A container 1x1.5x5 ft. would hold about 750 lbs. of garden soil, about 300 - 350 lbs of moist potting soil, and about 550 - 600 lbs. of the soil I would suggest, so be sure your structure is built to withstand these dead-loads. It's a pretty easy thing to do, as long as you can let go of the idea that some brand of potting soil is your answer. You'll need a soil with at least 50% inorganic matter and 1/3 organic matter is even better. As a component, soil from the garden will not be suitable for containers this shallow. I'll include a photo of a soil that I built for raised beds. It's 5 years old & is extremely fertile and productive. This soil is too rich for what you intend to do (too much organic matter) and will hold too much water in containers (especially for the evergreens like Pinus, Juniperus, Taxus, Picea, etc.) but it will give you the idea of what I'm going to suggest. I'm not sure if you can see the tiny sand particles or not. These are OK in raised bed soil, but death in containers. I would have you add about 2 - 3 times the inorganic matter that you see in this soil. Let me know if you're willing to try something different & I'll help you get started. Al

I am going to dissent for 3 reasons, though I am not sure I am seeing everything accurately.... If the current wall lines up with the rest of the wall to the right of the hall (can't tell with DH's feet there), I might leave it as is. Depends on the size and shape of the main room and whether that 'bump in' would look funny in that room. Two, consider the doorways and hallway headers. The opening to the room to the left (the one with the HWF) and to the hall will be affected by the 'bump in'. Right now the openings are framed, giving you options for casing or paint color changes room to room. Think about that before you axe the defined transitions. Three, since the chair will move forward when the wall does, the "gained" space will be behind behind you when you sit at the desk chair. You could always put storage on that back wall - but the space is then the same size as it was, and that storage is visible from the main room. Careful design will affect how much storage and function you can squeeze out of the desk area as is. I think there is enough there to work with. Instead of moving the wall, I would concentrate on ceiling to desktop storage. Open or closed. that could hold a ton and would be visible only from the desk chair. A return of 1-2 feet would allow a 3 sided recess above the desk for 'mondo storage' and still leave excellent sight line from the desk chair to and from the larger room. Opposite the desk, make the area visible from the main room attractive and simple: a framed print with a wall mounted sliver of a credenza below. I really like designs that give a work area 'mondo storage' and sight lines that manage to conceal that storage but not the worker. You have that option here. Transoms would be great, but only if they look good from the main room.

As requested earlier from Davidro who wanted to understand traffic flow, below is a whole house "sketch" which shows our first floor layout (upstairs is only a loft) and second diagram is where I'm at with regard to kitchen design after input from you guys and after Ikea consultant/designer who was at my home today gave as far as cabinets fitting. Also, from the earlier discussion, I had some confusion about whether I could relocate the washer/dryer to the hall. The contractor who visited today didn't have any problems with the relocation. It helps a lot that our foundation is "pier and beam". Moving plumbing around is a whole lot easier. New location of washer/dryer may be a bit claustrophobic in the hall way outside the bathroom but I only do laundry a couple times a week for short spurts. I'm in the kitchen a whole lot longer and since the relocation of washer/dryer is the only thing keeping me from having the kitchen layout I REALLY wanted from the beginning (barring the fact the pantry has gotten quite a bit smaller), I am a happy camper. I'm going to lie low a while and get our bathroom done and maybe a roof before I come back with any updates on the kitchen. And for anyone who is in doubt, the Ikea prices for all cabinets is half of what price was quoted for Innermost cabinets by Home Depot. And the Ikea quote includes several of the appliances though I'm not sure yet if that is how I will really go. But cabinets -yes - their prices are too good to pass up. The money we save can go for the bathroom we're getting that has a curbless shower, and several other expensive details which Ikea can't help us out on. I'll still be listening but hopefully everyone can see the aisles around the island are considerably wider (maybe even too wide with my feet problems). If I need more pantry space, I'm fairly sure that several of the drawers in the main part of the kitchen will not all be used so I can use them for pantry space spill over if there is any. THANKS AGAIN (though I will definitely be back - still need to pick out countertop/backsplash/flooring/hoodOverCooktop and make decisions about appliances..) And since I haven't marked it well, let me explain that there are upper cabinets on either side of the cooktop and also to the left of the fridge. No uppercabinets on the sides of the "cleanup sink" with the large 6 foot wide window. Think I may wait until kitchen is done and probably install some open floating shelves on either side of cleanup sink - more for esthetics than function but I think I can wait until the last minute for that. (Maybe even some art work...)

I like that combination -- that brings in the warm colors in a way that still keeps an overall calm, but not totally predictable way. I might not do horizontal stripes for curtains, but the repeat of the color there is good. Have not searched ebay for rugs, but sounds like someone else's reject could be your find! What do you think?