georgia! AWESOME house! I'm SO excited for you! you are making some fabulous progress quickly (at least it feels quick to me, not so quick to you I'm sure - ha!) I agree with you on the j&j. I think as long as the girls each have their separate sink area, it will be fine. All 3 kiddos share one bath as it is now - so this will be a total luxury for them! So funny that you added more windows. Dh counted ours yesterday and seems to think like we have way too many - but we don't really! What kind of windows & exterior are you doing? I think I missed your thread on your final decision. I'm also wondering if I should make my transoms deeper - 16 or 18"? I really don't care for skinny looking transoms. We have 9ft ceilings. We are considering Marvin or Andersen windows. Dh is acting as our builder/gc so we have to do all our homework ourselves - ugh. He also has a full time job, so needless to say this is going to be a S.L.O.W. process! beth - thanks for your thoughts. We thought about having access to the bonus via the upstairs, but I nixed that idea. The bonus area is going to be my mom cave/peace & quiet area and I know that if the kiddos (9,7,5) could access it from their rooms - they would be running in there every 5 minutes. I really want the separate space. We have a basement and plan to finish off a bedroom/bath down there in the future for guests. I do think I'm going to have to change the windows for functionality reasons - which is funny because usually I always choose looks over function, ha! any one else have any suggestions?

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I love your home, and love the woodwork. It probably has darkened with age, and could be nicer if stripped and refinished, but with 4 younger kids that is a project for down the road. For now, I am glad that you are not painting it. You have gotten lots of great suggestions, but many of them seem to be things that at this point you cannot do for a variety of reasons. Since you are suggesting that some of the fixes will be temporary, until your youngest is a bit older, I am thinking in terms of working with what you have, rather than making some changes now that may not work down the line when you are ready to really alter things. Since this is your family room, where all of you gather, imo we need to think in those terms, more than about what looks pretty. I get the impression that you don't use your front door often, since the loveseat is currently sitting there. So, despite the fact that I love the fireplace, you said it is non-working, I believe. It seems to me that for now, the place for the TV is in front of the fireplace. Straight on, almost as a replacement. Don't paint the brick, either. The one thing that could be nice is if the TV stand were a bit lower, so that the top line of the tv sat just below the mantel. With the tv in front of the fireplace, we need to move the viewing angles around a little. I would try the couch all the way back at the end of the room, in front of the double window. Move the torchiere down to replace that little table that is sitting in the corner. It seems like you should have enough space, with the couch against the end wall, to leave the sofa table where it is with the lamp on it. Take the loveseat and put it on the front window wall where the couch is now. Use the little end table to the left side, right by the entry, and add another table lamp (stolen from somewhere?) on that table. Keep the loveseat and table pushed as far to the left, close to the door, as possible, to give the tv visual 'breathing room'. Get rid of the runner in front of the couch. Leave the blinds, I think they are fine, but get rid of the window scarves. I would stay away from curtains, but would consider adding a simple valance above the front and end wall windows, hung just below the picture moulding. Nothing gathered, but rather something flat with pleats. Something like this style: premier stripe inverted pleat valance I would take down all the things you have hanging on the walls in there and re-group. It appears you have a mirror on the wall behind the door, which seems pretty much unusable. The framed art is marching around in a row, and is spaced too far apart. Consider taking the pix that relate to one another and making a grouping of them above the sofa table. I would take down the mirror over the fireplace for now - maybe it can find a new home elsewhere in the house. The tv will kind of dwarf anything that is framed up there, so instead try the large candlesticks to one side (but not all the way to the edge), with a richer color for the candles. Add a lower, wider vase or planter with some taller twigs and green grasses, etc in it, to bring some color and softness above the tv. Think about adding some other items to the pretty shelving besides framed pix - maybe some books, a couple of interesting pieces of pottery, etc. Look for things that pull out some of the colors that are in the fabric you want to use. As for paint, I would use a warm beige color on the walls, and go two shades lighter above the picture rail, same lighter color on the ceiling and on the entire fireplace area above the mantel only. I love greens, but looking at the wood in the room, especially in the closer shot, it feels like beige/gold would do more to bring out the richer tones in the wood. Be sure you have the highest wattage you can get in the lamps. Don't use the ceiling fan lights for lighting the space. They only create glare up high and shadows down below, unless you have them on a dimmer and can get a soft light effect that just kind of washes the ceiling. I think once you add some warm color with the paint, and bring in your pillows and accents, the room will feel warmer and more friendly.

I have 17 motion sensors in my home, one being the laundry room. (And about as many dimmers.) I totally support the switch, but not in the place you're suggesting he put it. It needs to be able to "see" you! These motion sensor sockets are available very inexpensively off catalogues such as Harriet Carter, so shop. As far as that office with a motion sensor? That's just dumb that someone hadn't set the timer on it. One sits still in an office, living room, den, and bedroom. Even with timers, they're going to click off. I find they've worked best for me in places someone isn't going to spend prolonged time still, such as: 1) Bathrooms (set to 10 minutes) 2) Laundry (set to 10 minutes) 3) Hallways (set to 2 minutes) 4) Mudrooms (set to 5 minutes) 5) Garage (set to 10 minutes) 6) Attic (set to 10 minutes) 7) Closets (set to 5 minutes) 8) Front Porch lights (set to 10 minutes, + light/dark sensor) 9) Security Lights (set to 10 minutes) These are all places I have them, and they're rooms where one would be moving about. The lights don't go off and back on if there is motion. They just stay on. I've saved myself $1000s over the 10 years I've had them in this home. I know. I've kept track of my power bills' kilowatt usage, cost, temperature, and bill amount since 2002. With solar panels, I wanted to see how much I was saving with these lights, with and without my now-ex-DH. $1000s. Hey. Be careful about the CFL light bulb type. I've learned the hard way that some aren't meant for motion sensors. I burned out 3 sockets before someone said, "Hey, did you know...? Lutron has a list of appropriate manufacturers. Then... we have LEDs. When the light is off, there's not supposed to be any electricity running through the socket. Well, much to my electrician's surprise, I wasn't an idiot when I told him the LED bulb flickered when there wasn't any motion to be detected. Claimed it just couldn't be happening. I just stared at him as we watch the light flickering in the bathroom, out of sight from the motion sensor. So...