We stick with the same food. Mainly, this has a lot to do with our one dog having a sensitive stomach and it takes him a while to "adapt" to new foods. Our other dog could care less. Also, with all the problems with foods lately I think I would prefer to stay with one food. I believe I would be able to see problems quicker if there was something wrong with the food because it wouldn't come and go (if you were switching foods this could happen) and if BOTH of our dogs were acting ill we would assume the food and bring them to the vet pronto. I guess I feel if we switched foods we may miss the signs of this. I am not sure if this it true or not. We also switched to canidea after the most recent food recalls and now that we have had our dogs on it for about 6 months I can see a difference in their coats and I am very happy with the food. It is also less smelly and greasy than our other "premium" food we used to buy. This food has a couple different meats in it and then we can supplement with veggies so I think our dogs get a complete nutrition. They do not seem to be lacking. Our one boy used to get allergy problems every fall and spring and (crossing my fingers) we haven't seen them yet this year although it has been a bad allergy season, so maybe the new food is helping with this also?

I have your house, built the same year in the Northeast. I agree that we have a lot more leeway with this type of house and have taken such liberties twice in remodeling the house. Mine was an aluminum clad faux/ode to the 1700's. It was built on a budget by the previous owners with very dark stained trim & luan doors and really cheap dark cabinets with those paper laminate sides, dark wall to wall carpeting with a dining room and bedroom that had beat up dark pine flooring. It was dark. But, in spite of the fake materials, probably did a good job of reflecting how depressing life could be 200 years earlier! (Please also remember the first rule of Garden Web - just about anything that the previous owners did is horrible.) Then (brace yourselves), we did pretty much the same remodel/facelift in the early 90s with washed oak cabinets - but no arches! We didn't know it was trendy - at the time everyone we knew with newer construction had the light/medium oak cabinets with arches. It was a soft light contemporary finish on a traditional style cabinet that fit in with new white painted windows doors and trim and overall softer colors in the house without being a jarring transition from the traditionalized exterior. With a wall opened to the small never used formal dining room and new doorways to the dead end living room and family rooms, it was now light and bright and would have shown very well if we had decided to move within the next few years. Even twenty years later and dated, my kitchen still felt comfortable. (There should be a second rule of Garden Web - everything dates, so if the house style doesn't point in a direction and you're planning to be there for a while don't just remodel for "looks". Think about if you feel comfortable in the space. If your only reaction is WOW, you'll probably get tired of it. So in 20 years when everyone's dissing (wink) your white kitchen you'll say "I don't care, because it still feels good and flows with the house".) Sorry this is so long! Anyway we're remodeling again. (Facelifted cabinets are looking worn and appliances needed to be replaced.) I didn't have a style in mind, but started with a quartzite/slate to finally reface the unattractive original faked used brick family room fireplace that extends into the kitchen. The "feel" of that pushed me towards medium stained maple and green cabinets for the new kitchen - which is (I guess) a hat tip to craftsman without trying to be authentic. A modest redecorating plan will help the new look flow through the house. So, the house has gone from an unauthentic period colonial, to an unauthentic contemporized colonial, to what will probably eventually be a slightly different style unauthentic contemporized colonial. I wouldn't have put either of my kitchens in my Grandparents true 1785 colonial. They wouldn't look or feel right there!

chelwa-I'd build a 2 bedroom on the mainfloor - 1 smaller that could be a flex space and used as a craft/office type room with a murphy bed. That was the plan if we would have done kids in the basement, definitely another bedroom on the main. I am not that good of a daughter either. :O We built a 1.5 story - have been in it a year. If I had it to do over I would seriously consider what kelbrad did with the bedrooms in the basement as we do have large windows down there as well. My main reason for that would be A-then the basement would already be finished instead of post-build and still more to do. B-it does keep a nice temperature down there and it's well insulated for noise by the nature of it being a basement. Since you can't do the basement thing I'll just list my pros and cons as I see them now after living here a year. I have only ever lived in a ranch home my whole life and we were heading down that path with the build but I didn't want my forever home to have windows swallowed up by bedrooms that would eventually be vacant. That was my overriding factor. That and we built in the woods and I was really concerned about having a 'dark house' so I wanted as many windows as possible shedding light in the main living areas. Upstairs we have 2 bedrooms and a full bath plus a small nook area that right now houses a table for lego building and a small tv that has no service to it but can play movies. It's a nice little 'hideaway' for them that they can use upstairs but not be in their rooms. One of my 10 year olds favorite places to play is on the landing going up stairs. It faces front and they both call it the 'watch tower'. They will sit there and read and play - kind of wish it could have been made into a little sitting area somehow. Main floor laundry has not been an issue whatsoever and my kids do their own wash - 10 year old with some assistance but minimal. I put the laundry area where it was best for DH and I. :D Pros now at 10 and 12: absolutely the kid paraphernalia is contained upstairs and it does relieve some of the constant grumbling about picking their stuff up and I no longer vacuum up or step on legos on a daily basis. I do let their space be their space. They like to rearrange furniture frequently and change where they have all of their collections of whatever it is at the time. ;) They do need to clean their rooms but I don't have any rules on your bed can't go there or what have you. Not a battle I even care about. I like that if someone stops over or we have someone over I don't have to shut their doors or quick try to get all the bits and pieces of legos into their rooms and out of sight. That has been wonderful. They have their 'away space' nook and they like it. Right now it's set up more for play and lego building but we do have room we could sit a small love seat or something as they grow if they want to read or 'hang out' or whatever. I can already see my 12 year old hanging out more and more up there even when he is just reading. He likes the little bit of separation. Pros for the future: College age or even looking down the road to grandkids there is a separate place for them to have some space, some privacy. I do like that and I thought about it when I go visit my parents with my kids. It would be nice to not be on the same floor off the same hallway - giving them more privacy and us as well. I think it will be well suited for that phase of life. Oh and when it's vacated as we age, I will then be all main floor living and not have to go up there if I can't/don't need to. I have everything I need on the main floor. We don't need window coverings up there and they have a great view of trees. When we first moved in they couldn't believe all different birds they saw and we moved only 4 miles from our old house in a subdivision. They actually would lay in bed with paper and pencil making a list of all the different birds they saw. Two thumbs up for that. Awesome. And we are by horse trails so we even have horses that walk by and that's also a new scene for them. Cons: as you said - yes it's challenging to keep the temperature as even as the main floor. I barely looked into zone heating and cooling so I didn't know enough about it. I think that may be the ticket but like I said I don't know enough and it's not a huge space so not sure it would have been worth the cost anyhow. Each have a ceiling fan and windows on 2 walls, back and side. I think what would have made a huge difference if we had windows on opposite walls to get a cross breeze. We don't have any windows on the front and I think that if I changed anything that would be it and I think it would help greatly. That said, it's not terrible up there. I'd say a little stuffy in the summer but not miserable by any stretch. I don't think we lose any heat on the main floor, it's quite comfortable. If we turn the a/c on it's nice up there - not as cold as downstairs but it's more than fine. But then again when I was a kid we had no a/c so I think we are a little spoiled and they have no idea how terrible hot that is, lol. Winter time - it's cozy. This is a weak one - maybe not a con but an observation from someone who never had a 2 story. We don't have a 2 story great room but I am surprised how much you can hear from the main floor. I have boys and they are sometimes just plain loud - and yes it sounds like elephants at times too. BUT - there are no rooms above our bedroom so that room is quiet. It's not really a con because lets face it on the main floor they'd be just as loud! And I guess at times I do like to hear what they are chatting about. ;)

I suggest you post this on the Home Decorating forum. You will get alot more feedback than you'll get here. A colonial is not a craftsman. A bungalow is a 1 or 1 1/2 story house - not a 2 story. Craftsman homes don't have attached garages. There will be lots you can do to update this house. However, don't force it into something it's not. And don't be married to the trendy non-colors that some say are popular today ie greige. Colors of nature are always best for homes in wooded settings. head on over to Home Decorating:)