Thanks - I said to him the other day to make a fixed shelf the same height as the windowsill (stool) for continuity, and definitely an adjustable/removable under that, and then I have to figure out how many above. I want the adjustable ones to vary by about 3" (don't know if he'll do continuous rows of holes or a recessed standard, those details are up to him) so I can fit big picture books and smaller novels (paperbacks? Though we don't have many) and then when DD is past the picture books we can adjust the shelves lower and fit more normal-sized books. The folding bookshelves we have have the shelves set 12" apart, have plenty of room for most things but not the big picture books, coffee table books, or 3-ring binders (which I don't know how often we'll store downstairs, they belong in the office, but who knows?). Do you think 10.5" - 14.5" between shelves is good? I would have the bottom of the bookcase at 4.5" above the floor with 3.25" baseboard wrapping around, then adjustable shelf at 10.5" - 14.5" above that (15" - 18" above floor), fixed shelf at 27" from floor (so 9" above highest position of lower shelf), then from there to top (about 94" from carpet - he'll have to measure from subfloor) we'll have 6 more shelves adjustable in 10.5" - 14.5" increments with I'd say a 5" frieze board (middle arched) at the top. I'll have him play with the frieze board height after I find some pine CM I like. We can always cut the number of top shelves to 5, for a total of 6 adjustable and 1 fixed shelf plus the bottom of the bookcase would give us 16 linear feet (varying heights) of shelf space per bookcases. Think a fixed shelf a little lower than 1/3 height will be stable enough considering 1/2" plywood back screwed to the stud at open edge, and wall anchors on the other side (butted into corner)? I think 32 lf of shelf in one room would be enough considering that between the study and DS's room (not counting his headboard or printer stand) we have 35 lf and that held all of DH's and my books before we moved, DD now has 4 lf with the Goodwill bookcase and she can also use her nightstands (about 1.5 lf each) if she is keeping books in her room, but most of her stuff ends up downstairs. If I prime and paint the plywood before he puts the backs on (I'll see if he can do the sides, top and bottom and the fixed shelf, then let me stain it before he puts the back on) it shouldn't be too hard. It's just going to be repainting it in place that'll be tough, but hopefully the FR will stay this color for a long time and we won't even see scuffs inside the bookcase if we fill it. Do you know if I can use my latex wall paint over an oil-based primer? I don't want to use latex primer on plywood and have it bubble and peel.

Hi All my Smaller friends! ML, I would buy flood insurance today if they offered it. My agent said that you can only buy it if you are in a flood zone, and I am likely not. Did I tell you folks about the blue line under my house? I was looking at the real estate listing of the house across the street. I wanted to know the current asking price because it is identical to our house. Well, their asking price is now $30K less than what we OWE on our house, and we paid 20% down when we bought! Anyway, there I was on the page and I impulsively clicked on the "map" link. It showed a street map, but there is a blue line that starts about two blocks behind our house, goes under our house, and then under the whole row of houses on the side street. We are on a corner, facing east. The house across the street is in a line of houses facing south. The blue line follows the street (but is up under the houses, not under the street) for a bit, then turns a bit south. When it reaches the next major street a half mile away, it follows that road south for two miles where it hooks up with a creek! Okay. So what we have here is either a spring, an underground creek, an underground river, or a runnoff culvert. Yes, under my house. Could it be part of the reason that I have so little dirt and so much air holding my slab floor up? Steph, the inside IS a vast wasteland! It echoes! For our smaller homes, a 12 x 16 ft room is pretty big, and with the echo, it qualifies as vast. There is a 7 x 7 foyer, too - all empty and stripped down to its crumbling concrete floor. Oh- and the hole in the floor. It shows the hole in the soil under the house, too. You should hear the boy dogs howling together at dawn with the echo effect, quite impressive for two suburban hound-mixes who are wolf wannabees! I agree that we all learn from each other. Everyone else's projects give me ideas for m own home. I got the idea of using regular, used, plank bookcases from an HGTV show. They spruced up someone's dark family room by painting their built-in bookcases a lighter color, adding molding to the edges of the planks to make the shelving look more substantial, and lightening other parts of the room. Mama Goose's kitchen is just what I always wanted to do with mine - pieced together from sources far and wide with many different aged parts, and lots of improvisation. Only, MY DH was not ready for that, and I got carried away with my matchy-matchy set from Green Demos. But I really love Mama's more. I used to think that I wanted new furniture that I picked out myself. Now I know that I have always felt the soul in the used pieces, and they have always meant more to me. I have a handmade oak telephone table and stool that I bought at a garage sale up in the very northern part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The area gets lots of snow - it is in the Keweenaw Peninsula, sticking out into Lake Superior. I think off the old Finnish or Italian or Cornish miner family who likely made it, and how they used it for many years before it ended in the garage sale for me to buy. A table from down in Baton Rouge also makes me wonder about its heritage. Who owned it? What kind of family issues has the piece seen? Here is a link that might be useful: Where I started college, MTU

oasisowner, you could get a home that functions much better for you if you're willing to do it in phases and are willing and able to spend more $$ on the remodel. Here's how: Phase 1 Basement stairs doorway relocated to hallway (I explained how in an above post). Knock down the wall between kitchen and 3rd bedroom to create an open kitchen/DR. I did not include counter seating since the table is right there. Remove the lower half of the "windows" in the LR/hallway walls so that you have a better connection between kitchen/DR and LR. (This could wait until Phase 2, if necessary, but you'd have to add floor repair at that time, might be easier and cheaper to do it all at once.) The current DR becomes a den; no walls or doors added. Phase 2 You close off the "windows" from LR to den and create new walls for a relocated MBR, MBA and closet in its own wing of the home. Next, remove the existing MBA to create bedroom #1 with a new entry. Closets for bedrooms #1 & #2 are built between the 2 bedrooms. I'm assuming existing closet in bedroom #2 is along a wall so relocating it should create a larger bedroom. Rearranging the bedrooms and eliminating the existing MBA could wait for Phase 3. Or you could leave them as is and have a dual master bedroom home. This is a much larger undertaking but I went back to the issues you have with your home - not a large enough kitchen, unused DR, too small bedrooms - and addressed them with this plan. Doing the projects in phases will make it easier on the budget and on one's sanity. If you intend to stay put for a long time, then it might be worthwhile to pursue remodeling to gain a home that functions better for you now and in the long run, especially if your neighborhood will support these improvements.

Thanks--Crl, I'm gonna go to that place. It's not too far. :) I've really tried to figure out how to make the IKEA bookcases work. IKEA is just so easy to deal with I always look there first. (Cash. Carry. Assemble. Done.) I haven't been favorably impressed with Billy in the past but haven't looked at them in a while--they used to be just printed melamine but looks like they now have actual wood veneers! I guess I need to go down there too. But I'm pretty sure the colors won't work for Billy or Hemnes. While we do have a LOT of different woods in the general vicinity of the future bookcase, we don't have any blacks or browny browns or natural birches--we have more of the reddish brown mahogany of the 40s and the rich oranges of the 60s. I'll do a lot of things, but I won't refinish new IKEA furniture! :O On that subject, which I though was ridiculous a minute ago, can you paint a bookcase the wall color (maybe in a glossier finish) and have it look okay?