shanghai.. thanks so much! so nice of you to say. I think this new kitchen has huge potential - it is just so tricky with the chimney and also stairwells separating the kitchen from the other parts of the house. I guess we'll see how it progresses. I have to commit to a floorplan first. bmore, -- can the w/d hide in the bp somewhere? odd, I know unfortunately not. when entering the bp from the kitchen, immediately on your left is a cabinet - it has a false front which is hiding headspace for the basement stairs - and there isn't much headspace to start with so I really cannot push this back at all. on the right as you enter the bp is a bank of cabinets and a sink. the sink is huge, a big 36" kohler cast iron sink for a room that is only 72" wide! way too big. we will keep a sink in there - it has been very handy. the kids brush their teeth there before leaving for school and we have filtered water over there so they can help themselves to water anytime. I will try to post some pictures of the bp so that you can get a sense. the cabinetry hiding the basement stairwell headspace is so funky you can't even believe it. having the W/D out in the open in that utility space doesn't bother me. Obviously in Plans 2 and 3 it is pretty well hidden which is nice, but even in Plan 1 as long as I can't see it from the kitchen I am okay. I do laundry every day so I don't want it behind doors as I want the easy access to it. -- Can the basement door have a surface mounted sliding door? probably.... this would be worth investigating as that doorswing is CRAZY making. -- Get the tall things not to be between you and the door? exchange the table and the ref stuff? will try this next along with Brian's idea on #2 - ran out of time earlier today. hinge the exit doors on the other side (on the bp side)? if I do this I will have to move the casing down toward the sink wall such that door when open is not obstructing the opening to the bp (as I have shown in plan #2 above). The wall space to the right of the opening to the bp is only 22" and without the option of moving the doorway over (because of the above mentioned basement headspace issue) I am limited here. can you move the bp door at all? I can widen it a little which might alleviate the log jam we are feeling in this space as it is a major traffic pattern. On the left side I can pull it back about 5". On the right side maybe about 5" as well. I am trying to go for a little bit more of a contemporary look so I might try to tone down all the heavy duty casings in this space. From that standpoint I love the idea of the basement door on a sliding track. I have seen them by Fleurco for shower bathroom doors....maybe could be used in this application as well. florantha, do you mean over where the W/D currently resides? if so, no this is not even remotely a possibility as there is very little set back. This house is an 1850's sea captain's house in the village section of my town. Very cute and quaint but not a lot of space for bumping out (because of set backs, etc.). if you have any other ideas or that is not what you meant please let me know. thanks.

Thanks for checking in on our progress, patty_cakes! Unfortunately, with all of the rain we've received over the past month or so, progress came to a standstill and we are still waiting for our foundation to be poured! Construction crews all over this area are so far behind on jobs, and I'm trying to have patience. At least we presently have a house in which to live. I know that there are many who work construction here who depend on having those regular paychecks and when they stop rolling in, they really suffer. My heart goes out to them, and I'm trying to keep this all in perspective! As it now stands, our projected completion date is mid-October at the earliest. We have made all of our selections for the house, and I think I've got photos of most everything we've selected here in my "idea book." (Can you view it?) My vision was to keep things as classic and timeless as possible. We've chosen hardwood flooring throughout, with the exception of the bathrooms and the laundry which will be tiled. My kitchen will have white cabinets (with a couple of lighted Flemish-glass fronted cabinets to display my blue and white Cornishware), black granite countertops, and a glossy white subway tile backsplash. We've added crown molding throughout the house. Will have a stacked-stone fireplace in the living room (which is open to the kitchen - a concept that will be quite different than we are used to!). The bathrooms will be simply styled with white subway tile in the showers, white integrated counters/sinks, and we'll have brushed nickel hardware throughout the house. The walls will be painted a very neutral off-white -- certainly different from the Crayola box that our current house used to be! I'm yearning for simple, classic, clean. And new. Never, EVER thought I'd be saying that, but well ... here I am. :-) We'll be buying new furniture once we're in. I'm leaning towards a sectional in the main living space, and we'll need new bedroom furniture for the master and the upstairs bedroom. The little "game room" upstairs will be a space for TV watching and reading, and I'd like to furnish it sparsely but comfortably. I plan to use my paintings as pops of color, and it will be fun to figure out where to hang things once we move. I'll have to sell a few pieces, but I think I can use most of my favorites. We have already committed to plantation shutters in all of the rooms requiring window coverings, and I'm really happy with that decision. I've loved that look for ages, and am also just tired of dealing with curtains. Right now it still feels a little like a dream that's a long way off ... But I know we'll get there eventually!

Wow! These pictures are very beautiful! My friend is a Port Macquarie Photographer and love these kind of photography projects. Even has a great collection of such wonderful photographs. I will tell him about your projects.

Maybe something you can try: Log out Clear browser history (or at least the cookies pertaining to houzz and gardenweb) Close the browser Open the browser Open gardenweb.com (you'll probably get redirected to houzz because you're not logged in but that's okay) Log in Now try going to http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/flgard If you still get redirected, close the browser, reopen and try going to http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/flgard again. Hopefully after all that you'll be recognized as an existing user and not get redirected. :-) I don't know the exact minimal steps but that will probably work, or at least get you closer. Read Emily H's replies here: https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/4983366/calling-emily-h-from-houzz