Welcome to the boards! You've found the right place for sure!! I think it's great that you are giving your best friend support in assisting with organizing and purging and getting her home in order. Fresh paint too! WOW!! First of all, there's one thing that's bothering me in your post and that is where you state that your friend wants YOU to TAKE OVER and get HER life in line. Believe me, I can relate to how she's feeling firsthand, BUT...........she's the only one that can do that. I could be interpreting this all wrong, so if I am please explain so that I can better understand. Will you both be present throughout this challenge? Seriously....you can not make decisions as to what goes out and what stays, but you CAN help her purge by asking questions along the way, such as-----"Is this item useful? Do you own more than one of them? Do you really need all of these cookbooks??" The last thing you want to do is find boxes and start piling this stuff up to store for later. I mean this 100%!!!!! Later never comes AND you'll be 100 times more overwhelmed than you are now! PURGE PURGE PURGE!! This is NOT something you can do for her...remember that. You can be support and help her toss things out, but she's the one that has to make the final decisions. I have tried every angle the past few years to get my house organized and clean by asking (BEGGING) for help from my best friend, sister, husband, niece, etc. Every single time it would boil down to the same thing. The same questions would be asked over and over again-----"We don't know what you want us to do with all of this stuff and every time we ask you want to keep it all! What do you want us to do exactly?" I was wanting a clean organized home, but yet couldn't part with any of the items in question when all along is was the items that were cluttering up my home!! I suggest that you read everything you can on this forum board first of all and then approach your friend and sit down with paper and pen and begin making a priority list. Have your friend do the actual purging and then you can help her organize. If she hesitates too long over certain items have her place them into a box and label it a "maybe" box. This will be for items she "might" decide to keep or isn't quite ready to toss out yet. If you see a trend and the one box turns into several, then your friend isn't ready to let go of this stuff and you will not be able to help unless you are willing to pack all of the extras up so that she can store them. UGH!! Your friend is really lucky to have you. Just make sure she's ready to let go of the "junk". That's the hard part. Good Luck!!

That IS a great piece and chalk paint would be wonderfully easy, and would adhere well to the existing. You got very lucky with your Craigslist. I know that you just want to paint it now, but in a few years, if you want to do something that is fun and EASY, look at what I am doing with a similar dresser from 'my' Craigslist. All I did was cut some fabric to size for the drawer fronts, and glued it on with ModgePodge, which can be found in any craft store. It acts as glue, and then you do several coast of it on top of the fabric to act as sealer. It just takes a very light sanding between coats, and you're done! I agree that glass knobs would be perfect on yours. I just looked on eBay and found some that are very reasonable priced, and he has a good selection. See link below. They can be very pricey, so I'll be looking at his, too! (I have NO affiliation with ANY seller on eBay; I just like to shop there.) Before - During, as I haven't finished it yet. Here is a link that might be useful: Some well -price glass knobs on eBay

Adding that archway would completely mess up the living room layout. Furniture arrangements would become very difficult and it would become a traffic path. Maybe consider shortening the wall, so keep the bench and closet, but lose the second smaller coat closer and maybe even shorten the other stuff. It will still create an entry way and block sound from the living room but it wouldn't create a super long closed in hallway. You may want to also reconsider the kitchen area. That pantry is way too far away to be useful and the dining room looks tight once you account for all of the traffic paths.

WOW. Lucky YOU! Love the color of the walls AND of the woodwork. I would remove all your furniture and start to build from the floor up. A beautiful area rug. Don’t know your design style, but I would go full on Persian style rug. You can mix styles in your furniture. I would definitely do that. Not “Colonial” but eclectic. Simply styled track arm sofas upholstered in linen. Comfortable clean line chairs, even leather. Then…add some personality with fabrics, antiques, Tag Sale pieces. A collected look would suit your room. I envy you the bones of this space! Don’t just buy “stuff.” Collect, slowly, so that it looks like you have accumulated pieces over time…. GORGEOUS!