I tried to quickly scan through. I don't know if someone made this suggestion yet. Can you put doors on your cabinets? We had open shelves on either side of our fireplace. I had my husband make doors for them. He made frames and covered the inside of the frame with cane. (we had to since they hold our tv components and I was afraid that they would melt down if no air got to them.) But, you can get tons of different sized cabinet doors at the restore or something similar. With the ones my husband made, I just painted them and put them up with regular old hinges. They look pretty good. I was going with a more natural/coastal theme. So, they work well in here. Oh! I was thinking. If you have odd sizes (like we do) you could just have lowes cut you new doors out of that mdf and paint them. Just don't get really super thick mdf. It paints like a dream with a roller and you could get the odd sized cabs covered. Melamine doors if you don't want to paint. But... you don't have to do all of your shelves. Maybe just the bottom half. It will break up some of the visual clutter. And, you can hide actual clutter (like we do!) which is really the main thing. :) Kim

Stringweaver, thanks so much for the info on the streamlined refrigerators! When I save up enough to remodel the kitchen in a few years, I definitely want to consider smaller appliances, both to gain counter space and to save energy. I'm afraid my picture was a bit misleading, though. Joy and I had actually pulled the refrigerator out a few feet when the circuit blew and we had to access the plug so we could plug it into an extension cord in a working outlet. Then we left it out so we could paint. It's now back in its designated space. Kathy, I hear you about being strategic with small cabinet space. I have ONE lower cabinet that has to hold my steamer, electric skillet, mixing and serving bowls, baking dishes, cutting boards, and colanders/strainer. Right now everything's in there and juuuuust barely fits, but I know I've got a set of Pyrex mixing/storage bowls I haven't yet unpacked. And I've missed them because I can't microwave or bake or freeze anything in the Chefmate melamine bowls...so even though I love them, I'm probably going to toss them. I like your idea of keeping seldom used appliances out of the kitchen. I think Shades does that too. Speaking of Shades, thanks Chris, for the pic of the built-in around a low window. I love that! It really frames the window beautifully! Also, THANK YOU for measuring your suitcases!! That is so kind of you! I'm guessing your hunch is right, and those were standard sizes. Missouribound, no, the minisplit will go on the main (only) living room wall. Smaller units in the bedrooms. What is above the ceiling in the pop out? The sky, lol. :-) A pop out in an old manufactured home is like ones you may have seen in RVs or travel trailers. The RV is driven to its camping spot and then, like an accordion, the owner pulls out (pops out) another little section from its side. If I ever moved this MH, they would literally fold it back into the house in order to be able to drive it without wind sheer. I'll try to remember to take some pics of the outside and post them. It's an inexpensive way of giving people a little more square footage, in my case 35 more sq ft makes a big difference. By the way, I really love your basket idea! I'm going to try that! Time for bed. Goodnight everyone! :-)

I've got the sofa downstairs now. I covered it with what I had on hand - a huge black blanket and a smaller white one. The red thing behind the sofa is a mattress. It's a safe place for the baby to sleep at night (I block the way out). Now I'm wondering if it makes sense to buy a table and a lamp for the armchair. This part of the living room could be the actual 'living' part, while the other side is dedicated to children and their play. How about some kind of a wall art? I'm sorry, and it probably sounds like I don't know what I want, but I would like this room to look more 'finished'. Do I expect too much? Maybe it would be best to wait for four or five more years and then redesign this space? But can I wait that long? I wish this house was arranged and I didn't have to worry about it all anymore! :( We've been living here for three years now and it upsets me that everything looks so awful. We don't even have a hardwood floor upstairs - just go with carpets on concrete floor. We are currently having a bathroom made, but imagine living all that time with temporary solutions :( There are only a few things that we actually bought for the house - the rest are hand me downs - nothing matches, everything old and not to my style. I'd like to turn this house to home at last. Maybe I should go to ikea, look at those timy flats they have there and order everything there is!!! I'm sorry I just needed to vent :(

When you walk into our house this room is to your left and the dining room is to your right. It is also connected to our family room, which is where we have our comfy couches, ottoman, fireplace and TV. This is the only room for a playroom. It is the perfect location because I can see my 3 and 1 year old from almost anywhere in the house. I agree, the chairs are not my favorite. They were a garage sale find. They are a lovely pale blue. I added the slip covers to change the color, but keep the cost down. My kids are not hard on furniture. In general, we try to buy higher quality so it last. This room as always been an after thought. We have 4 kids under the age of 8 and have moved to this house 6 years ago. It has been a busy season in our life, but now that our youngest is 2..we are ready to finish our house.