Speaking of Design...

I want to state a few things about our design.

1. We have beautiful views, especially to the back of our home. We wanted to ensure those views were as available as possible.
2. We like easy sight planes. For example, when you walk in the front door, we wanted a visitor to be able to see through the house out to the field and woods.
3. We wanted to make the house lighter. Some areas were quite dark, like the south bedroom. We live in upstate New York and the winter can take on a very dreary tone.
4. We wanted as much cross-ventilation as we could get, using doors, windows, and porches.
5. We considered the way we live now and plan to live, every day. We also considered ourselves aging.
6. We have decided on exactly which pieces of furniture were important to us (family pieces) and the rest of our needs will be served by built-ins.
7. We seem to have collections (some art work, pots, textiles) for which we wanted some display areas.
8. We needed as much storage space as possible, with an unusable basement and no attic. Yes we have a barn. But things get damp and musty in a barn and mice have a field day. We lost all our family's hand-knitted and hand-made Christmas stockings this year due to mice finding them in the barn and using them for their home.

Advice: Consider how you live and design for that.