You can still move electrical boxes in a modular - I moved the one in the center of the kitchen before we had the house painted, it wasn't going to be anywhere close to the center of the (site-built) island. Also a recessed light that had "wandered" into the family room. But now that we've spent all this money just repainting (the modular factory fixed the cracks for free), DH does not want to tear apart the dining room ceiling and have to repaint all the way into the foyer. Plus, as he reminded me, I wanted the chandelier closer to the front wall because the table would be too close to the china cabinet if we centered it front-to-back in the room. The problem, as I discovered last night after digging through emails to the builder, was that they didn't place the sconces where I wanted them. Not a big deal, I'll move the sconce later if it looks really awful when we put the table in. Some of the cracks were really just bad tape jobs, edge of tape showing. Others were actual cracks factory said my builder should have taken care of before we painted. But my builder was very inexperienced (had just signed with this modular factory we wanted to use, they gave him our territory so we really had no choice). He was just throwing more mud on the cracks without retaping. Once they put the tape on, no more cracks (just some humps). Our old (1988) house had swirled plaster ceilings and skim-coated drywall, but I understand most stick-built houses these days are just sheetrock, flat painted ceilings anyway. We wanted to move in less than a year from when DH got new job, didn't think we'd make it if we stick-built. Plus a lot of my family has done modular, we thought it would be better quality since it was built in controlled conditions. And I couldn't keep an eye on a stick builder living 100 miles away with son still in school. Now, I just dry-mopped the dining room floor and we have a cracked board (splitting from end) 3ft from center. It'll be hidden under the rug. Either the end was split already, or it split when installer hammered it into the pattern (spiraling rectangles). Unless he can split it with a wood chisel, pull out the pieces, and just face-nail the replacement, we'd have to pull out the whole center of the floor (about 12 sf) to get to it. I have a lot of wood left over - should I ask installer to replace that piece?

Hello All, In replacing our dining room light it appears that we're at the mercy of our house design. I think the space was really designed for a round or square table, but ours is rectangle. It seems like no matter the style of fixture it will be off center from the table, about a foot too far to the left. The light that's currently there came with the house and is a chandelier with a link chain that probably helped to center it for the previous homeowner. I'm not crazy about the chain/corded look for the space. Also, moving the placement of the fixture isn't really an option right now. Would this drive everyone else batty, because I think it would get really old, really fast? Any suggestions? I'm currently looking at something along the lines of this for reference: http://www.wayfair.com/Globe-Electric-Company-Vintage-3-Light-Kitchen-Island-Pendant-64845-PIL1161.html Thanks! :)

yes its done. if you dont want to move the ceiling electrical box right away, 'to do a dry run' you can swag a chandelier to be over your off center table.

This is an idea I saw in Architectural Digest years ago and used in my own house. Build a window frame around a mirror and treat as a window; placing it equidistant from the wall as current window is from its wall. Use the same window treatment as your real windows and position your bed in the middle of your two windows.