"What if we removed the wall altogether? And just planted some ground cover where it would slope down? Of course, that's an option. One would need to weigh all factors and determine if it's the best option. To clarify, I didn't say earlier to get rid of the wall. I said--if you keep it-- you'd need to rebuild it to a higher standard in order for it to be an assett instead of a liability. I cannot go too easy on your proposed plan lindsroc because there are several faults in it and I'll list them ... first, remember that by landscaping you are making art. Instead of using plants and hardscape elements in a purely functional, engineering kind of way, your intent should be so make the scene attractive, too. In plan view there seems to be a decided lack of geometric cohesion within the scheme. The outside corners of the beds correspond to the lot (and the walk, street and drive) but the inside edges don't seem to go with anything else that's on the lot. An overall, thematic geometry should guide the shape of the beds and their connection to one another and their surroundings. complete confinement by bed of the front walk. And in that bed it looks like an "alternating" planting scheme. Such a scheme usually jumps out in real life as a fairly amateurish look. It would be better to create a well-planted island at the entrance to the walk and then leave a portion of the walk open. The large bed at the left half of the yard seems to have a scattering of plants (too much like "alternating" again) and the bed shape seems almost opposite what could help frame and create interest on the front of the house. It seems strange to have large beds but continue to retain isolated clumps of plants (Hosta and tree) separately in the yard. It would be better to put everything in beds. Large specimens might be the only exceptions. When I get a chance I'll give you some suggestions in graphic form. One another subject, I'm not intrinsically opposed to raised beds (your yard is kind of like one now) but I think one should question every aspect of creating such a bed before they set out to do it. There are so many inferior looking materials available and so many inferior ways of assembling them. Many raised beds, rather than being an assert to a property, appear as junk or clutter. Unless one is going to use quality materials and install them with professional quality care, it would be far better to do without them, their expense and the effort it took to create them.

I wanted to add my 2cents:) I agree with KathiG... I hate having to lower the price, when you could perhaps sell it at the listed price with some tweeking here and there. I am not sure what typical prices are in that area, and I didn't see a square footage listed, but I thought your house and yard looks great! Even in this market, (florida) we can't get a house like that for the price. That being said, I would strongly suggest getting a temporary storage unit to get rid of the big bulky furniture. It really makes the rooms look too small. I do think you should paint the kitchen cabinets white...when I first got married, my DH kitchen was horrible and dark..we did a quick fix before the wedding and painted it white and added new handles and it really did spruce it up! The rooms also need some splash of color whether it is in pillows, flowers, ect. I would like to see a nice taupe/beige etc. wall color to give it a warm cozy feel, but can see how that may be a bit much to do all the painting.. Your house is really nice and has a lot of potential.

Jenswrens, I hope you know that the meanness heaped on your previous plan was from us wanting you to have a really really great kitchen, not just a pretty one!! First impression, this is a much, much better plan, and should fine as is, though, as with most plans, some tweaking can probably improve it. I have been noodling around with your design and came up with nothing that worked. You've done a great job, and it's worth all your iterations and efforts. I love the way you've conserved your windows and gotten the wall space you needed for your tall units by reorienting. And I love your complex island. It's a little quirky, which makes the elegance of your design interesting. If you don't think you need two dishwashers, I don't think you do. The aisle size is fine for baby goats. I once did an analysis and decided that 40" bare minimum to not feel cramped and claustorphobic, and 54" the maximum not to be too wide. You're a couple of inches past that, but you have the "goats". It won't be bad. The biggest issue in that is landing space for the fridge, but that's something that can be worked with. Maybe a folding tea cart for the odd thing that's just too heavy to carry to the counter. Maybe just group effort. I think the hearth seating is going to be cozier than it looks in the drawing. Over and over I am reminded how seating doesn't look on paper like it takes up the amount of real room that it does in life. Plus, when you were drawing you left a nice, open passage between the hall and the porch. IRL, there will be a dog lying across that, at the very least. I really think by the time you're done decorating there will be plenty of cozy in the room, and you need the space that's currently empty. (Says the one with the big rooms--maybe it's just the big roomness that's making it feel uncozy. You want a big room. The agoraphobia will pass.) Why is mudroom junk visible? Can't you put in a door? Doors are really useful barriers to unwanted sights. The other thing you could do is just put a small partition wall inside of the doorway to block the sight through. Or if you're trying to let in light, make a textured glass partition there. That is, something sticking out of the South wall, about 3-4' wide, that people have to go around to get to the mudroom proper and blocks people seeing in. A partial vestibule, if you will. Or even a decorative, freestanding screen. I see the value of making the porch bigger though. Do you need a powder room there? Do you want people not crossing the hearthroom to to other powder room? Or do you want to move that (I forget). But, if you make the porch bigger, how do you enter the mudroom? I think you could design something like a potting bench on top and a pet station under counter height that would serve both purposes and make maximum use of your extra mudroom space. I don't imagine that one would usually want to be doing gardening tasks and feeding both at the same time, so sharing the space seems natural. Okay, my big question is about the wine room. A window? Really? The North wall helps, but I wouldn't even want the wine on an outside wall. You're going to need plenty of extra insulation there. AHA!!! If the powder room is in the mudroom, would that be okay for company to use? If so, you could remove the powder room as shown, move the wine room to the interior, and make part of the current wine room into your pantry. Pantries aren't fond on windows either, but most pantry foods don't mind small changes in temperature, whereas you should keep wines at even, nonfluctuating, temperatures. Light isn't great for either, but you can do a temporary solution for that, like blackout film, if you don't want to take out or board over the window altogether. The dishes don't go in those pretty glass fronts? and the drawers below them? The problem with dishes on the island shelves is enthusiastic tails and cat hair. You could add doors. As to the rest of the kitchen proper? Is that the two microwaves between the glass fronts? They're pretty there, but I usually use the microwave on stuff right out of the fridge or freezer. If you do too, that distance could be a bother. I don't think there's room for them on the other side though, and splitting up the MWs and the coolers, and putting one of each on each wall breaks up the pretty. When I first looked at the plan, I thought the appliances between the glass fronts were double ovens. If so, those are okay there. Most things that go in ovens start out as pots or trays on counters, and you have the single near the stove for moving between those. If the double are really the microwaves, I might trade the single oven with one of the microwaves. But that depends on how you cook and live. What's more important? An oven by the stove, or a microwave by the fridge? Maybe a little MW near the fridge for defrosting a bagel and melting butter, with a big one on the other side? I stand by the first thing I said, though. No matter what might not be perfect in this plan, I could live with it as is. Everything but the window in the wine room.

I'm running out now, but I wanted to quickly show you what LRy511 did in her kitchen. I'm also building from a modified Don Gardner plan and I'm changing my kitchen to an L-shape with an island. I had the sink on the island first but struggled with the openness so I moved it to a wall where it would be blocked by the island a bit from the great room. Here's a draft of my plan to give you an idea. Without seeing your plan, I doubt you need a door from the kitchen to the dining room. Can you easily cut through the foyer to get there? My current kitchen/breakfast nook/family room is almost identical to the one in the original plan. My kitchen seems dark, but that is because there are only 4 can lights and 2 pendant lights over the peninsula. Make sure you have plenty of can lights and under cabinet lighting and you'll be fine. I think you're wise not to have the 2-story living room. You'll still get plenty of light from all those windows on the back. BTW, my current house plan is very similar to the one you are proposing, except we don't have the first floor master. In our plan the stairs go off the the bottom left corner of the family room and take up the space you have as a hall between the LR and FR. That opens up the foyer a lot. It's something you might consider if you can find another doorway to the master. Of course it might not work with your second-floor layout, but I thought I'd mention it.