Smart Bakemom! lol It reminds me of an elderly friend that used to tell people she was a teacher and doing a study on fungus if she spotted morels in someone's yard. She didn't want to let them know they were good to eat. If she did that, they might not let her have them for her "study". lol We still have kids at home so I have no trouble coming up with enough milk jugs or other containers. We use nearly a gallon of milk a day sometimes. If someone you know has kids, you'd probably be doing them a favor to ask for their milk jugs. It's a hassle saving and taking stuff to recycle when there's so much.

Thanks, dirtpig (love your user name!) DD is very grateful--people are always telling us how she sings our praises! She's a pretty special young lady, so we are happy to do what we can to make her day memorable. Plus, it beats spending hundreds of $$ on a church or hall that we would never see again. At least we get to enjoy it afterwards!! Thanks to you, Connie--yes, I am very blessed to have a man that not only knows how to do construction, but WILL do it! :) I can't imagine what this place would look like if I didn't have his help...not like this, I'm sure! He's the one who wanted to buy it, so I remind him of that when he starts to fizzle (lovingly, of course!!). And I know what you mean about long-time hubbies--I bet there are other reasons you keep yours around! :) Karen

herbflavor, We bought the place because it was all that we could afford at the time without a mortgage, and the housing crisis of 2008 was still fresh on my mind and I absolutely did not want a mortgage, and still don't. We could have qualified for one but we didn't want one. Our next house will also be paid for in cash but it's going to be our "forever" home and we are projecting that its going to cost 200k. DH owns a business, and now I also own a business. Both our businesses do well. We are not rich. We are middle class. But we will not get a mortgage; we are very debt-averse. -------------------------- homechef59: "I'm going to continue with the wall extension for the refrigerator. You said the refrigerator would be too big and stick out. So, frame the wall with an L-shape into the dining room just far enough to make the refrigerator sit flush with the line of cabinets. Just trying to keep a lid on costs and get you some improvements." That is still moving a load-bearing wall, which costs $3k+, right? -------------------------- scone911: "Given your sketch, and based on instinct and experience, I wouldn't put any more money into this house. It's not worth the hassle, and I don't think you will get it back if there are mass market developers in the area who can undercut you every few years with a new subdivision that has all the bells and whistles. This house is already nickel and diming you, and that's really bad for your finances-- when you are young, you have a golden opportunity to start saving for retirement, so you have the power of compounding working for you. Throwing cash into a money pit house on speculation that it might be worth something someday, if everything breaks just right, is asking for trouble, IMO. Don't take that risk if you don't have to." We own it outright; there is no mortgage or lien or backtax; nothing. Free and clear. "I'd divide the land, if possible, and put a stick built or modular in the new section. Keep the old place as a rental if you can. At least the old house gives you somewhere to live while you build, and a modular can go up fast." We prefer to save up our cash towards our "forever" house instead. Also, we think at this time that what the property really has going for it is the land. If we divided it up it would lose a huge amount of its charm. The house itself has no charm at all; the land has charm. It has trees and wildlife and feels like you're in a forest; it's quite pleasant. "If you can get the land divided and ready to go in the next couple of months, you might (just possibly) be able to move into a new place by Christmas-- and get on with your life." No, because that would require getting a mortgage. We believe debt is something you do when things are more certain, and given the state of the economy and world affairs we are very far away from the kind of comfort level that would draw us to a mortgage. I suppose that wraps up this particular thread. I'll post a new one with a much more accurate to-scale sketch of the kitchen, dining and laundry floorplan so it can be hashed out better. Thanks again everyone! This was very insightful and educational.

CarrellHouse- Thanks for the response! Yeah the bathroom placements are a little unusual, here's why- The idea with the mudroom powder is my attempt to keep muddy/manure/dust boots from tracking through the house just to "go". I actually would prefer my guests not see my mudroom at all, so I plan on the full flex room bath being the guest access bath. I'm going to have the kids "wash up" in the mudroom bath before proceeding into the house further. I anticipate the mud room bath as staying, well, muddy. Keeping room- I share your concerns about the 10ft of keeping room space. All it would take is for one kid to leave the bar stool pulled out from the island and it would get tight. The further developed documents (not posted) increase that width to 11.6 which is better, and I am looking at ways to possibly(?) steal a few more inches elsewhere. Apparently this is where the acronym TBWOIF comes in! Dining- This is where I am choosing form over function. I really consider myself a pragmatic person but I have, from day one, requested a three sided dining area. In fact it was a pretty big "driver" in the design process. Yes It will require more steps to dining. I will gladly be willing to pay those steps in order to have windows where I wanted them. We are avid bird/nature watchers and sitting by all those windows watching my bird feeders at suppertime is worth it. Pocket office- Mrs Pete's recent post made me think about this too. It is actually not a work from home office, just a place to pay bills etc. I believe the window will help. The other alternative would be to steal a foot from the master closet. Boy, this whole design process has been one big lesson on "everything is a compromise." ;) KawerKamp! Thanks so much for such a great lifehack! I really am going to keep this in mind in the pantry!