Thanks for all your thoughts! homeybird- we did briefly consider the wetroom idea, however, we're in Maine (brrrrrr), this room has 3 exterior walls and a poorly insulated floor, AND we need to be a little more traditional for resale. igloochic- Well, right now there IS no office. That is all part of a gigantically long master bedroom. It's stupid space in my opinion. I work at home and NEED an office, so right now my desk is set up there, open to the bedroom. I HATE it. Hate the computer lights and hum, hate seeing the piles and cords. I want my bedroom to be a calm place to escape and unwind. This house is teeny, so there is NO other place for my office to go. (Plus, we think being able to claim 3BR is a plus for resale. Target market will either be a young family or retired couple. Either way it seems like 2 normal-sized bedrooms and a small nursery or home office is a desireable combo. Honestly, there's no other place in the house where a home office could go....) weedyacres- I'll play around with that but my DH is going to be mad. We're having a heck of a bad year, renovation-wise. We started the kitchen/LR/DR renovation in April and soon discovered some very major drainage problems. We'd hoped to complete the exterior renovations this fall but the money we had to spend on the stupid drainage problems has left us utterly broke. Then DH got temporarily furloughed and I am not working either, and both cars are dying. It's baaaaad. BUT we HAVE to address this bathroom this month because it is -quite literally- making me sick. There is a huge mold problem in there. It's sealed off with painters tape right now because I was so sick from it. DH is going to have to cut a hole in the exterior wall, go in there and start gutting it until he finds the source of the mold (we suspect it is in the insulation, possibly the sheathing and studs, hope not!!). ANYWAY. It is not the best scenario to start a renovation. The kitchen's still not done either. And we're out of money. So we're leery of making too many changes. Even doing it all ourselves, having to reframe and redrywall and trim out all those extra walls is sure to add at least a grand, don't you think? Plus, our Washer & dryer are currently in the north closet...... WEll, I will draw it out and play around with it...... thanks for thinking outseide the box anyway.

We are in the process of doing built ins in our master closet right now and will eliminate my double dresser and his chest of drawers from the bedroom. We had two different closet system companies come out and while knew it was expensive, it was way more than what I wanted to pay. I contacted a cabinet maker to make ours. While all the top shelves do not match up, (we have a 10 ft ceiling) and a few things were lost in translation (I did not intend to have a frame on the cabinets, which is ok for the most part except my 12" shoe shelves I cant get most shoe boxes in (next to ironing board). Oh well. It is out of Ash wood. All shelves are adjustable (except one over bench) and are made of MDF with ash veneer on outside edge. The cost was right at half of what the closet companies wanted to charge for the white laminate. Granted, I am staining it myself, and have spent just at $100 for the cans of stain and clear water based semi-gloss top coat. I went with a two color combo, which I was nervous about. The closet is not huge, and I was afraid it would get too dark in there if it were all stained. It measures 13' x 6.2' I left the drawers and faces natural with a clear semi-gloss top coat (water based) and the insides stained with the same clear top coat. Shelf edges are also natural. Not finished yet, but getting there. Built ins are on the long walls and the short walls are double hang. The double hang on both ends is wall to wall. Clothes go behind the built ins, as do the belt and tie racks. This is supposed to be long hang, but I love having a "bench" with the drawer underneath. Leaving as is for now, and may put a big mirror in the blank space. My end of the closet with upper storage cabinets, two hutches, 9 drawers, shoe shelves and a top mount ironing board that swivels. Husbands end of the closet. Hutch with 5 drawers and 7 ft cabinet with all adjustable shelves. Most of the woodwork is finished. Just finishing up staining all the shelves.

drkona, Your house looks great! I would look for a small chest or console to go on the wall directly in front of you when you come in the front door. Maybe with a mirror hung above it and a lamp and a picture of your kids on the chest. That would make a welcoming entrance. Ballard Designs has a lot of little chests/consoles. re: the closet - definitley use it. Install lower hooks or maybe consider having California Closets or someone come out to put some organizing stuff in there to maximize the space. I like what mclarke posted for that corner by the closet. You could also have someone (handyman, finish carpenter) come and build you a little bench and hooks for that space too. If you can train everyone to use that area, that would be great! Have fun!

shead - I'm going to post a few "hacks" I did. Maybe they have some merit, maybe not. HOWEVER, I need to mention something else. We asked ARG if it is possible to add a window from kitchen to see into side parking/garage/play area. In our current house, we use our kitchen sink window that looks into back yard, patio, garage, etc.. to view the kids riding bikes, playing in treehouse, grill, etc... It's a small window, but in our current situation it is invaluable. Given the amount of time we spend in the kitchen, the ability to see the fenced in back yard, driveway, parking, patio and garage is actually very reassuring as a parent. We picked this house over another when we purchased, for this very reason - as we could work in kitchen and watch small kids at same time. We realize in another 10-15 years, this may not be as important. The new build is a different animal with the terrain in that the play areas will be in the rear - BUT also on teh side of the house with the garage. This is why we asked ARG if possible. He put a very clever change in and provided a conceptual drawing. He pushed kitchen wall out 2 feet, then pulled back landry/pantry wall 2 ft, creating a 4 ft difference - enough for a window. Here is his idea. The net change to the sq ft is almost 0.