As I said before, its not about finishes in the basement; its about living underneath the rest of the family. Using the first floor spaces for daytime gathering, the second floor for private sleeping and the lowest level for utility is a centuries old tradition and it still works well. I don't agree that a basement is cheap space that can be cheaply finished. A walk-out basement usually provides windows on only one side unless you build expensive areaways for additional windows. The concrete floor will require serious insulation and sleepers for a wood floor as comfortable as the upper floor bedrooms. The basement floor will probably need to be a foot lower to allow an 8 ft ceiling height with utilities above it requiring additional excavation, concrete and taller forms. The ceiling will need additional sound treatment if he intends to study in his room. If your son is in the basement he will also have his own private entrance with less security. I realize most people don't worry about such things but the world now comes unfiltered into our children's lives on their phones and computers and its smart to think more defensively. I have 2 boys and a girl 32, 30 and 23 respectively. As children they each experienced the world differently as it rapidly changed. My wife and I saw an ad for fast broadband service where a mother said "we love the speed because we have so little time to spend as a family." We both started laughing. If you want to spend more time as a family it would be wise to start with turning the TV and computers off and designing your house so it doesn't feel like a fraternity or a tavern like the ones so often posted on this forum. I realize you haven't designed your house yet but when looking for the best arrangement for family spaces do it with family interaction in mind first and all the other considerations second. Apartments are for efficient living; houses are for raising families.

When I started using Houzz I was amazed at how accurate the results of my searches were (in addition to the size of the photos database). It was a great resource. More recently when I've prepared to undertake projects, I've noticed that I just don't get the same, accurate results. My searches are riddled with results that just aren't pertinent. I think this is due to the incorporation of advertisers from my city and surrounding areas (contractors, builders, and others). There are enough ads (or results that are somehow influenced by someone who has something to sell) now to really hinder the flow of design ideas. I guess many internet sites end up using advertisers but it morphs the user experience. It's really made using Houzz less fruitful.

Hi, I'm new here. I've been looking online for ways to cope with living with a very sloppy person. It seems nearly impossible to change a slob. I found one site about living with a sloppy partner. I have read such sad accounts, couples that marry (I guess totally unaware of how the other really keeps house), and end up divorcing. I notice that mostly, the tidy, organized person, the one who prefer to live in a sanitary and orderly house, ends up having to change, ends up having to relax their standards, ends up having to back down, and having to live in silent frustration. It seems so unfair, how slobs are able to have/take such control. They dictate how things are going to be, how things going to look, smell, etc. Slobs don't see a need to change how they are, all they have to do is drive the clean person crazy. My daughter and her child and I share a rental since she split up with her bf. Every day I wake up and cringe, dreading what the day will hold. It starts with my daughter never waking to my gd crying and screaming. I have to go in her room to wake her and I dread it because I just know I'm going to have an out of body experience. The smell of her room hits me as I open the door. This sets me off. She doesn't bother to flush her toilet. She lived in poverty with her bf for several years and developed some really bad habits, like half the time they didn't have tp, so she doesn't always bother to use it. Her floor always has junk thrown about, clothes all over, clean mixed with dirty, who know which is which, dirty silverware and drinking glasses she has repeatedly been asked not to take to her room, pop cans spilled or half full and just waiting to be spilled by her child. A big stinky mess, squalor. And there she is snoring away, none of this bothering her, not even a bit. Sigh She makes a mess in every other room, has to be reminded to clean up after herself, or she won't do it. Her cleaning up after herself barely qualifies as cleaning. She works full-time and goes to school, so she is busy, but she uses this as an excuse every time we get into it over her piggish ways. We get into some big screaming matches, and I'm always the loser. Nothing ever changes. She might go to her room and make an angry attempt at straightening out, but not really cleaning, slamming things and yelling so I hear her. I feel like I'm living with a child, not a young adult. I'm having to parent her, and should not have to. I'm near retirement age with my many joint pains, it was a struggle to keep up with my own chores when I lived alone. and now I feel like I work nonstop and get nowhere. I'm sad and angry over all of this, and when depression sets in, it really affects how I feel and what I'm able to do. None of this filth bothers her. Her brand new car, the new car smell has been replaced with the smell of rotting food. She is so gross. I sometimes lose my mind, especially when the smell from her room makes it's way downstairs. I have simply lost it and have started cleaning her room while she's at work, because I just can't take it anymore. I have found dirty diapers tossed in the cabinet under the sink, pads with dried blood thrown on the floor by the toilet, scum with hair, dried toothpaste and makeup on every inch of her sink. I can't understand how someone can live comfortably in such an unsanitary environment. Disgusting. Thanks for reading my long vent about what I'm living with. Thank you for your comments.

Breezygirl, it should work the same in Ipad 1 if your system is current. .? Historically, I've only been able to get my pics to upload using the Direct Link wrapped in the symbols as is hopefully showing up in the pic below. I think this method is what throws my pic bigger and makes the text of all other entries smaller. Here's what happens when I try it both ways - Direct Link and Http: Using IPad 2 & a photobucket app, here's what does (or doesn't happen) when I just insert the HTML code from photobucket link list: . Here's what I get when I use the Direct Link code from the photobucket menu, and wrap it in the symbols to the left of http, and to the right of jpg