Yes that is my closet hhireno and yes, I do stick to wearing earth tones. I'm a redhead/auburn with the complexion and freckles that go with it so earth tones work best for me. I got an offer to write for HomeSpot out of the blue via Hometalk. I'd been a member there for about six months when I was asked to one of their following five. They liked the comments I made and things I clipped so in hopes of getting new members to see the best of their site, which is similar to Pinterest with conversation, they asked five (which turned into seven) members to allow all new members to follow us. The Content Manager (Tyler) of HomeSpot's Blog is also a member of Hometalk and noticed my interaction with their members and how knowledgeable I was with many areas of DIY and other things to do with the home. When he was in NYC a couple months ago he arranged to meet up with Hometalk's Community Coordinator (Miriam) and they talked about me. Miriam agreed to contact me and see what my thoughts were on writing for HomeSpot. I said I wasn't a writer, but agreed to allow her to give my contact info to Tyler. He and I communicated via email and phone. He had a trip planned to Omaha, to visit his wives family so we met up to talk about it in person. If HomeSpot is happy with me and I with them, they'd like to bring me on as a partner. Crazy huh? I am enjoying the writing, but getting things ready for the pictures or to draw pictures is very time consuming, to say the least. My first to articles are doing quite well stat-wise according to Google tracker. I must be doing something right. My first one ranked #2 out of all articles posted in the first 23 days of October and it was #1 in time spent on each page. Those things are big in getting a website to move to the top of a search page. As for the site itself, it has a home tracker where you can keep track of every room and the outside of your home project by project, including maintenance reminders. I've only just started using it and am very impressed. You can even write a supply list for each project so you don't forget what you need. Once I get get ahead on writing my articles I'm going to write up each room of our home. I've done this before in a notebook, but am liking the idea of having it accessible from the web, though still private, without having to drag my notebook everywhere.

Watch out for sewing lint in your computer. Also, the curtains and blinds in my sewing room get much, much lintier (dustier) than those in the rest of the house, so I'm thinking those closet curtain doors may be a dusty nuisance. You do need to cover the closet with something, though. Sewing is very linty. Much as I hate my sliding closet doors and wish I had bi-folds in my bedroom, the sliders work well in my sewing room. I get your point about space with the bi-folds and the corners. Since it's a sewing room, how about getting mirrored sliders for the closet? My room is set up so the machine is next to the closet; I just slide open the door with the most used tools and am ready to go. The other half holds everything else: fabrics, linings, patterns, stuffings, threads, etc. On the other hand, if you kept the bi-folds, could you put small, tall chests in the corners with the drawers facing the middle? That way you'd have access to tools, etc. I have an ancient, beat up maple chest that fits perfectly in my dtr's closet corner. Now that I thought of it, I may go get it and "repurpose" it for my sewing closet! Sherry

Here's a quick layout: Currently it's set up like a galley kitchen, with the fridge, cabs, sink, 30" stove and cabs L to R along the wall with the window, a cab opposite the fridge (adjacent to the coat closet) sporting a microwave, and a row of cabs next to the door along the wall to the living room. No good work triangle, I'm thinking of putting a pantry drawer and sandwich station/beverage station/appliance garage where the fridge is (to the left of the sink) and putting the fridge to the right of the doorway, opposite the sink. The original kitchen had the living room wall empty with a freestanding table for four in that area. As to how it will be used, well, there's just me, but I like to cook--I have a 30" stove and an additional 12" Miele combiset that I'll be dropping in a counter, probably next to the stove, unless I make a small bar/mother-in-law's kitchen in the basement. In a perfect world (one with a big budget) I'd knock the wall out between the kitchen and dining room, and open the wall between the kitchen and living room putting bar seating for two or three on the living room side--there's a nice stone fireplace in the living room, but not sure if the budget will allow--may change the pocket door to a double pocket door just to open it up a bit, at least... I'm also thinking of making it the way it used to be, with linoleum floor and everything (but modern neutral colors), true to it's origins as a ranch home from '56... I am open to any and all suggestions, referrals, etc... Oh, remodelfla--when you said you did a search, was that a forum search, or should I drop the print in the photo gallery? Thanks again, Paul

We've been missing the glasses for 3 weeks. Since I drink soda from the can that didn't bother me, but DH was drinking his milk from a mug. He found the glasses in the basement--the box was properly labelled "Kitchen" and "Glasses" but it got put down in the basement (where it didn't belong) We also found the clamps (for some reason, we've decided to do woodworking) I've decided I didn't keep enough cutting boards out. This weekend, I'll find a few from the basement storage and bring them to the kitchen. I don't like to stop what I'm doing and clean off a cutting board while preparing dinner (and tomatoes and strawberries don't go together) and I ran out of cutting boards today. I kept the George Foreman grill out and actually used it already :-)