3' minimum if you want a solid hedge, 5' is okay if you plan on letting it grow unpruned, but I wouldn't go more than that unless you want to walk between the plants.

Actually transpiration takes place during Photosynthesis (during light), and photosynthesis triggers the transpiration process. "Although photosynthesis can happen in different ways in different species, some features are always the same. For example, the process always begins when energy from light is absorbed by proteins called photosynthetic reaction centers that contain chlorophylls." Transpiration is a process similar to evaporation, it's how the plant sucks up the water (and nutrients) from the roots, and eventually evaporates out small pores in the leaves and stems. "Mass flow of liquid water from the roots to the leaves is caused by the decrease in hydrostatic (water) pressure in the upper parts of the plants due to the diffusion of water out of stomata into the atmosphere." "The rate of transpiration is directly related to the degree of stomatal opening, and to the evaporative demand of the atmosphere surrounding the leaf. The amount of water lost by a plant depends on its size, along with surrounding light intensity,[2] temperature, humidity, and wind speed (all of which influence evaporative demand)." And no georgeiii does not have a good point. By that definition (and/or logic) a glass of vinegar has brains when you add a tablespoon of baking soda to it. That has a chemical reaction and therefore would be considers brains. So no, just having a chemical reaction and or electrical impulse is not the definition of having brains. No, the ability to think and reason involves the need for somthing called brain cells (also called gray matter to some people). The ability for a Venus Flytrap to close in on a fly is not a thought it had. It's a reaction to the fly triggering a spring like mechanism in the stem of the plant. The devouring of the fly is just the fly dissolving in a chemical given off by the plant. A plant will continue to grow roots, stems and leaves no mater what, and not just because a root was cut. There is no brain cells involved, and there has never been a plant dissected that has ever been shown to have one single brain cell. Any distinction between so called plant brains and reality is just wishful thinking. As well as probably the result of some deep thought about the meaning of life, and trying to make sense of it. But is simply not based on any actual real science, or reality.

If limiting the square footage is a budget issue, be sure also to limit the number of exterior corners on the design and keep the roof line from getting complicated. I agree that 5x9 would be the smallest to make the bathrooms. I spent years designing our house before we finally built it. My guiding thoughts were: views, traffic flow, function, and cost. HA! on that last one, although I achieved all of the others. I finally achieved what mighyanvil mentioned above so that when you walk through a room to get to another room, you can avoid most hallways. There's great circular flow through all of the first floor areas; the master bed room is the only dead end area. I like entry halls with rooms off of all sides, so ours has a hallway similar to but larger than the one bevangel drew, with the study to the left on that corner of the house, the living room straight back and on the other left corner of the house, the kitchen off the back right of the entry, and the dining room behind it. So the first intentional hall has the front door with sidelite, a bench to the left, then the double pocket door to the study, then the closet. Straight ahead is the entrance to the living room, and to the right is the kitchen pocket door, and then a longer wall for a small table and a few pictures. The other intentional hall in the shape of an "I" is on the other side of the kitchen/dining rooms. Since I can't post a drawing, let me just say that it's one of my favorite things about the house. Going clockwise from the top left, there's the door from the DR, a door to the back patio, a door to the MBR (that's behind the 3 car garage), the up stairs, a mail sorting cabinet, a bench with 3 drawers and hooks and cabinets above, the down stairs, the garage door, laundry door (laundry has a pass thru to the pantry which has a pocket door to the kitchen), coat closet, kitchen door, cleaning closet, powder room, and a back patio/misc. closet. Last night there were 5 adults and 5 kids under age 6 coming, going, and talking in the front part of this area at the same time, and everything moved very smoothly with no bottle necks. The stairs come into the middle of the 2nd floor and lower level so there are no halls there. Can you make reduced copies of the architects plan and draw on them to figure out where you'd move walls, eliminate square footage, reposition rooms, etc.? Or find a close enough plan by doing a search on one of the many sites, narrowing down the hundreds of choices to a couple that you could rework into an approximation of what you'd like? Then you'd have something to guide the new architect you choose. There are so many variables that can make designing the right home very time consuming, I don't see how architects ever come up with a final plan for anyone! Anne

Thanks tfons1219. I was wondering about the how one is able to comfortably rest against the back. Funny thing is you can't always go by what you see out there because so many things are done "less than ideal" on other peoples pools in my area, it's hard to know what is correct or more desirable. Also, I've mostly seen the brick done back to back. You mentioned you did your overhang at 1 & 1/2 inches. How wide was your stone facing at its thickest? Since ours can extend as much as 2 inches do you think we should go based on the maximum thickeness? Has anyone else use stone facing with a wide thickness variance? What exterior overhang did you go with?