jencjudd: Your builder's response from the central vac installer clearly indicates improper installation techniques. It sounds like the installers either are not using gradual sweeps in the tubing, or the power unit is undersized. I can't even imagine how in the world a hose gets "hung up" with proper installation. LOL! Are they using an oversized pipe diameter?! There are no sharp turns (not supposed to be anyway) in the piping. Here is the proper translation to their response: "The HAH takes extra time and effort to install and I actually have to use my brain to figure out the configuration for a main trunk line and still have enough piping for hose housing that doesn't interfere with the trunk line. I have a much larger profit margin on Beam CVs.". I'm sure at some point they will also throw in my favorite phrase....."I've been doing this for 30 years....". Can your builder use a different installer? This one wouldn't make me feel very confident. : /

I struggle with the "shoes off" in the house policy. In theory, that would be my preference. And certainly in bad weather, my kids all take their shoes off. However, I have four kids, and two of them are outside playing all the time. They come in and out for a variety of reasons, so requiring them to take shoes off each and every time just isn't manageable (especially since one of them has fine motor skills problems, so just tying his shoes is difficult for him). I usually take mine off when I come inside, unless I'm wearing sneakers and coming from the store where I have to make multiple trips to the car. That said, I also have three entry points. The kids go in and out through the garage, which is underneath the main floor. If they are coming in and staying in, they usually leave their shoes in the garage just outside the door (a huge pile which I'm trying to organize - used to be a big basket but too many shoes, so now I have an organizer to put together, but not sure they will actually put their shoes in each compartment!). I always use the front door and kick my shoes off at the front door - there is a basket there by the door, so if I'm going out again later, I leave my shoes there, but if not I bring them upstairs to my closet. I wear slippers in the house. We also have a mudroom but it is accessible from the back door. There was a time when my kids always used it after school/coming home from somewhere, but now my key no longer works in the lock so they always use the garage instead. The mudroom, however, seems to store whatever shoes they haven't left in the garage (as well as shoes that are not in use regularly, like cleats, church shoes, etc). They each have their own cubby, and a basket for shoes in their cubby. I find it perfectly normal here where I live to see a basket of shoes near the front door. The only houses where I don't see them are my friends' homes who have homes that are more formal (don't look very lived in), or if they have a mudroom or other main entry for family. I just read the two posts above mine and see that they both have four kids like me. I had to laugh at choclot b/c her battle sounds like mine! Mine each have their own cubbies and STILL I find their things all over the mudroom - coats laying on the bench instead of hanging on the hook, shoes on the floor *right next to* their shoe basket, socks they've taken off and left in their cubbies and then wonder why they have no socks after I do laundry! I do call them from wherever they are to fix their mistakes, but much of the time I'm off doing something else and don't notice right away. My kids are 8, 10, 12 and turning 14. My oldest has actually become very organized (she keeps all her shoes in an organizer up in her bedroom after years of using the mudroom), hangs her coat in her room, etc. My 12 y/o is a slob, but he is incredibly organized with his schoolwork, binder, etc and judging from what I hear from his friends' mothers whose boys are constantly losing things, forgetting to turn in schoolwork, etc, I figure I'll take that over him not putting his shoes away properly!

Thanks everyone for your help. Is it hard to install sheets in a larger (or honestly, average size) kitchen? I've started talking to installers. One looked at my floorplan and said the project was too hard for him. (he'd just lost his right-hand guy and was training someone new). He said if I went with a border around the edges it would be more feasible, but the labor to install would be costly. I talked to a "green" contractor who said they've only installed it in about 3 homes and they were all small rooms (like his mom's laundry room). Is this an issue, laying sheets in a larger room? Below is my floorplan. The total length is about 19'. The width is 10', but the W/D closet adds another 3' and the kitchen nook expands the width about 2 feet. So wall-to-wall from inside to W/D closet to the opposite wall is about 15'. I know there will be seams but is this floorplan a deal-breaker for marmoleum? I had another installer over and he says he can do the job and didn't seem worried at all. (But he also said they don't do borders, but could do a heat-welded pin-stripe). I've heard enough stories of bad installations that I'm wondering if this could require super-human installation skills. Or...does it makes sense to design with some borders to make the project feasible? Thanks for any thoughts!

For what it's worth...the most important thing to consider even before how you want to style the room is the function. Function always comes before style. Once you decide function that will determine furniture placement. Then and only then do you pick style. If the mirrored walls impede function then they need to go. IMO get rid of them because (based on what you said) they do. Also the divider wall is in the way. If you remove all this then you'd have a great wall for your TV, some MCM built-ins or freestanding system and MCM art pieces. Either way fine. Then you could place your furniture in a cozy grouping in front of this element. This would make your room look larger. Also choosing a white paint (there are many "colors" of white) wall color will brighten, lighten, and enlarge the room and do a lot more for the room than the mirrors. The furniture and art pieces you choose will do the job of giving you the MCM look your going for! If you still want a mirror in the room get a MCM hanging wall mirror and put it on an opposite wall say above the furniture piece you have now in front of the mirrored wall.