FBG...more intrigue, can you give me Readers Digest version of what you have planned? I have been doing searches for small town organics collection just to see how others are doing it. Both from a collection point of view and the composting process (in-vessel, windrow, bunker, ???) Lloyd Well my friend, (if I may be so bold) I visited Portland, Oregon in October to see the newest grandson. Portland has a trash/recyling/composting program that is very close to world class. The company I work for is a participant in this public/private partnership. I'm reading and modifying contracts and such to suit the locale. Having been formally in sales, I intend to pitch this idea to county, municipality, and the company I work for. The absolute worst that can be said is no. I have presented outlines of plans already that would start a composting site of the magnitude I think needed, and have requested a capital investment of $10 million dollars for land aquisition, buildings, equipment purchase, and the first years labor costs. This would be thermophilic composting in windrows with forced air to increase the oxygen levels deep in the windrows. I have also been reading about remediation of contaminated soils using similar methods. There seem to be many branches of this tree that can be applied commercially, if only I can get corporate backing. I've been told I'm being very bold for an employee with less than 1 years tenure. I am also preparing a proposal to use the methane gas produced by our local landfill(s) to produce electricity to power our local offices. Currently, it is just burned off. I was told at orientation to think green. 'They' may come to regret that. I wish to thank the others that have 'butted in'. please continue to do so.

They are 30'ish. If you haven't thought of it yet, you might consider heirlooms, or family hand me downs. I had a friend who at 50 had to drastically downsize and I helped her organize and sort though her enormous household of accumulated belongings. She wanted to toss or donate a whole ceder chest full of linens and a cigar box that had her grandfathers single edge shaver a pocket knife along with some other low priced mantiques that had been handed down and held onto. I told her no no no -don't toss, give them to the kids. She had a son and daughter in their mid twenties, and even though they were both renters, I suggested she offered them to her kids first. She didn't think they would want them, but I convinced her to at least ask them before chucking the lot. For the son, the simple gift felt like a coming of age moment, and the prefect time in his life to connect to his ancestors. The mantiques were small enough he could set them on his dresser, or tuck them in a drawer. I told her that every girl would like at least one nice table cloth and napkins, even if they're only used for a single Valentines day in her lifetime. She had a brunch and invited her daughter and her daughter's friends, where they sipped champagne and pawed through the doilies and table cloths and all the girls went home with something special, while the woman had a chance to tell the stories connected to the pieces. As far as a beginner household, a large matching set of tupperware replaces all those sour cream containers you can never find a lid to fit tightly on. A ladle, for some reason is the type of thing folks buy last like wise a whip. But a really good, heavy vegetable cutting knife always seems like an extravagance once you start shopping for them, so it's another purchase often put-off indefinitely (look for 3 rivet handle). And as simple as it seems, several matching dishtowels (4-6) washcloths (4-6) with matching pot holders make a kitchen look special, even if you are buying them at the dollar store. This post was edited by Lilylore on Sat, Oct 25, 14 at 13:25

Mine is more of a mud hallway that connects my garage to my kitchen. It's about 6 feet wide and I have shelves on one side, hooks on the other. I'll post the shelf wall below. The shelves on the left (actually you can't see them because they are above the bulletin board) are 10 inches deep and the shelves on the right are 16 inches deep. This hides the 6-inch bumpout of the refrigerator on the opposite side of the wall (hope that makes sense). The black cabinet is a shoe holder from Ikea and the colorful boxes are from Crate and Barrel. I already had the magnetic bulletin board and it fit perfectly.

Bedroom furniture does not take nearly the same abuse that kitchen cabinetry does. The durability of the finish should not be much, if any, of an issue.