OOOOhhhh Laundry, I have 2 boys (3 if I count dh - and yes, I'd better), and it seems I have to do 1 - 2 loads per day, if I skip a day then the load quantity seems to compound itself! I miss our old tiny rental, the laundry was in it's own room off the kitchen and it was so much easier to keep up. Now we are in our new (dream) home and the way the layout has turned out, laundry is in the basement (along with the 2 kids's rooms) or I could have hidden it upstairs (where the big people live). Half of one or half of the other. I used to know a girl who is mom to four boys, and she said if they ever could afford a bigger home, she wanted a laundry room that could also house all the boys' clothing (in closets and dressers). They go in to dress, dump the dirty laundry, and it would be quick and easy to launder and put away since it's all in the same room. Makes sense to me, instead of carrying from bedrooms to laundry room, then back again. It will be a while before our home is completely finished, and I get shelves and drying bars in my laundry room, but I am appreciating all these new and modern ideas/accessories that I did not know were about, to aid in that chore. Thanks so much for the ideas and links.

I took my pine tv cabinet from this: to this: I didn't want a solid, single color paint look, but something with more depth. The end result is just what I wanted, and was easy to do. The process is multi step but each step is easy and very forgiving, nothing needs to be perfect. You could do lots of different color combos - I'm planning some dining room pieces for this winter with a brown base and green on top. For the whole process step by step, click on the before picture above or follow this link. Here is a link that might be useful: TV Cabinet Re-do

We had a similar situation when we moved into our home, with the placement of the windows on one side and doorway on the other. We have a two-story ceiling in our family room and the proportions were a challenge for me. After looking at many consoles and media centers, we decided on a built in wall unit that we could match to the existing trim and wasn't much more than some of those modular console sets. It was nice to be able to decide on the dimensions with our taller ceiling and while it took longer to have it built and installed, we don't regret it at all. The electronic components are "hidden" in the cabinets and we got some additional lighting into the room by putting lights in the top part of the unit. I can totally relate to not being able to find the exact kind or size of cabinets you're looking for, so if you can find a cabinet maker in your area, maybe you could compare that quote to the price of some of the units you've found that would also work in your home. Good luck!

Thank you so much!!! Your ideas are very appreciated!!! Below is pic of rug that is in there. It has splashes of green (ties to kitchen) and lite blue (ties to gray living/dining walls that look blue lol). I thought I was following the rug rule that allowed for it to be in front of couches. To be honest it was a free rug, and matches the dining room and living room rugs and runner, I thought I was good keeping with the theme lol I actually just put this end table in my Amazon cart. Would something like that work? I have an extra lamp, shown in the living room pic to the right of couch I could put on top of end table. Is an entertainment/ build in look completely out of question? Think it would make room feel small? I will definitely move the pictures lower!!