I have two guest rooms that are pretty much left to be only that. One has a full bed, a night stand and an armoire. The shelves in the armoire serve as my linen closet for quilts since I don't have a linen closet. One of the drawers I use for "that may fit me again some day and when it does I MiGHT want to wear it" stuff. It's actually fairly empty. The other drawer I leave empty for guest use. No one ever uses it. The drawer, I mean. The closet is small. I keep half of it filled with boxes containing the Christmas decorations. I live in Texas and it's too hot to keep that stuff in the attic. The other half of that closet I leave free for guests to hang things. There are plenty of hangars in there for that. The other guest room has a queen bed plus a bench that can be sat on plus a nightstand. It also has a tv plus a laptop so guests can check their email or whatever. That closet is slightly bigger. About half of it is full of scrapbooking supplies I can't bring myself to get rid of yet although I seldom scrapbook. The clothes rods are about 3/4 full of overflow clothes. The rest provide hanging space for guests. The great, great value to me in using those guest rooms almost exclusively as guest rooms is that there are always two rooms in my house that are spotlessly clean and uncluttered. I find them calming to look at. Okay, here's a nutty thing. When I'm away from home I have to guard against anxiety. Mostly that's accomplished by making sure I get enough sleep. (I type at 3:33a because I can't sleep because I have strep throat and I feel like my throat is being shredded by glass. But typing this response has helped get my mind off this incredibly horrific pain.) But another thing that truly helps me is to have pictures (on my phone) of rooms in my house that are clean and clutter free. It makes me feel at home and soothed. I try very hard to guard against clutter in all rooms but sometimes things start to pile up. Then I have to get back after it. De-cluttering is an ongoing process. BTW, when given a choice, my company almost always chooses the guest room with the queen bed. I think it's because it has the tv and the computer. Not that you asked, but let me add what bothers me about other people's guest rooms. No offense is intended. Just something to think about if you haven't. I'm perfectly happy to stay in a hotel if I visit someone. But I have one friend in particular who is very offended if I won't stay with them. Last time I went, I stayed for 4 days or so. Too long for me but not long enough for them. They love having me stay with them. When they come visit me, they stay at least 8 nights. WAY too long for me but they don't know that. Anyway, back to my last visit. They put me in their son's room. I slept in a futon. It was very uncomfortable. The room was very, very cluttered with toys and junk. There was no hanging space in the closet. I didn't have any drawer space. I had to live out of my suitcase. At least it was an improvement on the time I stayed a week to help them through a family difficulty. Then I was given the sofa bed in the main family room. They stayed up sitting on that sofa bed until midnight so I couldn't go to bed until then. The kids woke up at 6a ready for me to play with them. I wasn't given any closet space anywhere or drawer space. I had not one shred of privacy. In a 4000 square foot house, mind you. My advice for guests you like and want is to give them some PRIVACY! Give them a good bed and good pillows and blankets. Give them a fan. A lot of people sleep with a fan. Give them a nightlight. Give them closet space and drawer space. Give them an alarm clock. If they're more tech aware, give them an alarm clock with an ipod dock. Give them a water carafe. Give them fresh flowers. Give them current magazines. Give them snacks - cookies or m&ms plus some fruit. I just remembered someone put a link to a checklist above so a lot of this may be redundant but I'll leave it here for those who don't like to click over to links. Give your guests access to a computer for checking email. Give them a tv with a remote and a sleep timer and a channel guide. A lot of people are unsettled in unfamiliar beds and they like having a tv to watch when they're trying to settle down. Okay, that's all. My throat is still killing me but I need to go try to get some more sleep.

Do you have some lamps you can drag to your new construction that will give you similar light quality to what you will end up with? Your post reveals that you understand the control that light has over the final effect..it's everything! My other thought is that you might discuss this problem with your contractor, and see if he/she will compound and prime the drywall, but hold off the final painting until after the lighting is in place? It's not unusual at all to do it that way, particularly since, if you hate the color's final effect, you'll have wasted the time and money, and either have to do it over, or live with a lovely new house that isn't right.

I's good to hear you have a porch to winter store plants imagine if it gets to chilled at night you can simply open a door and share some inside heat or use a suplemental heater for a while With this in mind is it safe to assume your hot house is not attached to your house ? If you have a heater that works for you already I wouldn't suggest adding a lighting system (bulbs) to your hot house as the only sorce of heat simply because they wouldn't be on at night Emphisis on night: It gets to cold to often with colder temps at the minus (?) F degrees bulbs that are off aren't going to warm any area Some bennifits to a heater are it can turn on and off on an as needed basis by thermatic controls and timers helping maintain disired warmth though out the entire day and night. A draw back is loosing power for to long of time with out a second sorce on a colder day On a logical thought, a cold frame wont work for you but if it where to work you wouldn't need any added lighting to keep plants warmer I agree it's better and easier to grow some plants slower if ideal growing conditions cant be suplied with in a persons means if you dont push growth, it's not uncommon for a healthier plant to be seen in the future. Many compliments are read that are directed to Mike Mike Your doing something right

Design isn’t a vacuum. You must have items that drive this decision- hardwood floors. Carpets. Location in the country. Personal style. Northern v southern. Pacific Northwest versus Palm Springs. Thousands of whites. I have lots of modern art so tend toward very neutral whites. My last house had black floors so it had a slightly warm white, my new house has light oak floors so the white is more grey.