"Suze Orman, financial expert, says that bills should be split according to income; if one makes 1000 a month and the other 500; then the 1000 a month should pay a larger portion." Wow, did Suze Orman really say that? I usually agree with her advice, but speaking as a person who usually earned WAY more than my roommates this sounds completely unfair! Why should I have paid more than my semi-employed roommates? Did I breathe more air or use more toilet paper? I don't think so. Sheesh.

I have not found a post for this question, so I hope someone will have an answer/opinion. Thank you for your help. The condo is 70 years old, solidly built two story with concrete above the 4' crawl space and also the ceiling. I am looking for ways to cool and heat with electricity that are considered efficient and warm in winter. It does not have much insulation on the exterior walls...if any. The flooring above the crawl space is 3/4" thick parkay. Current heat is baseboard, and cooling is through the wall..one in the br and another in dining rm near kitchen. A local contractor told me that central heating/air will be very expensive to run. I don't doubt it. I would still like to have something unobtrusive and efficient. I can search the internet once you give me a 'push' in the right direction. Latest and greatest? or old standby.

You guys are all so awesome! Just being here on this forum is making me excited again about doing the addition. Rhome410 - EIGHT kids! Wow! You are my hero. Are you open to more or are you done? Thanks so much for your input. While I will take ANY and all advice I can get, it is often much more helpful to get advice from others in similar situations. I haven't even begun to look at w/d yet, but I will definitely remember what you said. I do plan on folding on the island, but I also DO want a sink somehow. Alice462 - Thanks for the pics. I am a very visual person so they are a big help. I love your idea of the platform for the baskets underneath the W/D and if we do go with FL, I will definitely use that. I would like to have 5, and that may be hte way to get the rest in, as hubby said he could possibly get 2 or 4 under the counter. Your foot sink got me thinking. We will have a bog shower in the bathroom. I could also soak clothes in a bin there. not the ideal solution, but better than nothing. Still not sure I want to wash paint brushes and other "dirty" stuff there, but the tile should allow it to wipe right off. something to consider. We ARE going to have lockers in the mudroom area. The 10 or so "boxes" on the drawings represent them. Swampwiz - I would love a larger landing too, but I am not sure it is an option. We are opening up the kitchen side (it is a wall and pantry now) and the foyer side is already open partially. However, we are turning the closer 90 degrees to make the opening into the DR larger, so we can extend the table out into the foyer for large family gatherings. Not sure we can forgo that closet totally. Right now it is packed full. We WILL be gaining some closet space in the mudroom, but I feel like we should keep the front one on some level for guests. Perhaps we can make space for them in the back. As for the fireplace, we would love to move it, but this is an addition, not a new build. Everything is already there (built in the 90s). The only new is what is beyond the dashed line - approx 10 feet out into the backyard and 36 feet across the back of the existing house. We have a large entertainment center across the back between the two windows with our TV. We have one couch under the left window, a inglenook type area under the right window with a chair and reading lamp, and a large section in front of the fireplace and entertainment center. Farmhousebound - We have considered that. I am leaning towards switching the laundry and powder room and making the closet a bit smaller to gain space for the laundry. however, we can not expand into the garage as it is already a very tight fit in the winter when we try to get 2 cars in there - a must as we live in the North East and hubby leaves for work at the awful hour of 5am (or earlier). Cawila- thanks for your input. I did not realize that the FL are slower, just that they have a larger capacity. The only issue is space. I couldn't stack top loaders, and I may need to stacking capability to get a utility sink in. I am not sure where to move the sink if we move it out, but I may be able to make something work with the large shower in the powder room and use that for soaking clothes, cleaning, etc. The double doors in the garage go into a small shop area. They are pre-existing. We actually only have one up right now, as our large garbage toter sits in the space of the other one. BMOREPANIC - WOW! Thanks. I will definitely show this to hubby. We can;t afford to lose all the lockers, but this is an interesting layout and I like portions of it. I especially like that I could get 8 kids at the island, although then I lose the functionality of cooking dinner there while they are doing homeowrk. not that it is THAT much farther to walk over to them, but it would be easier if we were all on one table area. You gave me some things to think about though. Rosie - Yes, I wholeheartedly agree, and that is exactly what is holding us up from finalizing these plans. Right now I have two rolling 3-bag sorters that I will lose space for. I told hubby I NEED to have space to 5 baskets, either a tower floor to ceiling that laundry baskets can slide into, space under the counter (or under the FL W/D as Alice has above), or space to park another rolling sorter. As a family of 7 we generate a HUGE amt of laundry, so if I lose sorting and storage, I will be miserable (and so will hubby because we will end up with a mound of it in our new large mudroom!). I wonder if we could extend the addition another 2 or 3 feet. That wall there is the current outside wall, so it will probably be more expensive, but we are already residing it....hmm. I know nothing about design and architecture, but I will definitely show that to hubby and see what he thinks. You have me excited now!! Thanks again to all of you! Hubby and I have been doing this with the architect since early March and it has been very frustrating to say the least. WE have so many ideas of what we want, and what we need, and they do not always coordinate. I so wish we could build our dream house, but that would come at the expense of college educations (five to pay for so far), weddings, (we have 4 girls), and our retirement, none of which we are willing to sacrifice. It is really awesome to have fresh eyes looking at this and giving us some suggestions. I am very appreciative, and can't wait to actually start planning the kitchen layout with your input as well. J

Really nice home and property. You could simply remove any central vac system and invest in a Roomba -- that could get rid of one something along one wall and let you square room 1. https://www.google.com/search?q=Roomba&source=univ&tbm=shop&tbo=u&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj1l-Ll87bnAhXJSt8KHZjVD0QQsxh6BAgPECs&biw=1366&bih=628#spf=1580785213419 For heating purposes in a large old two story home, being able to close off the stairwell should be the primary concern since heat rises. From personal experience ... if you have a wood stove, you'd be better much served putting it in a larger room or in a room open to multiple rooms. NOT in a small room such as room 3. If you have a wood heater, you could put it either in or in front of your fireplace (with triple wall metal stove pipe lining the chimney for safety). If you don't want to make room 3 your new Foyer/Entry ... but if you want the room 2&3 side of the house to be your front of the house ... another way to use the rooms is worth considering: You have a tiny bathroom very close to the kitchen/eating area. Budget permitting, the best use of room three could well be closing it off from room 2 and creating a new full bath in room 3. That would enable you to square the informal dining room and move the bathroom farther away from the kitchen and dining area. Once you've moved the bathroom, you could recreate the space between kitchen and informal dining with a pass thru kitchen cabinet "wall" that you can walk all the way around. https://www.bhg.com/home-improvement/remodeling/architectural-details/home-design-ideas-room-dividers/?slide=slide_2bf3e1c7-021a-4262-9de6-fd5daf3777a7#slide_2bf3e1c7-021a-4262-9de6-fd5daf3777a7 Keeping only one interior door to enter room 2 from room 3 means you could use room 2 as a bonus room -- usable as a bedroom or as you choose. It also means you can keep that one door to room 2 closed and not fully heat it all the time. You could keep as is or alter or (if not load bearing) remove the wall between dining and informal living room to create a single elongated rectangle shaped "great room" -- kitchen, dining, family room. If you created a pony wall between dining wall and informal living, your wood heater in the fireplace could heat the entire great room area. You could keep as many posts as needed for support in that pony wall and, with a solid back on the informal living room room side, you can put any furnishings you choose by it with the back to the pony wall. You could alter the porch beside room 2 between the window to room 2 and the door to room 1 to create a wider porch there that wraps around the side of room 1 several feet. You could even enclose that area and create a new foyer and make the rest of the porch on the right side of room 2 your front porch. Then in that back corner off the kitchen at a right angle to room 3, remove the shallow/narrow open porch and create a square deck or patio there with a rail around it and steps exiting on the left side toward what would be the back of your home. You might also consider a "green wall" -- row of shrubs -- all across the yard so guests are led to the new foyer on the right side of the home.