For now, we ended up having the living room, dining area and hall all one color. There was much disagreement about what color this should actually be. We were aiming for a neutral tan/goldish color. Everything seemed to beige or too yellow. FINALLY, we determined that SW Restrained Gold was the way to go and it is all painted and perfect. My Uncle who is in town painted everything for us as well as touched up trim in the other rooms. Uncle Bob is a professional painter and he thought that using the dining room as accent walls would be a fine idea, however, he is only in town for a week or so. We may look at different colors again when he is back in the sumer. For now though, everything looks really nice.

I guess I'm becoming an expert in home office setups the hard way. I'm a lawyer with a true home office (not just a place to pay bills and do scrapbooking). Version 1.0: built in one 11' wall of downstairs bedroom, cost $7K (1999 dollars) for maple. Custom built by local cabinet person. 85 year old mom moves in and takes over downstairs bedroom, so office gets moved into spare bedroom upstairs. Version 2.0: I research all over the internet. I rule out the nice looking armoires because (a) I have too much stuff and (b) you still don't have a place to put your feet even after the worktop slides out; I suspect that all well used armoires end up with lots of scuff marks at foot level on the face of the cabinet. I buy lots of Christopher Lowell Shore (the same line that bestyears bought) and start assembling it. It's all crappy particleboard/OSB/pressboard with a hideous printed finish where you can actually see the pixels of the supposed distressing. It starts falling apart during assembly. Cost: $2200, 2009 dollars. Version 3.0: I order solid maple, made in California not China, from local furniture company, cost $3400, 2009 dollars, which takes up most of a 10' wall -- not built in. (Design wise, it looks a lot like the Logan office suite available at Pottery Barn.) It's decent quality but probably a grade or two lower than my kitchen cabinets. However, I think that a 10' wall of kitchen cabinets would cost substantially more than $3400 from any reasonable quality cabinet company. Version 3.1: My mom is now talking with cabinet companies about installing pull out drawers on the lower shelves in the former office so that she'll have drawers in which to store her clothes...grrrr! I really want my home office back -- although I really, really don't want my mom gone. One important point on drawers: File cabinet drawers look and function very different from kitchen drawers. Blue

I like Penny's idea of using the closet for the office space. Can you use the dresser for storage? I mean, it's not taking up space in the room empty? For your makeup area, I'd figure out a spot near the window to take advantage of the natural light. Add a large full length mirror for function and style. Figure out what you need in terms of furniture and scour Craigslist and the like for second hand stuff. Anything can be painted and chalk paint is brilliant for this kind of stuff. You paint everything the same colour and there's your space looking cohesive and deliberate. Large scale art in colours you love on the walls will make it come alive. I'd skip the rug with a tight budget but I'm not a huge fan of rugs so... Good luck! Hope you keep us posted with your progress. This IKEA full length mirror has a practical clothes rod in the back:

Unfortunately the office in the bedroom is for my husband as he is currently working from home indefinitely and needs the privacy for phone calls and Zoom/Skype meetings. I was planning to have my desk somewhere in the main part of the house as I work at home occasionally, I still go in the office. Our house is 3 Bedrooms, Kitchen, small Casual Family Room in front of kitchen, and large open room (formal dining/living room) in the front entrance that is open concept. unfortunately there are no nooks, basement, or attics in the house which is why our space is limited. Each of the 3 bedrooms has a purpose: Master Bedroom that has limited space, Husbands office and he needs the privacy for phone calls, and the current guest room which will be utilized as a nursery/kids room in near future. The garage has both our cars already and we live in the desert where it gets over 100 degrees. So a gym in the garage is not an option.