Smallhouse: Thank you for the links to your friends new kitchen. I like it! And it is so helpful to see how some ideas have worked out in small space. TBB123: Our upstairs is not too-too convoluted, but we do have a room that was divided in half. Both rooms are useful, but one is a weird shape. If your son ever puts info on his house online, I'd be very curious to snoop into what they've done with it. (I haven't gotten the chance yet, but I will map my other two floors and post the diagrams to this thread.) Brewcat: Happy hunting for renovation ideas. I am going to order a copy of the book you mention. I have read a little bit on rowhouse history, since I live in one and am (barring a massive career shift) setting down roots here. But what I read was not super detailed. I bet the book would be very illuminating. Maybe I could even figure out when our house was built... I have a rough idea but its really rough. Thanks for your observations re: the real estate market. My broad impressions are in line with yours on Fed Hill and Canton. I am uncertain what is true in my own market (Hampden). The market is not, I think, nearly as robust; at least, the home values are not as high as Canton. There has been a noticable uptick in buying and selling since I got here (I bought during the housing crash), and all the sudden people are gutting properties and doing the total overhaul inside that tbb123 and 4kids mentioned. Will the trend continue? It seems very recent, almost like it started last summer. I'm not sure I trust it yet. It does make me feel optimistic about the wisdom of smaller projects, esp if they improve aesthetics. I did try to do a little survey of what was up for sale this spring. A lot of houses have 2 baths, and many of them - not even the totally overhauled homes - have those baths above or below first floor. A lot of people who could use a basement seem to have done so. But it's also not super hard to find places that do have the first floor bath. So if a buyer wants it, she will have a choice of houses, and some will offer it. My suspicion is that, in terms of the market especially, there is wisdom in holding onto the powder room. One reason a person might consider Hampden over some other areas is that you can get a little more space for your money, you may be able to get a little yard, and the prices for the not-totally-overhauled houses is still reasonable. My observation is that this has attracted a lot of couples with babies and toddlers. And that, as some have pointed out, makes the first floor bath an asset. Also, having looked over our house very hard this last weekend, I realize that it might be difficult to find (a lot) more bathroom space on the other floors. So if I have space for a powder room on floor 1, it might be a bad idea to erase it. One advantage of the daylight rowhouse layout is that even if we keep the back partially blocked by the powder room, we could invest in nice windows all along the wall that is not shared with neighbors. It is mostly closed off right now, but it is south-facing and very bright. I suspect it that more windows would really open up and brighten the space.

mama goose, thank you--I'll look into that pullout corner unit! Unfortunately, the fridge I used in the NKBA tool was 30", as there were only 30" and 36" choices. I'm pretty sure they need at least a 33" fridge. We looked at smaller units at the 2 big box stores and the smaller units are mainly being marketed at an entry level and are apartment size. But this was not an complete search, and we did not look for specialty brands (Liebherr, etc.) which cost more. (It is amazing how goods are being "super-sized" now. There are actually not very many fridges in stock under ~34"!) DS and FDIL actually do cook a lot and have had trouble for the past few years living in an apartment. I think that they would pick the larger fridge vs. continuous counter space in that particular location. This post is a way of defining the choices that should be made, using knowledge gained from GardenWeb. Thank you and others who give your time to think about this. My son is amazed by the responses!

Great idea about the foamcore Kippy, that would be fabulous and so much easier than painting. I'll give that some thought. I need to get bold, there are so many amazing paints out there. Everytime I go to Home Depot, there is a new line of metalic spray paints. jlc712, I think that the bookcase is where I can make the next biggest impact in the room. I hate to get rid of our beloved Little House on the Prairie set, but if I find a niece to send it too, that will make the parting a little sweeter. Maybe if I thin out some movies I can store books below in the cupboard. My audiophile husband loves his sound equipment, however. To think, I can't turn half of it on! Great idea about the calendars. Clever and budget-savvy. So hard to throw away those beautiful calendar pictures. I've got to put 9 frames of something above the fireplace. That wreath comes down this weekend, its the Feast of the Presentation so the time has come. Maybe I'll find 9 pictures of the Blessed Mother to frame. There is an endless number of painting of her, and I could gaze at those forever. Of course, my husband would want pictures of National Parks, so I guess I've got a lot of thinking to do. Tibbrix, you are right, this big room needs big furniture. The coffee table is 48" and the sofas are 72" so it gives a foot on each side to sit. Remember, we walk behind the sofas, in front of them, beside them AND we chase Captain around the room! It's really a dog run, I guess. I would have loved to buy large English-arm three cushion sofas and lovely accent chairs, but it's the fact that we move the loveseats (sometimes daily) to watch television or play video games. I know this seems crazy. We only have one functional TV. With seven kids on board (well one is gone but we still have her bedroom that she shares with a sister), all of our rooms are full of kids. I figure that when the time comes to change the furniture once again, I have seven people who would love free sofas. ; ) Need to work on paint, don't have a budget for that now. Thank you so much for your thoughtful replies. It means so much to hear your opinions. -Cupofkindness

OK - I thought a little sketch would help. you need about a 12" drop of chain from the top of the ceiling, then a max size fixture of 30" long (top of ring to the chandelier to the bottom crystal or bottom.), then 33" above the table to the bottom of the chandelier. So, max 30" high, 28" max round, and for some chandeliers depending on the design, might be able to go to 30 wide. Chain drop is easiest to deal with from an installation point of view. Hope that explains the sizing.