Here are links to some of the earlier threads . . . http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg0708180218905.html - unique/favorite features in your build.... http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg051803107471.html - Things you couldn't live without or wish you had added http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg012331272427.html - What things did you find needed adjusting or changed? http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg052337148911.html - is there anything you wish you had done http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg1011400927581.html - What about your new build makes your life easier; what doesn't ? http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg0913570232282.html - Brands/Products That I'd Use Again http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg0321442732113.html - Share your best sites for deals on supplies! http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg0818041222629.html - To help others - Things I would do different and things i love! http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg021705141306.html - Things I wish I'd specified on my plans http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg0120301431285.html - It's been two years...what I've learned, would change, etc... http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg0901543214301.html - Biggest Mistakes? http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg0521381417863.html - Help!!! Have I forgotten anything? http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg122305046544.html - designing electrical in house http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/build/msg0316075322256.html - doing whole house audio

Just got back to read what's been happening. What gorgeous kitchens! A couple would aaalmost convert me to the furniture look, even though I've always (since childhood probably) loved a built-in look for a kitchen. Which is an awfully important point newbies to their designs probably don't consider right out when it needs to be -- do they really love boxes bolted to the wall (my usual description but wholly inappropriate to some of the works of art here) or built in? Five, your design sounds luscious. I can't wait to see pictures. We dropped the ceiling in a single little hall (budget build), but its contribution is so real (and maintenance-free :) that if I had it to do over there would have been more. Regarding dust-catcher tops, having a shadow line up there can be another simple but significant aesthetic contribution. If we'd done that, I was going to mount a vertical "back" to it, painting it a deeper color if necessary to hide it, so I only had to run a vac hose over the front few inches.

Each of my three beautiful daughter in laws came from very messy homes, and I can assure you that they all have/had careers, two went on to uni, the other worked for a law firm and was highly regarded. Each of them run very clean and organized homes, and have reared three wonderful grandchildren, and they are all very intelligent,loving, funny, wise and wonderful. The reason they're not messy themselves is that they each of them decided that being organized and clean makes for an easier life in the long run. But coming from messy homes did them absolutely no harm whatsoever, because they came from homes full of love, family and friends. While they were messy homes, they weren't what you'd call squalor, just very very messy and untidy. And while neither of them want to have homes like that themselves, they all love going home to their parents and don't judge or criticize them in any way. I'm an organized neat freak, so my kids didn't come from a messy home, but they too all have uni degrees or a trade and are what is regarded as successful. While it might have been organized and tidy, we spent heaps of time doing stuff with the kids and life was full and good. So.... I believe it's the quality of family life that counts, not the tidiness. Look at the birds... some of them have neat little perfectly formed nests.. others have great messy bundles of sticks. But I've read that the quality of a nest is in what it's lined with, not what it looks like. And as long as a home is lined with love and care, it's a good nest. My allegory probably breaks down somewhere, but who cares. Don't feel guilty about mess when it's loving family mess. Made me sad to think you had sleepless nights over this... no need at all. I agree with Sunnyflies.. it's the kind of mess that matters. A home should be a home before it's a house. Sure, I love being organized and neat, but that's just because I can't function right unless I have an ordered environment, but that had nothing to do with how my kids turned out. Just my humble opinion.. smile.

A few years ago, DH asked for a giant flat screen tv for Father's Day ~ so sweetly and pitifully, that I couldn't say no . . . although I wanted to! The problem was that our family room has only one (semi)unbroken wall to it and anything on that wall competes with our hand-painted kiva fireplace in the corner right next to it. AND, to complicate matters even more, that wall (pretty much the entire house, actually) is made of real adobe bricks, which look awesome but are a bear to try and hang anything even kind of heavy on. Too heavy or put a nail in at the wrong angle and you can end up with a 3" wide and deep hole, where adobe dirt and hay fell out of the brick . . . and you can forget ever hanging anything on that brick again, even once it's patched! I really wanted an EC like Goldie's that had a wood back to hang the tv on, but it would have totally overwhelmed the room :~( A great credenza, like Haley's or Bepeace's, would have been nice but I was afraid to hang the tv on the adobe wall and I couldn't find one to hold ~AND HIDE~ all of our DVDs, tapes, and components. I wasn't so concerned with hiding the tv, but thought that the components and DVDs would clutter up the area too much. And then we found a tv lift console that solved all our problems- it hides lots of stuff inside of it and the tv sits down in it, as well, when we aren't watching it. When it's down, it doesn't compete with our fireplace, which is a huge bonus in our small family room! I do have to tell you, though, that it was a huge PIA to actually get that tv hung on the console's hanging bars! But now that it's done, we love it. The motor is quiet and smooth and the remote easy to use. Another downside, for anyone contemplating buying one, is that you can't put anything on the top of the console, decoration-wise, as the back two-thirds of the top section opens up as the tv slides up. We bought a narrow tower to sit next to it and I have a lamp on that. We also have a set of three framed Indian artifacts that we've hung over the console. They were a huge PIA to center, but they work with the kiva instead of competing with it. So, that's one more solution to consider, not so much to hide your tv, as ours seems to be up more than it's down like most people, I guess, but it is a tv hanging/storage place. I do want to make it VERY clear that I'm not criticizing leaving a tv out on display all the time. I think it's a perfectly ok thing to do. I just wanted to show you another option for any flat screen tv and explain why we went with this option. Lynn Our flat screen up, before we hung our art over it: And with the tv down: