bellashere - I missed your note yesterday. I'm so sorry. I'd take the shower door out completely but then I'd have the lip of about 6 inches of tile off the ground for someone to trip over. And on the off chance we need to actually shower there (like there is something wrong with the upstairs shower) I don't think a curtain would be enough to keep the water in. (Though I could be wrong.) As for painting, it's not that I don't know how, but I am not physically able. I'm having to hire someone to paint the other rooms as well so I'm trying to keep it on the low side. Last bid for painting all the rooms was $4K which is about $2K more than I want to spend. Good idea on using a regular curtain. I think I'll have a lot more options. Handyman took the handles off the door today and took off the ugly brass towel rack and the weird block of wood behind it. Dry wall guy is fixing all the holes. sheesharee - I liked the Olive Branch too. Love it in your room. I think my thing is that I have had a hankering for Baby Turtle ever since I first saw it, I think it was in Red's room. And since I'm using Flowering Herb in the nearby rooms and they are right next to each other, I think they will blend well. Baby Turtle can go brown or green and I'm happy with both. The color makes me think of my garden, which is always a good thing. :)

May I make a suggestion? Before you get too excited about the ideas for future expansion of the walls, go talk to a local design/build firm who has worked IN YOUR CITY recently. Pay them for an hour of time, bring your plan along with the lot drawing you got with your loan papers. Ask how your city is currently viewing additions, even modest ones. There is a state limit in CA on how much of your lot you can cover. Any time you are going outside your current four walls, btw, most cities require you notify all your neighbors within a specified area, usually anywhere from 3 blocks to half a mile or more. Any of them can raise objections to your plans. Those objections must be acknowledged and settled. Almost everywhere in CA it is extremely difficult "to go upwards". You look to have a slab below and probably pre-fab roof trusses. Trust me, you will not believe how much a staircase costs to build, and how much room it takes to comply with current tread space and riser requirements! Ask the design/build firm how your city handles engineering issues. In Oakland, for example, it's a waste of time hiring an engineer to approve any plans, because the city has its own engineers and you will be charged anyway for their input as it's part of the permit process. Remember that if you do plumbing and electrical you will be required to bring everything up to current code. This may, depending on your plans, include changing to the new LED fixtures with LEED "green" certification. From the looks of your home you're not in SF, which is fortunate. In the City ANYONE can join a neighborhood panel, even if they don't live in that specific neighborhood, and stop any project dead in the water with objections. That includes any objections DURING construction, meaning your project can grind to halt until you satisfy those objections or the majority of the panel approves a continuance. I don't mean to sound so discouraging! We've remodeled three times in 25 yrs, the first one a complete gut. But there are real issues to remodeling in CA, that should not be under-estimated. They increase cost and take time, and I only wish someone had give us this kind of advice before we embarked on major projects.

The main challenge you have here is to draw all the different elements together. However, you have a lot of different colors and patterns going on. No two things match. That floor rug in front of the fire place certainly is a statement piece. It's very fresh and has such vibrant colors that you could actually draw your color scheme from that. A fresh, cool color scheme with lots of blues and greens would look good. Maybe you could get some dark blue slip covers for the couches, or just replace them. I found this picture to help you out. Cream couches with blue and green cushions would also look good. I don't think you should make your interior this busy, this is just for color inspiration. Draw the fresh, bold colors out of the rug and spread them around the house. You also have that nice hardwood floor to work with and it will look nice with these cool colors. You could also put some plants on the shelves, maybe with some hanging down. Take away the other two rugs. They just don't go. Also, take down the map wall art and the picture to the right of the door and replace it with something like this. It would go good with those vases you already have in the entryway.As for the walls, I think they can stay as they are. You want some neutral, light colors like the white and gray walls to balance out all the other bold colors. I hope my advice is helpful to you. Let me know how it goes. Happy decorating!

I would look at a luxury vinyl plank that looks like wood. It's hard wearing and would work in your living and dining area as well as your kitchen. If you look at something like Cali Bamboo Mesquite that has a mixture of colors, it will work well with your cabinets. https://www.calibamboo.com/product-mesquite-wood-vinyl-flooring-pro-7904008201.html?gacstm_source=google&gacstm_medium=cpc&gacstm_term=7904008201&gacstm_adgroup=vinyl+flooring&gacstm_campaign=715413792&gclid=Cj0KCQiAs9zSBRC5ARIsAFMtUXF3b7NcpS4v8bhcHdOkvf_EFJ2nHcJQPqamTeHfOUBsAYzg0ramK9gaAj9bEALw_wcB