Hi Heather, I apologize if my comments are redundant since I didn't read through all the previous comments. We have 5 kids, and we have a similar upstairs loft type set up, but ours doesn't have the open railing along it. We have a 2 story great room similar to yours, and the railing is open between the foyer and the great room. We like the 2 story great room, although it can be challenging to decorate. One thing that we did that I love was make the "cat walk" the upstairs hallway overlooking the great room and the foyer extra wide. Ours is 8 feet wide. It makes that hallway feel less scary with openings on both sides, and it feels welcoming. I know this is personal preference, but with kids, I would close off the overlook from the loft to the great room. I'm imagining that you are giong to use that loft space for toys and video games, etc., and it is nearly impossible to keep that looking nice at all times. Plus, the noice traveling down will be difficult to control. Also, my kids have thrown or accidentally dropped things from the "cat walk" which is around the corner from the loft (like your set up) to the great room. I know that there would be many more things being thrown over if that railing were open all the way around. The other things I was wondering about was your 1st floor laundry room. In our house, the kids generate the most amount of laundry, and it is a TON. Our laundry is upstairs and it makes it so much more convenient to gather up their clothes and put them away. I couldn't imagine hauling baskets and basekets of clothes up and down the stairs. The other thing I agree with are the windows in the kitchen. I'd try to get more natural light in the kitchen, and have windows on the wall with the fridge (since they aren't covered by a 4 season room). I worry that your kitchen will be dark otherwise. Finally, since your dining room is your main and only dining area where you will put a table, I wonder if you'd want to have a sight line from there to the great room. We have only one main dining area as well, and I know it's nice for us to be able to have a sight line into the great room. Although we start dinner as a family, kids start taking off/wandering off while we're still eating since it takes the adults awhile to eat since we don't sit down from running around untile everybody is practically done. Anyway, as much as we'd like everybody to sit at the table the entire time and engage in lenghty dinner conversation, the reality is that we're just glad that we got everyone around the table for some part of dinner and that we can still keep an eye on them in the family room and feel like we're still having dinner together. Anyway, best of luck. It looks like it's going to be a wonderful home.

Just wanted to add that where I suspect there was a scam (in fact I might even call it fraud) is in regard to Greyhound and insurance. He insurred each chair for $300 and from the sound of it, was assuming I'd make a claim through Greyhound and get reimbursed for the cost of the chair plus have one functional chair. He did not bet on my taking it to a antique furniture restoration store (which I might not have except that I needed to get my dining room chair fixed) and that person telling me that he saw these types of things all the time in insurance claims and said and put in writing that it was clearly not shipping related damage. When I spoke to Paypal they said this is the type of information they look for when handling a dispute. Now my other issue is if I send it back do I insure it (it's my understanding that Greyhound will insure for $300 for no additional cost). There is a page where the cost of the item is declared. For the damaged chair, I want to declare a cost of $0 since I want to prevent him from filing a Greyhound claim on return. FOr the other chair DH and I were discussing 1/2 the cost I paid--about $100.

If you add it to your "watch" list, you will be able to see the time left for the listing. It really is small in size, isn't it?. Why didn't I think of that?? (Because I have the KT, and I'm spoiled.) Yes, it's awfully small, and faded, I'm sure. It would be nice to have, but for not very much money. I have some similar memorabilia of his. I have no idea what "lg" means. Certainly not "large." LOL I found it because I have a standing search request on eBay for any items that contain the word Luckstone, and also one for "Alice Campbell," my grandmother (his wife) and also an opera singer. A different Alice Campbell was a novelist from around the time time period, so unfortunately I get notifications whenever her books are listed on eBay. But no big deal. I bought another picture of my grandfather on eBay--not his most flattering, but an interesting photo. I also found a listing that claimed to be selling a photo of Harry Luckstone, but it wasn't him. I wrote to the seller, who ignored me. ;-)

I wish this forum had an edit capability! I just looked and the pendant on eBay is too large, the 19" size. I think I need sleep. So I'm still looking and I promise not to come back and bump my post twice in a row again!