Oh what a cutie! I agree that you have a good reason to not have a lot of time. I've been reminding of that time in my life the last two years that I've been babysitting our grandson. Who cares about decorating when you have a precious little one to love. And I can understand more about why hubby doesn't like changing things or doing more than "has" to be done. He's more worried about being a good daddy and supporting his family than having a "pretty" updated home. Our home was rather sparse with mostly hand me down or used furniture when our first born was a baby. Heck it wasn't much difference by the time our second baby was born. Not saying it wasn't warm and welcoming. It was, but not everything was perfect. I've learned with age, that it's not so important. Perfection, that is. I went through a period where things had to be just so. Maybe it's more living in a unfinished home with a hubby that works a full time job year round and umpires most of the rest evenings and weekends to keep in shape and it pays nice too. We'll be in good shape for retirement and that's a good thing. I'm glad you like the corner door shelf. It's really easy to do. The hardest part was cutting the door in half. It's heavy so it took three of us to do. But if you used two doors you wouldn't have to worry about that. I bought the door through Craigslist since I was going to distress it, it didn't have to be perfect to start with. Habitat Restores are a good source for used doors too. As for the lighting in the entry I was wondering if you'd be able to use a decorative type track lighting in there. They have some really nice looking ones that the "track" curves and all you need is the one box for the fixture.

I keep plastic bags tucked into empty paper tissue boxes. I find the "boutique" size is the easiest to store. Then I scatter them around the house in bathrooms, closets,etc and in the car. A surprising number of plastic grocery bags can be stuffed into one empty tissue bag. Years ago I bought a bunch of little plastic trash cans that are made to reuse plastic grocery bags. A link for something like them is below. I'll be the first to admit, they are not "decorative" but by now, everyone "gets" the point. I can loop 4 or five bags in each can, one inside the other. It makes it so easy to collect the trash from bedrooms, bathrooms, the office and laundry room. Here is a link that might be useful: Trash can for reusing plastic grocery bags

what if i cant reach the ceiling.. lol ... they also used to make peg board doohickeys for baby jars ??? yeah.. my dad did this in the late 60s .. early 70's .... i dont think the man ever threw away a nut/bolt/screw/etc ... he didnt waste gas driving to the store for one fastener ... even if the drive would have taken ten minutes total roundtrip... but the search thru the jars took 3 hours ... i think the search.. and the fact that he saved 8 cents on the screw... was the thrill ... of course.. he saved gas money.. back when it was 17 cents a gallon ... ken

I had a few extra inches planned between my refrigerator and framed entranceway so that the refrigerator door could open fully. A panel was supposed to cover it. I never would have been able to do something really useful with the few inches as I didn't need a pull-out that big right next to my doorway. After the sheetrock was put up, we discovered a few more inches! I remembered that someone on this forum had a cabinet mounted sideways next to the refrigerator so that it opened out. I kind of used that idea but the cabinet opening is on the other side of the doorway. So now I've got a recessed custom built-in cabinet in my tiny mudroom. The cabinet depth is the door frame and "kitchen filler space". The filler space is covered by a small panel and I think of it as my reclaimed/found space! jayne