Ck out the link to read about double or single bowl sinks. I truly feel a single bowl sink with a right rear drain is the best type of sink on the market. Now, let's talk about double bowl sinks. Double bowl sinks were designed prior to the invention of the dishwasher. We washed in one side and rinsed in the other. Let me outline the most popular concern I have heard about making the change from a double bowl sink to a single bowl sink. Most Americans use their dishwashers for dishes, cutlery and glasses. Some, like myself, like to wash a few dishes here and there without running the dishwasher. The old fashioned way was to place a grid drain in the left bowl so that dishes could be washed in the right bowl and set to dry in the left bowl. That divider kept dirty water from getting on the cleaned items. If you have a double bowl sink I guarantee that you have to take your large pans, platters, cookie sheets, etc. and place them vertically inside the right bowl. You have to spin them around to wash them and you have to spin them around again to rinse them. It is impossible to lay them down inside the sink. The new way, using a single bowl sink with a right rear drain, is similar. Merely place a drying rack in the left side of the sink and wash on the right. The sink is sloped to the right rear so the dirty water never touches the clean dishes. Since the drain is in the right rear, there is little chance for a misplaced dish to cover the drain and begin the maddening unintentional filling of the sink with dirty water. You say you occasionally fill one bowl with soapy water to soak an item and need the second sink for other things. No problem! Tupperware to the rescue! Just get a large Tupperware container and place it in the left side of the sink, fill it with soapy water and you have accomplished the same thing without a PERMANENT divider that causes more problems than it solves. Lastly, the right rear drain allows you to work differently at your sink. With your current double bowl sink, most of the washing and scrubbing is done near the mid level of the sink - rarely at the bottom. This has to be done because you can not lay your items flat in the bottom of the sink (they don't fit!!!). With our right rear drain, large items will easily fit flat in the bottom of your sink - allowing you to scrub pots, pans, cookie sheets, etc, with more ease. Since the items are flat in the bottom of the sink, you have more leverage and rinsing them is less treacherous. Think about it... Now that we are working in the bottom of the sinks, sinks need to be shallower. Most of our sinks are installed under 1 1/4' granite. Think of a 10' deep sink under a 1 1/4' slab. Now you have an 11 1/4' deep sink. If you are working in the bottom of the sink, that is too deep! We recommend 8 to 9' deep sinks for ultimate comfort. So... you diehard double bowl fans - please reconsider. We have converted thousands of you and we hear back from them regularly. They say they could never go back! Just in case this epistle was not convincing enough - yes we build custom double bowl sinks too! Here is a link that might be useful: Rachiele custom sinks

I have a basement and garage full of the Lowe's shelves. If you go to your post office, they should have a "Movers Packet" which includes 10% off at Lowes. Lowes often has these on sale for less as well. I'm using the white version of these. They easily fit 2 4' shop lights on each tier. I also get a sheet of plywood cut down each season to stop water overflows/misses from dripping right down on top of the lights below. I use the top tier for storage and typically the bottom tier for my heated seedling starter pads. Additionally, from Walmart I have a big bag of mylar sheets - the kind they hand out to runners after a race. I drap these over the front/back/sides to reflect as much light back at the plants as possible. While the shelves are adjustable, I've never gone back and changed a level. If someone has a clever way of hanging shop lights on this (or other) shelf system, I'd love to hear about it. I'm using chains and S-hooks and have on several occassions had them slip while I'm moving lights up or down and had them crash on plants (thus killing several plants on each attempt). A cheap and simple "Venetian Blind" system would be great. Andrew

We are wanting to put together a homeschool room. The space is 12 x 15 and we would love to put in a combination desk/shelving system. So far I've only found this Pottery Barn system that fits the bill (the medium Logan office suite). I'm open to other options, especially if they are better quality (I know PB's furniture reputation) but would like to keep the price at the $3000 or less mark. Any other suggestions? Pottery Barn Logan link: http://www.potterybarn.com/products/logan-office-set/?pkey=e:logan%2Boffice%2Bsuite:37:best:0:1:24::1&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH::NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_-NoMerchRules

Thanks, guys! Keep the ideas coming. The picture above is of the shelving unit I found on the street. That one IS possibly from the '80s. I will try to get a picture up of the other shelving unit. I bought it in the '90s, which would have had the original owner buying it sometime in the '60s. The unit above has plastic feet, and the one I bought at the estate sale has black-painted wood cubes for feet. Very MCM. Circuspeanut, we're on the same wavelength. I suspect the manufacturer may be European. You're right, these units are not the usual MCM wire shelving. As a side note, that was a fantastic estate sale. I got there in the last 30 minutes and scored the first shelving unit, some Stangl "Colonial" pottery, and some beautiful teatowels. I only wish that a) I'd gotten there earlier in the day and that b) I had known the owner in the first place. He had beautiful taste! Here is a link that might be useful: Stangl Colonial teacup set like mine