Hi Mark,
No one will ever fault you for doing God's work in caring for aging parents and relatives! Many of us have been there and the difference in importance between family and just a hobby becomes very clear.
You will likely find that no matter how much you think, design and redesign that your eventual layout will have some compromises that will irk you. My only suggestion is to list your priorities and go with the design that covers the most important ones.
We all wrestle with space issues, room conformation, features we want to squeeze in, etc. Compromises result. My priority was a layout than "runs" well. But, there are regrets afterward. However, all things considered, I'm lucky to have a nice layout at this point in my life. Now if I would only finish the scenery....
Good luck with your planning, and I look forward to your construction and completed layout photos.
Fred
