One of the first tasks in planning our new home was to sit down with a bottle of refreshment and draw up a new-home "wish list."

We wanted to go through and include all of the rooms and options that we'd like to see in our dream home.

Our early list looked something like this:

John: Kick-ass home theatre with a dozen surround-sound speakers and sternum-shattering subwoofers, wall-sized High-Definition TV with 12,000 lines of resolution, and some other rooms like a kitchen and a bedroom. .. maybe a bathroom.

Rosanne: Gourmet kitchen with granite countertops, maple cabinets and walk-in corner pantry, large master suite with walk-in closet and en suite bathroom with separate toilet room, large vanity and soaker tub, and, finally, an indoor pool and sauna with oiled-up and muscular "pool boy" named Phillipe.

John: Phillipe, the pool boy?

Rosanne: Hey, you said "wish list," didn't you?

OK, so we got a little away from being practical in our list... Once we regained focus, we completed our homework. We first decided on the rooms we wanted in the plan.

We got the obvious out of the way -- comfortable living room with adjacent eating area and roomy kitchen.

Next up? Master suite with functional en suite bathroom that includes a soaker tub, shower, vanity, and separate toilet room with bidet (must be those European influences...). We also wanted a walk-in closet with lots of hanging space.

While we don't have children, yet (don't read anything into that parents or parents-in-law), we realized the need to allow for "future expansion."

We asked for a second bedroom with ready access to the main bathroom, and a laundry room nearby.

Finally, we wanted to have a den/office area off of the front entrance as a place for work, or relaxed reading and reflection.

Sarah Susanka, of Not So Big House fame (see last week's column), recommends including only the rooms you'll use. With that in mind, we decided not to bother with a formal dining area, a powder room or a third bedroom on the main level. We can add bedrooms in the lower level down the road, if the need arises.

Our designer, Angie Strike, wanted to take advantage of the southern exposure at the front-right of the lot. She added a jog to the facade to allow for corner windows at the sink in the kitchen.

She also placed the office/den at the front-right of the plan to allow for plenty of natural light.

Strike paid special attention to flow of the lot and what it offers -- an outstanding treed view to the rear.

She also did something that Susanka recommends in her Not So Big books to make the plan -- estimated at about 1,600 square feet -- feel bigger. You'll notice the diagonal views in the public area (kitchen, eating area and living room) are long and unobstructed. The longer the sight-line, the bigger the room feels.

Once we had the floor plan close to ready, Strike gave us an assignment before our next meeting.

We had to got through the plan room by room and make sure our furniture -- current and future -- would fit comfortably within the layout.

We took some graph paper, cut out all of our furniture to scale, and laid everything out.

Thankfully, there were no surprises, so it's on to the elevation drawings. This will be where the Craftsman look will come alive!