Refiguring and redrawing

We have been working with our architect and contractor to finalize not only our plans but keep our costs at a minimum. We would love to do all the things. If we had no monetary restraints and everything wasn’t so crazy expensive right now, we would love to do a full wrap around porch, sauna, walkout basement, individual rooms for all the kids, and the list could do on and on and on. 

However, Jay and I both firmly believe that our house is a tool. We want function over aesthetics, even though we do want to preserve our farmhouse charm. It’s a fine line to walk and we hope that as we update, we can also keep the heart of what makes our house so charming. 

We have been pouring over our current house plans, that include an addition that would be 3 levels (basement, main level and upstairs). It would add 2000+ square feet. We also dreamed of having a screened in porch, wood burning fireplace, walk-in shower/wet room, and wrap around porch. We got our bid back that was significantly high than what we were hoping for. 

So here comes that difficult part of the process, figuring out what we need to cut and what is absolutely essential for our family of 8 to thrive where we live.