When we moved in in October, we discovered that none of the outlets were grounded. So we replaced every outlet. Once the PO's furnishings were removed we discovered that their dog was, well, gross. So we replaced the carpet. The living room started like this. See, the PO had glued these huge, horrendous mirrors to the front of the fireplace. So I had the mirrors taken down. The drywall needed repair, and it looked weird anyway, so I decided to see if there was anything interesting behind the drywall (like pretty brick, for instance), so I took a hammer to the center of the drywall. Then I realized that there was a draft coming in -- fireplace chimney needs new flashing and there are some spots that need new mortar. So, I called a contractor to come give me an estimate to redo the fireplace. Once I redo the fireplace, the sectional sofa that is facing away from the fireplace is really going to bug, and those very traditional baseboards in my MCM split level right next to my new limestone and beam mantel fireplace just won't work. And my traditional entertainment center will look a bit off. Oh, and don't get me started on the unsafe and generally ugly painted wrought iron railing off of the catwalk. Have an excuse to change that now that I've caught my 1 yr old climbing through the bars to slide down the sofa. :-) Did I mention the giant single-pane windows that make that room as warm as a tent on a winter night? Or the entry that is just off of the living room with its door hanging at a slant with a gap about 1/4" from the jamb? Then there's the family room...don't get me started on the family room... Oh yeah. In the meantime, I haven't even gotten the design drawings for the kitchen yet. LOL. First things first -- I have to have an associate architect draw the house and elevations before I can get the drawings for the wall removal and the new glass wall to the yard. And then there's the structural engineer. Does that crack in the ceiling look odd? Maybe the footings need to be shored up while we're at it. Is that wiring fabric encased? What do you mean I need to upgrade the circuit box to 200 amps? What's a "dedicated circuit?" The water heater is where? Oh, carp. What's with the shower head in the guest bath? Were the POs tiny people? Gotta move that up so mum doesn't have to croutch to wash her hair. ...

Rhome410...why are you cleaning up?!! :-) With 8 children I'd think one of them would be cleaning up! I'm the oldest of 6 and when I was growing up we kids rotated having dish duty for a week each. My mom did all the cooking until she started working outside the home when I was in 6th grade or so (my youngest sister was in Kindergarten). Come to think of it, most of the chores were done by us kids...they were broken down into 6 sets of chores & we each had a particular chore set for a week. Cotehele...one of the advantages of drawers, IMHO, is that they have higher sides that help keep things from falling off when pulling them out. However, to each his own! We have almost all drawer bases in our new kitchen with the exception of the "Pet Center" that has 2 FE pullouts + drawer--we'll be removing the pullouts (was supposed to be full-height/no shelves or drawer, but KD ordered incorrectly), sink bases, and two 6" filler pullouts. I do think Jessie21 has a point though...I think the two pullouts flanking our cooktop do look better than if I had had all drawers on that side. (The other side is broken up w/DW, sink base, & trash pullout) Things I do not recommend: regular shelves (adjustable or not!) in base cabinets (obvious, I know!) shallow cabinet above refrigerator...even if you have to pull a 12" deep one out to make it flush w/your refrigerator, do it! not having a utility cabinet for broom/mop/dustpan/etc. We tried to fit one in, but couldn't so now I'm trying to figure out how best to put them in our step-in pantry. We had them in our previous pantry but they were always in the way. I'm trying to figure out a better method for handling them this time other than just mounting them on the wall next to the shelves or on the door (our door has a frosted glass inset so there's no place to hang them there.)

I think all dark walls would be awesome! In fact DS1 was helping pick a shade of deep blue for a decorating project and he went directly to a SW chip that I had called Sea Serpent and and called it the color of outer space. The other color that he liked was BM Polo Blue (the one we're going w/) which is a deep navy, almost black color. It will be on the top quarter of our DR walls and ceiling. I've never really gone for the whole accent wall. A deep blue almost black w/ white trim in a light filled room would look killer! This is also coming from a person who does not mind painting though. Deep colors take lots of coats if you don't use a tinted primer and vice verse if you decide to take it lighter later. Love Spitfires idea about the room being a space ship looking out into space! DS1 & DS2 have a different themed room of transportation but they do have tin planes, helicopters and a zepplin hanging fromn the ceiling. These pics are old and I've transitioned it into a big boy bedroom now (they are 3 & 6) but the planes are still on the ceiling. Proper planning is key to being able to transition it through his growing and changing tatses over the yrs. One cool idea that DS1 came up w/ last yr. after we made Halloween costumes was to take a leftover box, cut off 2 flaps opposite each other and paint it grey. He put spaceship markings on it in marker and glued leftover Wawa hot dish cups on the bottom outside of the box. They got painted grey too. These were the ships boosters. We crumpled up orange and red tissue paper and stuffed inside the cups to look like flames shooting out. We tacked it onto the ceiling. The 2 box top flaps that we left on were the wings. Now they're into antique British sports cars and the Beatles (every Sunday they listen to Lunch w/ the Beatles on the radio). They want British and American flags over their beds and a deep navy blue ceiling becuase they still love all things sky related. I'm sure that I'll have blue paint leftover from the DR so I bet they get their wish.

My stages 45 was installed by routing ledge for the sink in the plywood subtop so it is squeezed between the stone and plywood. The sink ledge also rests on the divider between two cabinets in the cutout part of my IKEA cabinet. I measured it to be precise. Then after all that, it was strapped by a Hercules system. The strap is only $4. What you have doesn't seem adequate.