Hi Ladylotus. No, the windows are on the east and north. There will be florescent shop lights hanging from the ceiling above the top shelf, and under each shelf except the bottom. I'll have to see how much they effect the electricity bill, but when I've raised seedlings before (except for winter seeding, of course) I've kept the lights on them 24x7. I also keep a fan blowing in the room to help prevent damping off. The seedlings are a lot of fun, even though they are a fair amount of work when grown indoors, because of all the watering they take once they are growing. You can't let them sit in water, but still they dry out pretty fast so watering is a 'check at least twice a day' and water almost every day sort of thing. Watching them grow is pretty gratifying though, and I love the earthy smell of the seed starting mix and growing plants. It's a good way to help get you through the winter :-)

Ohh fun I'll check out the new island :) I love to see people's kitchens evolve. Thank you for the compliment on mine. I miss that darned kitchen LOL (We don't have one at the victorian). The old sewing room never got further than putting my fabric in it. DS suprised us (how did that happen) when he made himself known (thought I had food poisoning LOL) and my room became his :) I designed the room but because I broke my arm quite badly during the remodel doing venetian plaster, I had to hire it out to be done. I was really lucky because the artists I hired completely took to the vision I had and then embelished it and made it their own. They had become attached to my little guy durin the time they worked for us (did all of our textured walls in the townhouse) and added a lot of fun suprises while we were on a long hospital stay. He still misses that room....I have GOT to get one going here (it's going to be an alaska train room theme). I do have some freaking windows don't I LOL Definately a good opportunity to use collected fabrics heh heh It sounds like your sewing room looks like mine now. There is a reason I couldn't post pics of the window side LOL Boxes and couches...three of them stuffed in there to go to charity as well as several tables and antique sewing machines. It will be fun to see yours come together as I work on mine...want to race LOL I love the ironing board idea! I'll add one because I'd agree I like that too when I'm quilting. When I crazy quilt I absolutely need to iron each piece down before adding another. Otherwise you get odd puckers...much more so than with a normal quilt. I do have a 9' dining table and figure for the drapes I'll cut on there...but in the sewing room I want to do about a six by six foot table (two from ikea butted together like in the link on the other thread). I love the idea of it being for ironing and cutting but still...I don't want to get up for every piece. I have a cordless iron to help with that, so the location near the machines would be easy. DS getting up from nap...shall return!

Insulating the wall that separates the laundry/utility space from the garage will help reduce your energy consumption. I wouldn’t use a portable heater but rather install electric baseboard. Rule of thumb is watts = 10 x square footage. You could probably get away with a smaller heater saving a little money at purchase, depending on how much you want to heat the room above 32°. Operational costs will be the same - a smaller heater will run longer, a bigger one less.

chicagoans, I will most likely remove those French Doors since that will be the new living room. Not sure I will need a door or should I add one? I have moved all of my cabinets that were in my sewing room to the new sewing room and because it is laid out different I could not figure out how to add everything. I removed the half bath for the moment. Also, if you are talking about the window on the porch I will be removing it and putting the den on the left side of the porch. I have not added a door in the garage yet to go to the outside (is that what a man door is?) I have been looking at Foyer layouts but don't want to go too wide but I think I would like French Doors for the entry or at least a door and a half with both sides that will open. I will have the doors to the den will be off the foyer and I was thinking about adding the half bath at the end of the den wall. If I put the laundry room in the kitchen I was going to put the pantry on the east side but the entry door will be at the other end. What would you do and would you enclose the pantry with walls and a separate door or just have the shelves exposed? Right now my shelves are 12" deep but I think I would like them deeper--maybe at least 14" deep. I know the garage is on the opposite side of the house from the kitchen but those are the only places I can have them located because of the lot.