When we did our remodel I emptied the storage...and found most of the stuff had been lurking there for years. When you pitch the stuff you don't use - you know the half bottles that you never use but couldn't quite throw out, the soap someone gave you that you never liked the scent of etc - it sure cuts down on the space you need. For our pedestal sink we opted for a Neptune (Canadian company) Delight sink as it had a built in towel bar around it. I hang my (small) hair dryer from it as well as the hand towel and cleaning cloth. The more space you have the more junk you store,,,in my humble opinion. Sally

I have a Roto-zip ($150) and a Fein Multi-tool ($400 -but there are cheaper ones out there). This is what I've found from spending the last 7 years doing a complete gut and remodel (rebuild mostly) of a 130 year old farm house. For what you want. - cutting a square hole out of hardwood floor for an air duct (although nails that aren't visible through the tongue & groove could make this tricky) Fien tool - the rotozip struggled cutting through hardwood - lots of burning and went very slow - actually I don't think either it a great tool for this job- a good quality jigsaw would be better. - cutting sheet metal ducts and gutter downspouts I have not done a lot of metal cutting with either - but I think the oscelating blade would be better. We've done most of that with a metal blade on the compound miter saw -larger projects get cut with a blade backwards in a skill saw - or by hand - bought a nibbler but did not like the way it works (this was for work on outbuildings). - cutting notches out of tile for backsplash going around back of sink I found the rotozip worked wonderful for this (need the right bit) - put your tile on a piece of scrap sheetrock so you can keep the whole tile supported (just cut into the sheetrock). Was worth the full purchase price even if I never use it for anything else. - small routing jobs (hinge mortises) I would not use the rotozip - it is harder to control than the Fien tool and you really don't want to slip doing this work. For these things DH uses a good wood chisel. Bigger routing jobs get done with the router. - cutting holes in drywall Rotozip made way too much dust - best here is a hand saw of some sort. Utility knife and a steady hand does not make near the mess. For small cuts (like outlets) an exacto knife with a 3" serrated blade was our favorite, but we have not found blades like that again. It was pointed enough you could push the blade through the sheetrock and then start cutting. - detail sanding Unless you have holes and need a drum type, the oscelating tool wins hands down. However I've got several nice sanders and they work better than the Fien tool for the job. I also have drum sanders for my drill press so I've not had to use the rotozip to sand anything - - cutting existing trim and baseboard shorter to install a cabinet Fien tool hands down. Main reason we bought it. There have been so many times in our whole house remodel that the oscelating tool has turned out to be the ONLY tool suitable for the job. BTW - I second what others have said - dremel is great for the hobbiest (woodworking, arts & crafts) but I've never considered it for construction type house work. I owned one years ago but gave it away at some point. Cathy

As curiousnyc mentioned, don't use it as a cutting board. It will damage your knives. You can use it to serve different type of cheeses or sushi, etc.. In this case, use the clear vinyl square bumpers, the thicker, the better. So, it'd resemble a serving plate. Yes, you can find these vinyl/rubber bumpers at Lowe's or Home Depot. They're usually located where the furniture sliders are. I had asked my GF to leave the cooktop cutout so I can use it as a small tabletop.

While it is certainly a more practical and affordable plan than the first one, there are some things you might consider changing. Except perhaps for the master bedroom on the back left and the garage on the front left, try to make the other three walls -- back and right and front -- as straight as possible. Not a fan of the two story looking entry. You might consider creating a deep front porch, perhaps with skylights to let in more light for the front of the house and a shed roof dormer for the attic that has the same number of windows as the row of windows you end up with across the front living area ... which certainly needs more than one window as adjustments are made to the floor plan. First, consider whether you want to add a several feet to both the front and back children's bedrooms. This would enable you to put two twin beds in each room and not just in case you have more children but for sleepovers and for having room to add a large toy chest and/or toy cabinet and enough space to utilize each bedroom as a playroom -- no need for a separate room. Also, making the two wings of the home more equal width will both give the house more symmetry and enable you to have your entry more forward -- closer to the front exterior wall of the garage and more of the focal point of the home. Would rather have a larger master bedroom the full width of that wing, straightening the left exterior wall of the house except for the garage. Would NOT want a ceiling curb. There is a long interior wall along the back bedroom on the right (children's side of the house) behind the foyer and still would be with the above changes. If you put your kitchen on that right side of the house and the dining area where the kitchen is now located -- with its back wall also even with the back wall of the kitchen and back bedroom -- then the hall to the master would be off the dining area -- which would mean the entire front of the great room could be the living room and foyer.. If you move the front wall of the foyer and living room out at least even with the front wall of the front children's bedroom (several feet in front of where it now is after increasing the size of the room) , you'll make room for a pantry between the kitchen on the right and the foyer AND your foyer and living area will be closer to the front exterior wall of the garage ... making it more the focal point of the front of your home. After you move the front wall of the front bedroom and entry and what was the to have been the dining room out several feet, also Increase the depth of the garage by four feet so you can extend the width of the living and foyer area so the left wall of it is where the left wall of the pantry is now. Doing that will not only enlarge and square the left front corner of the living room, it could enable you to increase the storage in the back left corner of the garage and/or alter the steps to the ?study? in the attic above the garage to have any headroom affected by the steps be in the storage area rather than in the garage itself. Another garage option you might consider, in addition to making it deeper front to back so you can cut the back right corner of the garage short for part of the living area, might be to off set the garage. You could move the garage so no part of it is behind any part of the living room -- the right exterior wall of the garage would be in line with the left exterior wall of what is now the pantry -- what would be the left wall of the living room -- and have the left wall of the garage extend beyond the left wall of the master suite that eight feet or so, creating a privacy area behind the garage for a private side porch for the master bedroom suite. With these changes, your door from garage to house would be entering into a hall way left of the living area with steps to the attic ?study" over the garage and still enable you to access the master bath via the mudroom. If you off set the garage to create the private porch on the left side for the master bedroom suite, you could add a door from the garage to that side porch.