Yay!! Painted wood was our first instinct too but I didn't want it to seem like "cheaped out". holligator- I never even considered having it just drywalled like the other 3 sides of the opening, shoot!... too late now for that unless I want to do it myself (which I don't. I have waaaay too much else on my plate right now!)... although I guess drywall would have called less attention to the weirdness of those openings... oh, well. Also, the opening on the other side is now open all the way to the floor: it's the step down to the new LR/DR space, so these two openings are the only ones. Thanks so much for your input. It's much easier to move ahead and not second-guess myself now. And I can put that $550 towards new interior doors which I desperately want.

I know this may sound odd, but the other day I was looking in the wood trim dept. at HD for some molding, and saw some very wide, very, very smooth pretty wood, that looked like very expensive shelving, then it hit me what it was; stair treads! Thick, smooth, with a rounded lip, ready to finish, and oak, I'm pretty sure. They would make nice, heavy shelving, requiring heavy brackets. But they would definitely be substantial. It was certainly beautiful wood. They come in woods other than oak. Here is a link to a site that shows some photos of what they look like: Here is a link that might be useful: stair tread

I have a large walk-in pantry with painted shelves. I had trouble with shelf liner sticking to the paint, and curling up at the edges, so eventually I came up with a more permanent solution. I bought self-stick vinyl floor tiles with a smooth surface, and put them on the shelves. They are easy to cut and install, and very easy to clean. I liked the results so much I put them on every closet shelf in my house! I did consider putting laminate on the shelves, but I don't have the necessary tools to cut laminate, and for a pantry the size of mine it would have been quite expensive, especially if I had to pay for installation.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><md>Still in progress I contemplated left and right and could not decide but I felt like my natural instincts were there I just needed to learn to not second-guess myself designing your own home can be a bit crazy so redoing this kitchen took a lot of brain power I wanted something for all of us to be able to live in and be in without being overcrowded I call my old dining room the gathering place because that is exactly what we love to do have family and friends and enjoy each other’s company It’s hard to ask for comments because unless you unload exactly everything that is going on it takes a lot of time to articulate what you have to work with and I found that going with your gut is usually the best case We couldn’t be more happy we still have some things to finish like the backsplash that will be on a weekend when we are available to tackle it as far as the trim around the kitchen vinyl that will also be completed as well we were really nervous about not having REAL WOOD OR TILE as the rest of our house has some pretty unique charm that we did not want to cheapen- But to our amazement this waterproof floor will be perfect especially coming in from the pool area anyone who is interested this stuff just feels so amazing