Floor Plans, Floor Plans, and More Floor Plans

James and I have been looking and looking and looking at floor plans and have narrowed it down to two.  It's really  hard when there is not a model of the home to look at.  The numbers mean nothing to me.  I can't picture how spacious a room is going to be with furniture in it.  Well, I THOUGHT I could until yesterday.  We had the opportunity to tour a home that was built from one of the floor plans we had narrowed it down to.  It was nicely built and furnished but the space was not at all what we expected.  I have a 1905 home that is NOT an open floor plan.  But I like it.  It feels comfortable and not at all boxed in.  Based on the floor plan of this house we looked at, I thought it was more open and bigger rooms.  But the living room felt so much smaller than ours now.  The kitchen and master bedroom where what I was expecting, the master closet, too.  But the master bathroom... I am sure that was a miniature "garden" tub.  The dining area looked much smaller than I expected it to, also.  The kids bedrooms were okay.  Anyway, we were disappointed that we didn't love it as much as we thought we would.  The other house that we have narrowed it down to is not available to look at right now.  We did drive by it and I have absolutely fallen in love with the outside.  As soon as possible, we hope to look inside.  I will for sure cry a river if it is not what I think it is.  After seeing the inside of the other one, we have compared the room measurements and layout and we're pretty sure it is much better.  I guess we will be starting the floor plan search over if it's not better! 

How do people build homes without having ever seen a model of it?  I would have been SO disappointed if we had just gone with the first floor plan without looking at this family's home first.