I got an email in response to my nasty letter of complaint about comments and photos not posting or disappearing. This was from the customer support department of Houzz, and written by a person as a followup to the canned reply that comes immediately. It basically contained that tired and worthless advice about having up to date, compatible software, blah, blah, blah. They suggested using Chrome. I wrote back saying their stale advice didn't work for anyone, they were losing forum members right and left, and they needed a new IT department. How can they not have received these same complaints many times already? I don't think they even have an IT department. Maybe they are going bankrupt. Wouldn't be surprised. Diane

Mcarroll16 - I am over here laughing because I think what you have in mind may just be our current layout (attached). Maybe we are crazy to want to change it, but we really wanted to open the hallway up so we aren’t constantly walking through the dining room to get to the kitchen. And I’m doing that, we lose our big pantry, so that’s why we added the storage in the butler’s pantry. We were also worried that lengthening the kitchen without adding a door half way through would make it feel way, way too long. I can definitely see why the original layout makes more sense though; the lost space is indeed driving me crazy. What if we were to make the lower vat cabinet extra deep? Like 36 inches? We could have a the upper wall at 24 so the top and counter are normal but do reinforced pull outs for all the liquor down below? I’m willing to sacrifice the other space by the exhaust but really want to do something useful with the part behind the bar.

@patrickaz Our architect has said something similar - lines on a paper, easier to change now. Since this post I have decided that truly the basement is the best option due to our land (architect would agree) and we can't afford to do that or the giant crawl space a non-basement home would require and the extra foundation/roof/an additional room would cost. After posting on here about the basement, I've come around to it and am more excited about it now, AND don't have to go back to the architect and say "I know I said 3 bedrooms, but let's do four!" When I look at our original concept vs the changes, it is VERY similar - we did request a redo of the exterior elevation, but most of the rooms are in the same place (minus flipping the master bedroom with the master closet & bathroom - pretty much within the walls), and a few flow changes. I did have him switch the kitchen and dining once (one was where the kitchen and family were open to each other, the other flipped it to where dining and family room were open to each other) and had him change it back to the first option after seeing it on paper. I'm a visual learner! We also started with using an unfinished upstairs as bonus space, with just a partial basement for the shop, but then realized cost wise that didn't make sense, we needed to use the full basement space and no upstairs after seeing the bids come back and what the upstairs were costing. Changing things due to budget is definitiely in the contract. Now I just find myself looking at nitpicky things like door swings and window placement, which I guess aren't really nitpicky. I try to send or discuss all my updates in one meeting or e-mail depending on if it needs a discussion, but do find myself feeling guilty when I say "Change the door swing of this" or "move the table showing in the drawing, that's not how I would arrange it" (not an actual plan change, it was off center on a main wall making the scale of the kitchen look weird on paper)... but I want to envision everything as it would be! We are very very close now to the final thing so I'm feeling better. We started last July however I took an 8 month hiatus in between there to have a baby so we really haven't been working on it that long. Still, would not recommend working on a custom home while pregnant or within 6 months or so postpartum - ha!

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