! I can just imagine you all curled up with the beagles, on the daybed :)

Why do you spend time in Florida? Did your job situation change? I think I missed that, but I was gone a lot last year.

Sorry to butt in, but I've been meaning to ask beaglesdoitbetter....Do you know your kitchen is on a billboard on I-95?! I'm sure you know, but on the off chance you didn't I wanted to make sure I mentioned it, and let other GWs know you're famous! Well at least your beautiful kitchen is!

Were you happy with Imperial? I almost used them but found a marble I loved elsewhere.

lavender_lass, I spend winters in FL b/c it's too cold here! We were looking for a place to rent in two winters ago for three month and couldn't find any place that was available and would take the dogs.

With the real estate market in the area at the time, coupled w/ low mortgage rates, and the fact that I could avoid state income tax by becoming a Florida resident and living there for more than 6 months, it was actually cheaper to buy a house than rent one.

So now we have a FL house :) Although we're actually trying to sell that one and buy a different one on more acreage b/c I've discovered I truly detest suburbs and having close neighbors.

homebuyer23, yes we've seen the billboard, LOL. We were not expecting a billboard- we gave permission for them to use our kitchen in a magazine ad and then I was told a few weeks later it was up on a billboard as well. I was mostly happy w/ Imperial, they did a beautiful job on the marble sink and the price and selection were great. There were a few little glitches (one counter too far away from the wall) but they made everything right. (They did NOT do our island though, remember, b/c I wasn't confident in their ability to do a seam that I liked... We had our island done by Big Brothers Marble and Granite and their seam was absolutely out-of-this world fantastic).

This post was edited by beaglesdoitbetter on Wed, Oct 16, 13 at 18:29

Where on 95 is the billboard?

Wow! That is amazing!
I really enjoyed seeing your kitchen and house in real life!
I am bummed as flying into BWI instead of PHL on this trip

Are you planning to build again, in Florida? Maybe a different style of house this time? Would you change much...and how fun would it be to design the outside for year-round use? :)

joaniepoanie it is on the way to Philly airport, we were heading from Reading to Philly when we saw it.

Glad you liked coming to visit a2gemini. You're welcome at any time.

LOL, I would love to build again but I also want to stay married so I'm thinking that isn't going to happen right now. The new houses we are looking at are kind of equestrian-ranch style so it will be really different than this house (like Ralph Lauren Lodge style decorating I'm thinking). To get acreage near where we want to be, you need to be in an equestrian community. And I cannot, will not ever be on less than 4+ acres again and ideally closer to 5-6 minimum. I HATE having close neighbors!

We need to sell the existing FL house first, though, and we're still finishing up a bathroom remodel on the one we're selling. Hoping to put the current house on the market 12/27, ideally close and sell by April and then put our stuff in storage and buy the new house sometime over the summer before October of next year.