A friend of mine has stored belongings for her adult children at different times, outside, over long periods of time in a somewhat similar manner. Their method is to pack everything into lidded storage tubs, and then cover the tubs with a good tarp. Apparently this has worked quite well for them. No idea what storage tubs are running these days, but moving boxes aren't that cheap either if you have to buy them. Wherever you end up storing your stuff, toss a box of mothballs around the base to discourage critters.

We really like our second sink on end of peninsula, which is large, but then, we've got a little more space than you have I think. It's the place for large item washing, for washing garden produce, and is right there at hand when we're chopping. It allows handwashing for garage mechanic work. It also allows us to fill the dog bowl, the floorwashing bucket, etc without disturbing the double sink and its ongoing story. (My goal was that the second sink would hold a pumpkin.) You will find treatises by me on the GW regarding pull-out chopping boards/breadboards and I would of course advocate them for you, at the least one between water and range and one for baking. As for the windows I envy your all-same-size windows and would urge you to put a window above them if you can. Trapezoidal or triangular windows are hard to work with but a nice rectangular one placed horizontally is what I wanted and didn't get (long story). It's easier to put shades on a rectangular window. The high window's light would have penetrated the deep room better. We have a very dark dining room adjacent to kitchen and we're delighted to have brightened it up with our new windows but it's still dark. We don't want to own a built-in beverage cooler, on philosophical grounds as well as simply not needing it. We can cool a few beers or white wine in regular refrig. We buy or make ice and use the second sink or a bin on the desk for party beers. We store beer in garage which is cooler and we don't drink much pop and never buy bottled water. If my children lived here and were still little I would not want them to grow up thinking that cold sweet beverages are important or that plastic bottles are needed when there's a faucet nearby. (They are now adults who drink tap water for refreshment and don't have diabetes.) I wouldn't want more than a few bottles of white wine cold at any time--not good for the wine. There's more in basement in old well pit, cool and ready.

We just think that it would be an improvement that WE would like, that might make the house sell faster if/when we try to sell it. No one has said why they didn't like the house. It is a modular which looks much like an early 90s manufactured home inside, with a beam down the middle, 4' paneled sheetrock walls, 7 ft 6 in paneled ceiling, storm windows. We have had two people who did like it but one buyer could not sell his own house, and the other said he wanted to buy it when he was there, but we never heard from him. The kitchen already has granite countertops, but that's the only high end thing in there. We installed a white microwave range hood recently which added some badly needed counter space. Everything else is just OK, the appliances are white except for the dishwasher which is black, and the cabinets are newly painted and in good repair, but on the cheap side. We will be replacing the dishwasher and range within a couple of years.

I'm in my 30s with two little kids and another on the way. I typically despise most light wood cabinets - often see them with the raised panels and they just look kind of cheap - but yours are actually really cool and I don't mind them at all. I wouldn't want to see your cabinets painted, and I'm normally totally in favor of painting wood cabinets! Please don't waste any money on painting them. Your house looks very beige to me, particularly the bathroom. I don't think painting things gray will help because I think it won't look great with all the tan beigey stuff. So "de-beige-ing" the house might help if you can find the right shade to tone it down. I don't mind your sofas, but not a fan of the brown rug in the living room. The house looks clean and nice, however. The layout issue would be a huge turnoff for me. I have friends who have purchased homes with similar layouts (master bedroom on a separate floor from kids' bedrooms) and they just used a regular bedroom as their master and the other bedroom became a playroom or guest room. If you're looking to market to families, then making the top floor a playroom could work. I don't know what the rest of the property is like (yard, etc) or what the neighborhood is like, but staging a better layout could certainly help. If you're looking at comps for your home, but these homes don't have the layout issue, then they're not good comps.