A few thoughts.. 1. OLD FRIDGES. In my twenties I got a 1953 International Harvestor fridge for free. Yes the freezer was small and you had to fill ice trays. However, It ran flawlessly for 10 years and was still running when I moved on for a "better" fridge. Think of that. It ran maintenance free for over THIRTY YEARS! You simply cannot buy a fridge today that will do that. (btw, 66YEARS LATER these are still being traded in running condition on Ebay for $500 bucks or so!) 2. ICE MAKERS. (and thru the door et al.) Talk to ANY repairman and she will tell you that Icemakers and thru door compononets are absolutely the most common repair problem. ESPECIALLY ice makers that are inside the fridge (rather than the freezer) for obvious reasons. (you also give up valuable storage space in the frig) An ice maker in the freezer is best but still subject to failure. However, freezing ice trays is indeed a pain. THE BEST OPTION (compromise). is an icemaker in the freezer that dumps into a tray. 3. ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTER BOARDS. Again, high failure rates across the board I don't need a computer screen on my frig. I need a frig and a freezer/ice maker with good lighting inside. PERIOD 4. THE BEST FRIG. Would be a simple good looking Stainless steel frig with a simple icemaker in the freezer. That's it. I haven't found it! If anyone does let me know! cheers

A few years ago, I had a mysterious night sound. I was sound asleep when a tremedous clap of thunder shook me awake. I sat up on the edge of my bed and then I heard a strange low sound. It was coming from downstairs. My bleary head seem to think it was a bird. A bird? How? Why? Didn't make sense. I crept down the stairs and with each step, the sound increased a bit. It sounded like a tropical bird in my living room - was I dreaming, sleepwalking? What on earth would I find facing me if I did finish my descent and step into the living room? As I neared the bottom of the stairs, I bent over and peeked through the doorway into the living room and I saw a glowing, sinister, red light! And now the sound was definitely a bird and growing louder! LOL! My stereo radio was on at half power. It was tuned to an easy listening station and at that very moment, they had chosen to play (don't recall the title) a number that begins with jungle sounds and exotic bird calls. After this introduction, orchestra music begins. We had taken a lightening hit on a spruce tree not more than 15 feet from the house. Stray currents had shorted the power switch to the stereo and enough current was flowing over the carbon trail burned on the switch to operate the stereo. I pulled the plug and inspected for fire. The plug was a little warm, but the danger had passed. Repairs could wait. It was close, but no fire. I went back to bed perhaps to sleep, but sleep would not come until my jangled nerves stoped telegraphing panic impulses.

Wow, Kathy, I think I'm as impressed with your "can do" attitude and common sense as your impressive kitchen redo. Thanks so much for sharing. Love all your color sections, especially the way the fabric in your kitchen window curtain pulls it all together. Before, the kitchen was chaotic, and now your colors are so soothing. Also love the way you rearranged the cabinets to maximize your space and storage. By the way, I know what you mean about measuring as that scares me too when I'm spending real money. I do have two suggestions for when you save up more $$$. The first is that you order full extension drawers, or trays, to go inside the large base cabinet with the double doors on the right side of the range. I ordered from Quikdrawers.com for the cabinets in my dining room and am extremely happy with the company and the result. They make a quality product, the guy who helps you (Keith) knows his stuff, and spacing between the trays is fully adjustable to maximize storage for what works best for you. Those pull outs certainly beat standing on your head and rearranging to see what's in the back. The second suggestion is to add a light rail and led puck lights run by batteries that you can just tap to get them to come on. My daughter-in-law knows a number of her neighbors who have used that approach and that it works pretty well if you don't want to go the electrician route. Those lights should be available at the big box stores or online elsewhere. Again, five stars on your project all the way around. It is well worth all the time, stress, and worry. Also, your low budget is hard to believe.

CP-My comment was in no means to upset you. Even if your plan isn't working for me, I am amazed by the amount of help you offer on the forum. My attack on the other comments is frustration that I see this all the time on so many posts. 5 years ago when gardenweb was so active, I was excited that such a forum would be around when I built. Then HOUZZ took over it...I think most of us stopped logging in because we had to set up new IDs. I don't think there are moderators anymore. Maybe you need to take a better look at what I drew. No one walks through anyone's closet. That is why there is a hallway there so you don't have to. This comment was not directed at your plan..The draftsman missed the boat on that. He had the W/D right off the main hallway so a quick in and out...but I'm not sure it works overall with 2 closets. I don't want my DH in my closet and I don't want to walk through his to get to mine...I was trying to say that in order to get 2 separate closet entrances and lead into the bathroom PLUS have the hallway, lends itself to a long hallway between the laundry and the bathroom. I'm calling it quits now too. Honestly I have no clue anymore what you want or don't want and I'm sorry but I don't have the time to devote to this anymore. First you are ok with it being 300 square feet for the bath/closets, and then you want to shave off 100 square feet. First you insist on 2 toilets and then it's ok if you only have one as long as it's your plan that only has the one. Then you decide again that you need 2 toilets. I never wanted to go down to 1 toilet. I couldn't squeeze it into my drawing while getting rid of the stuff I didn't like about his plan. Now you're insisting that the sinks have to be on either side of the tub because you're afraid of seeing your husbands stuff on his vanity. Never mind when you're in the tub, you'd be looking towards the shower or your vanity, but in your mind you'd be sitting sideways to look at his vanity. We gave you a straight run vanity with seating and then you insisted it had to be around a corner because you didn't want it a straight run. Then you insisted you didn't want to walk into the bathroom and see the tub. You wanted to see the vanity. The fireplace that one of you will never see from the bed with it in the corner, you decided can only be in the corner. I guess I'm not really sure why neither of us will see it in the corner. But I'm not sure that has impeded the plan layout. I think it was getting changed more because nobody liked it. First you needed the dresser to put the tv above, and then it would be ok if you didn't have the dresser as long as you had a console under the tv to put stuff on. Then you change your mind again and insisted the dresser had to be where the tv is. It wasn't ok with the dresser in an alcove to the side of the bed. Only in front of the bed. Oh and first it didn't need to be in an alcove and then it had to be in an alcove again. I want something under the TV. If the dresser doesn't look right sticking out into the room but the rest of the plan gives me everything else that I want, I may have to do a smaller piece instead. But I wouldn't just put the dresser somewhere else in the room. Yes, I would rather have a large piece like that in front of the bed. And I think it might work better if it is recessed so that the fireplace isn't sticking out in front of it. BUT I realize that I may save up to 200 square feet if I give up one or 2 things to get a fantastic bathroom. Like everyone else, that doesn't mean that I want to loose my whole wish list, and there are things in my mind that I am not willing to give up at this point. But for the design flaws of the draftsmans plan, he did give me everything on my list. He just went a bit overboard on square footage and the bathroom is uncomfortably huge. The bed could only be on the garage wall even if that impeded your entry into and out of the bedroom or around the bed. When the doors were moved to make it flow better, then there were other things you didn't like. I wanted a wall of door/windows in the master with the deck on the side. Yes, the master could've moved to the corner. BUT I would not have put windows on the other wall. The bed could've gone on the opposite wall, and everything else flipped. But I still wouldn't have put windows behind the bed wall. I do think it is important to point out to posters what is ideal design. But someone wanting a different look does not make them wrong, just maybe harder to arrange furniture and harder to sell the house. If moving the bedroom in the corner, made the rest flow better, I could have done it. But I would still only have the one wall door/window. And due to the slope, that would've been on the North wall, which would've changed the arrangement that I Ideally wanted my furniture....and moved the laundry or closets further from the bathroom. Plus, since I would then be taking up that wall, I would have less possibility for windows in the other closet bathroom areas. Yes, I get I'm not suppose to have a window in my closet----but the sun is not going to fade my clothes when I have a forest of trees that stick up 20+ feet above my roofline. Originally the coffee station had to be in the bedroom, and then it had to be in the bathroom and finally maybe it could be in the other hallway. I actually never wanted the coffee station in the bathroom. I realize it is a location a lot of them are put, but it would be a last resort. There were about 14 other locations to put it thrown out. Lots of options, which is great as that may trigger a thought that MAKES the rest of the wish list work! I'm sorry but at this point I'm too confused. I wish you luck and hope you figure it out. Thank you for your help. You know I get confused keeping track of a thread too. With the amount of people chiming in with their reasons that peoples wants suck, it can be super hard to figure out what is really going on. If you are out of ideas on it, that is fine. Virgil deciding the thread is done is not right. For an architect that contributes a lot, I don't think Virgil had any great ideas to share. I do occasionally see redraws from the architects on the board....but more often I see newer OPs leaving because when they come back to check their thread, it is an architect comment to hire an architect, or a poster leaving why their ideas are crap bad ones that aren't accepted here. And you know it is too bad. The people here this last year are the ones determining the new posters that will be here sharing their new builds with me next year....except they won't be here to share in the excitement...because they got ran off. Yeah, someone can read this and say that I am a bad person for saying this and she must be sensitive, or she isn't willing to listen to new ideas. But honestly, this is the board that the active posters have created. A few giving ideas. The other "non-professionals" honestly too scared to comment their ideas, or maybe even say that something is okay. Until someone draws their own version trying to get their ideas across, but they can't get one of their wants/needs in, then people say that it may be okay. I've yet to see a post where the OP wanted a tub in the master and didn't get comments that they don't that. Again-I am just saying how other posters feel towards comments that are made on the forums. Most people are just too scared to say such things because they might not get help later...or they just leave feeling stupid and build whatever they started with to begin with...that could've been made drastically better with a few simple changes. But that got mixed up in all the other things that got changed that OP wanted.