I am an adult who was homeschooled almost fifty (egad!) years ago and I think that it would be best to have a separated area for the home school activities. I like the idea of French doors (maybe even Dutch style French doors - does that make them Flemish doors?? - so they could contain the dogs on the lower part but still be opened on top) to set the space apart visually and functionally, even if you leave them open a lot of the time. Although you presently use the room for FR-type activities you may find your kids take a more workman-like approach if the room function is dedicated more to schooling. I think I see a VCR/cable box so I was wondering if you also use the space for after-hours TV viewing. That would be a huge temptation, I think. One of the things that is important for homeschooling is to have some demarcation between your time spent supervising home school and your time spent strictly as a parent. Otherwise it can get very intense. So using spatial cues to reinforce the distinction may help. I know when we had a separate school room for home school it was better and when we homeschooled in the sitting room and dining room it was hard to not have one activity spill into the other. It was much better to have a designated school room where we settled down to work and could also leave things set up on desks and tables for the next session. I'd also vote for putting your desk in there, no matter how functional it looks. That will give you something to do when you kids are working and at the same time they can watch and model your approach to paperwork. Your kids' artwork and maps and posters and natural history specimens will make handsome and stimulating wall decorations. Plus, I'd add a big white board so you could use that space collaboratively to work on problems. Molly

In the way you describe what you want your kitchen to do, I would recommend a range top and separate wall ovens. You can then pick the appliance that best fits your needs for each part. If an oven goes out you are not stuck replacing the whole thing. I can't really recommend a DF range. I have a 36 Wolf DF and it works great but if you search blue enamel chipping on this forum, there are plenty of posts about wolf blue enamel woes in the wall ovens and ranges. You can pay a lot of money for a range and it only lasts 4.5 years. If you like to use cast iron, I would definitely consider a Blue Star rangetop. Cast iron has some great characteristics but they do not conduct heat as well as something like heavy copper or aluminum. BS has the star shaped burners and they will spread the burner ports across the the bottom of the pan better than ring burners, especially if you can match the pan size to the burner. You might even consider a 48 inch rangetop. An additional benefit for prostyle rangetops is extra room front to back. You will be able to use a little bit bigger griddle too. You might want to have BS put 2 burners the same size front to back or side by side depending on how you use the griddle. I use a heavy 7 guage aluminum Royal Industries griddle for something like grilled sandwiches. It conducts heat well so is pretty even and is 15x23". It will also season but not as quickly as iron or steel. You can also get a Chef King steel griddle but it is heavy. There are also some that are fitted and I think BS has one. The BS Platinum comes with a cast iron griddle overlay and a grill overlay. If you are used to cast iron and the way it seasons, I think you will like the way the top of the BS seasons too. As far as an oven goes, I would certainly consider convection. It is a learning experience as to how it works but well worth it. I use it where it will benefit what you are cooking. Convection is different oven to oven. By moving air, it is drying to what you are cooking. This is great for things you want to brown but not so great while something like a cake needs to rise. If you want the benefit of baking trays of cookies, a third element is helpful in even heating and this is mostly found in an electric oven. It will usually have its own mode like "pure convection" but also works in the other modes. This is also marketed as True or European convection. The Platinum range has a gas element but not sure how that works in relation to making the heat even. You can get a simple gas or electric oven with convection, no baking modes but it is likely the fan will just turn on and off rather than variable speed so that you get a slower fan speed for baking and higher for roasting. The air movement will also increase the rate of heat transfer, making things cook a little quicker. Most ovens turn the convection fan(s) on during preheat to help even out the temperature quicker. I have an Electrolux wall oven that preheats to 350 in 7 minutes and bakes very evenly. If I am baking a cake or something that needs even heat, I let it preheat for 30 minutes to stabilize. Even with convection the heat radiating from the walls of the oven is very important. They have just redesigned the Elux oven but made it with dual fan and you can leave the racks in now for self clean. Some people like Bosch and Gaggenau as well. I would read the use and care manuals online as you can learn a lot.

I have ordered from Saatchi Art, a small (4"x12") mixed media piece (collage, paint, pencil). I had to split payment between a Visa gift card and a credit card, which I couldn't do through their website, so I had to go through customer service, and they were great. Really, really helpful. I did not, however, use their art advisory service (didn't feel I needed it; I was happy to browse and their filters let me focus on my price range). When the piece came it was well packaged and looked as expected based on the online pics. I was very happy.

Can you post a floorplan (a hand sketch is fine) with all the walls, windows, doors etc + dimensions? I was also wondering about dividing up the space (but without a divider; I wouldn't want to block the light and my sense is that these two activities happen at different times.). So maybe the desk/office by the window side, and then put the TV on a stand by the stair railing (or whatever is in the foreground of the photo). Not sure if this will work with the room layout and that door. If there is room to put the sofa parallel with the back (brown?) wall (and still allowing passage to/from the door) you might be able to fit a piece of office furniture behind the sofa, like a lateral filing cabinet or low bookshelf etc. FWIW, when I've done this myself, I've sketched the layout and then made cut-outs (to scale) of the furniture and moved them around to see where things will fit.