After fiddling with our house plans, I finally was able to shrink and paste together this rendition showing the front elevation. The back of our lot has a gentle slope, so we're taking advantage of it to put in the walk out basement. We offset the entrance to the 24' x 8' front porch to the side by the garage so as to have less steps to climb. The little bay window is Ann's bedroom ... to the left ... Nathan's room ... and further left ... a window over my soaking tub (complete with a shade!) .. To the right of the bay, we have foyer windows ... the entrance door with sidelights and a transom window above. Below the front porch is the visible walk out basement. The garage is a side load with a bonus room above. This has been quite a process to design the entire home. We must have looked at 1500 floor plans before picking up enough ideas to try designing it ourselves.
Mrs. Mac's house sketch 7/06

What a most exciting time I had today selecting cabinets for the new kitchen. Depending on the budget, we will either go with the simple door in colonial white (lighter cream than shown) and have the back of peninsula and end cabinets faced in beadboard of the same color... both having a slight glaze. For three of the bathrooms and laundry room, I'm going with a nice hickory with a nutmeg finish. The variations of the wood grain and patterns are beautiful and will fit in with our woodsy area (this should make dh happy as he likes wood). The master bath will also be of the colonial white as my bedroom furniture is painted antique furniture in a light cream color with worn edges.
Top photo is of my bedroom in my old home

Since the last post: (1) secured a all-in-one construction loan. (2) Plans are approved from the engineer's office (hooooooraaay!!!) (3) Builder and I went to property to draw up an elevation plan to work from. (4) Received septic permit in the mail. (5) While at property, foraged for raspberries ... tons , will be back tomorrow with a bucket :) .. and spied a few patches of huckleberry bushes (top secret location).