Mommy2twocuties, we determined our main floor square footage by first deciding which rooms we had to have on that floor. As far as room sizes, one thing I did to visualize was to measure the sizes of rooms we had in our existing house and use that as a jumping off point. For example we had a dining room at the existing home that was 11x11. I knew from living in that space that it was much too tight for the table and china cabinet that we had and the buffet that I want someday. Based on that, I knew that 14x16 was the minimum size that I wanted. We also used the same formula for determining approximate sizes for the family room, bedrooms, walk in closets and kitchen. Because our existing rooms already had the furniture and stuff that would be moving with us, it made the numbers feel real to us and give some additional perspective. Once you know what you want/need for rooms on a floor, and the approximate size of each, you can better ball park the square footage that you are looking at. It will still bloat up with hallways, stairwells and closets, but you will know if you need to be looking at 1500, 2100, or 2800 square feet to accommodate your wants.

This is a response to the post by lee676 Excuse Me!? You sound like a cheating husband to me. This IS the WHOLE story. At first, I wasn't snooping. But once I saw that he was having conversations with one of my friends, OF COURSE I AM GOING TO LOOK FURTHER INTO IT!!! I bought him the computer! Then fixed it up for him!! HE ALSO has access to my computer and information as well!!! I wouldn't blame him if he wanted to look into my archives!!! If I'm not doing anything wrong, then who cares!!! It should have been the same for him!! I TRUSTED him!!! With all of my heart!! Oh and by the way, if you have the hard drive, you have the information!! I had two different people telling me that they can extract the information that I need off of that Hard Drive!!! You need to think about what you say before you say it!! ( * Posted by lee676 (My Page) on Sun, Jun 4, 06 at 6:17 So let's see, you snooped on your husband's computer ("without even thinking"), and found a short letter he wrote to an ex-friend of yours, whom you don't like in part because of her overactive sex life and in part because she doesn't look pretty enough (why else would "not being the prettiest thing in this world" be relevant?). You say you "totally trusted him", yet you continued to snoop in his sent email box even after "accidently" opening the first message. Then you downloaded a program that would hack into his Yahoo archives. If there is lack of trust in your marriage, I'd have to say it goes both ways. So your hubby wrote a letter to someone you once thought enough of to be friends with. So he finds her good-looking. Are you so insecure in your relationship that you can't stand the thought that he might find other women attractive? I don't think you've told the whole story here, but I can't blame him for being upset at what you did. I certainly would be too if I found my wife installing software on my computer for surreptiously reading my private correspondence, even if I was completely innocent. (I don't understand what the point of trashing the computer but saving the hard drive is, though.) That said, this isn't about you being lazy in bed or anywhere else. This is about a breakdown in trust, and lack of responsive listening. Something had to have led up to this.

Hillary, I am not a professional so I try to think of things that could be done by a homeowner on their own without spending a lot of money. If the grids in your doors cannot be painted then I would paint the door white. I would trim the tree so that the trunk is viable. Evaluate plants to determine if they should be relocated. It is not attractive to cover the lower windows. Plant something attractive and flowering near the door. Grow grass in the small bed at the end of the landing. The entrance will have a cleaner look with that bed gone. Any plants you choose for the center of the foundation should say low.

Yes a runner would be safer on the stairs. That raised edge (if I am seeing right) is a terrible tripping situation. My good friend had that and it was really bad. Hope you can get that done.