At first glance the floor drain idea sounds like a pretty good idea, but when you think about it, the only thing seperating the inside of your lovely home from a filthy sewer, is the U-bend water trap in the floor drain. No problem if you flush it regularly, but if you let it dry up you're going to be waking up to the lovely smell of sewer gas. However, this would work if it can be connected to another drain, and then have both drains flow into a U-bend trap. That way the other drain would presumably keep the U-bend closed off. I'm not a plumber though, so please treat this as speculation, not a suggestion. As far as putting the washer in a tub is concerned, I tend to agree with your sales person. The risk is that it will lower the friction between the washer and the floor, and your washer will start walking all over the place. It's true that a washer on a pedestal is going to weigh 250 lbs plus, but the problem is resonance between the washer and the floor, not that the washer isn't weighing enough, because these resonances are specifically caused by the washer being so heavy. So, if you have a vibration problem with the washer, it's specifically because the 250 lb weight of the washer is interacting with your flexible floor. Weedmeister's suggestion regarding manual single handle water valves actually has quite a bit of merit, because if you think about it, you realize that you're dealing with probabilities here. Let's say for aurguments sake that the odds of you having a broken water hose is 100,000:1, and the chance that you would forget to turn the hose off is 100:1, you can calculate the chances of you having a flood as 10,000,000:1, and you've effectively turned the remote possibility of a flood from a broken hose into something that's impossible for all practical purposes. The trick lies in being able to train everyone who uses the washer to turn the valve handle to the off position after every wash load.

Their current lay out block traffic flow. I would much rather go with a love seat and a few comfy chairs. How many in your family. That is how many seats you need. The rest is over kill and does anyone actually FILL a huge sectional or do three people use it? I am just not a fan. As for the TV placement, most want a visual of both the fireplace and the TV so your plan seems to be a decent option. The built in would be worth looking at...It is ironic how often the MOSTLY unused fireplaces everyone desires really messes with furniture arranging. Your new floors are to die for. This gray fad confuses me. Gray is cold,like stainless. Your kitchen and flooring are so warm and rich looking. Half your new space is painted warm the other cool... Which colors will you embrace?

You describe that your one story home is performing satisfactorily on the fill conditions of your site. The challenge of adding a second story, to your existing one story home is two fold: 1) The foundations may not be adequate for a two story load; 2) The added weight of a one-story, plus a two-story load, may create soil stability issues. Another alternative, if size of your site will permit, is to add a one story addition with appropriate foundations, in lieu of a second story addition over your existing first floor. The two common types of foundations for fill and expansive soils are: 1) Pier and grade beam, and ; 2) Raft or mat slab. Have you checked with your local jurisdiction to see what they will require in the way of design and engineering calculations for your particular site conditions? Often local jurisdictions have significant regulatory requirements based on existing soils and site conditions. I'd check with them (if you have not) to see if your project is feasible, or what alternatives may be possible. Good luck!

That's a small amount of space. Get a bed with built-in storage drawers on the bottom and a slim armoire with drawers. Check Craigslist and make sure your measurements of anything you add will fit. Everything else should go on the walls--lamp, small bedside shelf, book shelves (though shelves you have could be used as a divider/bedside table.) You really have to give people photos of all four walls.