I went to a house sale in Hollywood Hills in a lovely hillside home that was benefiting children with some illness. Several ladies planned it. The home was emptied of furniture except for tables, end tables,dining tables, coffee tables & several trees were decorated with salable items, they also had the patio set up with tables, card tables & I think a pool table. They had cookies & punch or coffee(before you worried about hot coffee getting spilled) but the eating had to take place in 1 area of the patio.(garage perhaps if cold there) this was 1 fine home, the upstairs was off limits. The downstairs bathroom was black marble, large pieces(12x18in with gold vein imported from Italy) floor, walls & ceiling, toilet & pedestal sink were black with beautiful gold faucets,very fancy, & glass shower with gold fixtures- everything spotless & nicest bathroom I've ever seen. It was a very comfortable experience as everyone there was very nice,helpful if you asked about something otherwise left you alone to look. Tables were in center of rooms so you could walk all the way around them since dining room tables were large,with plain colored table cloths on them but that way you could have taller items at center of tables & flat things that weren't breakable near edges of tables. I think a couple of card tables on patio were covered with a 4x8 piece of plywood to make large table out there, a round table was a large piece of plywood cut to 60 or 72 in or removed from a table like that & placed on something else, maybe a built-in bbq. I did that with 60 in round piece on a card table once but you need to have someone there so they don't tip it, think my hubby anchored it to the old card table some how but some don't. There were few pics on wall not for sale but too hard to move but otherwise personal stuff was moved out. We could tell a lot of work went into it. Lucky for them it was lovely day so no problems with rain or snow like you might have to deal with & heavy coats etc. I would keep the food & drink in 1 place tho, as we used to have "dime-a-dip" luncheons & I saw people take their foot & grind spilled coffee or food into the carpet instead of trying to get it up with a paper napkin or asking for a damp cloth to try to remove the spot. Hope it works out well for you! And do help her with cleanup. So many times at different functions whether PTA,school or church minute people are full they "have to go" so rest of us always got stuck cleaning up, most times it was OK as fun bunch but if 2-3 are stuck with ton of dishes to clean-no fun!! Jan

I have a large office type desk for my sewing machine.it has 5 drawers in it,then across the room i have a conference table that DH made leg extensions for so it would be counter height.I do a lot of sewing and quilting as well. If money and space was no object,i'd like to have one of the larger size kitchen islands in the center of my floor for cutting,and i'd like it to have lots of drawers underneath for storage.I would keep my machine as is,as it is in front of a large window that looks out over my gardens. When i want to do other work at my desk,i just shove my machine to the back of the desk.I also have my serger set up on my cutting table at one end,and i did this so that i would have to get up to use it,and that way i'm not continually sitting.I always stand up to serge.Of course my iron board is at the other end of the room. I plan to redo my room in the next few months,and have already started weeding it out.But unfortunately i still won't be able to afford the counter.Oh well,i'll survive,at least i have a designated room for my sewing and crafts. kathi

Thank you mimipadv we like him too. :-) Painting the trim white us a definite, we've been making our way around the house as we've done over other rooms. The windows are all new so that's why they're done already. The only other thing I've done in this room so far is take down an upper wall border, freshen up the ceiling, and those blue bathroom walls used to have hideous 80s green and burgundy plaid wallpaper! And no, that over toilet cheapie isnt staying, just came with the house. As for the openness, we're used to it by now and don't mind it so much. We have etiquette rules as to the toilet usage. ;-) The tub only gets used by the kids and it's nice to plop them in then fold laundry or lounge on the bed to give them time to play. However that being said, we have talked about putting up French doors which would be my preference as I don't want the room to be suddenly small and cavelike without those two big windows. And we could still open them up for the kids. I thought maybe sliding ones so they wouldn't take up floor space.

Hi Fori--No, they do not and all 3 of my cats love sleeping on any fabric I leave on my sewing tables, especially fleece! When my hubby gets done sanding 6 layers of paint off the door to my room (he also needed to cut it down a little to fit in the doorway since it's not the door the previous owners had for the room), I will paint it with the same ultra white semi gloss paint that I used on all the trim and closet doors and he will rehang the door. Once the door is up, I can close the door and my cats will not be able to get in the room unless I'm up and in the room! The reason I purchased the kitty cots for my cats is our last house had a sliding glass door and all 3 loved laying in the sunshine coming through the door. We only have solid wood doors in this house without glass and it's perfect for them to lay in the cot, especially when the sun is shining.