Not to be a total curmudgeon, BUT... 1) It's not your fence. It belongs to your neighbor 100% because he paid for it. That means you can't paint it, grow anything on it, or attach anything to it. 2) You don't have 6 more inches. That belongs to him, too! It's where the posts for his fence are. The fence is built entirely on his property! This isn't like buying a new house and the fence is on the property line: he paid for it and put it on HIS property. The property line appears to be where the wall is. The property line didn't move! (And no, he didn't "abandon" the 6" on her side, he's using it for the fence foundation.)

Yes, I have pictures of all the lights that I make. The 'personalized memory lights' are people's favorite picture memories, past or present. Most of them are favorite memories of family pictures, grandchildren, grandparents, best friends, favorite pet, wedding day, anniversaries, birthdays, baby announcements, graduations, any occasion!! Some have them made from old black & white photos too! In the spring time I am going to start taking sepia or vintage photos of people on our old wagon, then use that picture and make them a 'Memory Light'. Where do you live? Maybe we could exchange e-mail addresses?? I really don't want to post them on here. And I don't know how to post a picture on here either. Maybe you can help me with that. Here is my e address... iluv2craft@sbcglobal.net the-light-lady

jannie - I agree about the ceiling lights. I WANT them. Had them while growing up in 'the olden days' too. Back in the 70's when my then dh and I built we put them in every room. Now I find I need them more than ever. When I get to a room I want to be able to turn the light on before entering (at night mostly). It's easy for me to trip and I often lose my balance so I need to be very careful. The other thing is that if I want to look for something or clean I want lots of light. My old eyeballs aren't as good as they used to be either. This place has a lot of windows and some skylights and being in AZ there is lots of natural light. But there is always the night time (sun goes down then in AZ too - lol!) and our occasional rainy days or dust storms when it is darker outside. Even if I don't have to use those lights that often, when I DO need them I want them to be there. As I've grown older I find most things are about ease of use and comfort. If fixtures in houses for sale are outdated they can always be updated. Having the wiring there for them is always a plus to me. The biggest expense would be in paying an electrician to wire them in if they aren't already there. A big plus on my 'new' place is those ceiling lights - and fans. When I looked thru the windows (my first 'view' of it inside) a huge plus was that almost every room not only had a ceiling light but a ceiling fan. It wasn't that I particularly liked the fixture in place but knowing the wiring was there I knew it'd be easy enough to change them. Being outdated isn't the top reason I'm replacing fixtures or fans either. My reasoning has more to do with my eyesight and other limitations. Most of the ceiling light fixtures in here max at a 60 W bulb usage. That isn't enough light. They are also enclosed in a globe (see pic above of hallway) that blocks even more light from them and also requires 2 or 3 little screws to hold them in - and remove them to change a bulb. My hands /fingers can't manage those little screws anymore. My requirements for a fixture (besides cheap) are they have to take at least 1 100W bulb and the globe has to be open to hands for changing the bulb. the fans in here are probably the cheapest you can buy anywhere (HD). 2 are way too small for the room size and my ceilings are angled and the fans are not the type for those ceilings. They wobble and clank as they turn. Not a fan I feel safe sleeping under. My son tried to balance them but said even that wouldn't help them. And now after watching Jed replace some of them I realize that even with bulbs that can be easily reached by a hand, I'd have to be MUCH taller, have leg extensions or use a ladder to reach them. None of those things will happen. I figure I'll be calling Jed a time or 2 thru out the yr to come over to replace them. When that happens I'll just have him go around the house and put new ones in all fixtures.

Thanks for the advice, Kristine! I moved some things around in the Ikea planner like you suggested. Your suggestion for the fridge location is where my fridge is currently located. I moved it in my original plan because I dislike how much it sticks out into the middle of the room. I could probably solve that issue by getting a counter-depth fridge. I need to do more research on that because I am concerned that we won't have enough fridge space with a counter depth model. I frequently put cookie sheets in the fridge and they take up the entire depth of my current fridge (a side-by-side model). I think I could fit them in a counter depth fridge if I got the kind with 2 french doors on the top and the freezer on the bottom. I moved the wall oven/micro over to the far left wall because I didn't want to make the peninsula any shorter than it already is. It is only 6 feet and any smaller seems like it won't be long enough. I would like to be able to have enough space for 6 girls to be working around it at one time and 6 feet will already be tight (3 girls on each side). I do really like moving the cooktop to the far left wall as well. It seems to give me a lot more bottom drawers for storage along the top wall which would be great. I was only able to fit an 18" cabinet between the cooktop and the wall oven. I'm not sure that is enough space on that side. I think I remember seeing that 24" of working space should be the minimum. I could get more space by using a range instead, but I don't really like that setup. I frequently use both the oven and the stovetop at the same time with 2 people cooking. So the person using the stovetop is always in the way of the person trying to open the oven. I would really like to have the 2 separated.