More good ideas from S's house

Security doors. The glass can be popped out easily and replaced with screens.

And a dog bath built in to the laundry room. The rim is about 9 inches higher than the interior tub; the rim is about 13 inches in height from the floor.

More good interior details...

Note the double doors in the defined entryway, and the large closet to your right as you enter.

Green technology that saves greenbacks

Geothermal heat pump. 50-70% less operating cost. Recoup extra install cost in 5 years (with tax credits).

No-brainer.

The other proximate cause of our house project

Radiant floor heating?

Discuss.

The proximate cause of our house project!

I love my friend Annie's dining room, especially the built-ins. The room is large and comfortable, conducive to long, happy dinner parties of all sizes. The view is great - it has windows all along one wall that look out over the porch and the woods. And it has a fireplace, which makes it very cozy in cold weather.

I am pretty sure that the first time I stepped into this room, our house-building project was set into motion. The built-ins run along an entire wall, as you can see, and provide not only storage/display space, but also a huge amount of sideboard room. This works as well for buffets as it does for sit-down dinners.

Annie's son, who does a lot of their cooking, likes the layout of the kitchen, especially the fact that there is plenty of room to chop things right next to the stove-top.

They've also got some good cabinet designs that they recommend - cookie sheet "filing" cabinets; broiling pan vertical storage just above the oven, and an "appliance garage" (I love that term) with a power outlet inside.

See?

More stuff we like

A nice big dining room. Like this one, maybe.

Time out

Here's what we learned today, in our third meeting with Jim: expect each meeting to take a few hours. I under-budgeted my time and ended up running out on Jim and David early, leaving them to discuss the kitchen. We spent a lot of time today talking about cars, car storage, views, placement of things like mud rooms and pantries, and we also talked about levels. All one level, for accessibility? Or multiple levels, for design? We're opting for the latter.