Hi Weedy, Are you sure your closet is only 20" deep? To hang clothes you need at least 24" deep. Will your hangers be going sideways? Anyhow, I assume you are giving up hanging anything on the lower portion, will have a high bar in the closet for shirts/etc. And you'll use the shortened lower part for shelves for shoes or something? If you could squeeze a few more inches out of your drawer space in the bathroom, I think I would. You can always use those little metal handles that fit over the top of the drawer. I tried to google it, but couldn't find what I'm thinking of...this came up though, another solution to protuding handles. Here is a link that might be useful: flat drawers with finger pulls

Hello LoLauren-Hope you post photos of the finished project!I love a fireplace flanked by bookcases also.Beveled glass cabinets in a simple design would be gorgeous, but if you are trying to hide stored items then you could do wood cabinet doors with a darker antiqued glaze for interest as you have alot of wood. You didn't mention what your style is -white painted wood, rustic, traditional? Pamelak

OMG, you have a really high ceiling! Amazing space, and it will be marvelous to go UP with your storage cabs. Hmmm, I can see that the space to the left of the window might not be WIDE enough for all that many upper cabs with doors. And instead of closing in the wall plugs, could you move them up to the spots where the triangular shelves would be? At least that way, you'd have a spot to put a small Bose radio or a clock, or maybe some other small electrical thingy, like the chargers for your cell phone and camera batteries? I'd suggest the same for the other plug beneath the window. Move it up enough that it would not be located behind the window seat or any deep cushion you might place there. You could, if need be, simply take power off of it to put a shaded sconce on the tall pantry cab to the right of that window too. No wall switch, just a button on the sconce itself. And, that high pointy ceiling area there is really dramatic. Putting an uplight on top of the highest cab where you will locate some arty objects, that would be a nice feature. I'd suggest a wall switch on a dimmer for that. If you CAN leave the window molding uncovered, and it is pretty, then try to figure it. But I am puzzled by what kind of molding it is....metal? If it is metal, you probably should leave it, unless you can caulk the cab and window seamline to appear flawless. Have you ever heard about the CAMEL PROJECT? A CAMEL is a HORSE DESIGNED BY COMMITTEE. hehehehe I heard that expression when I was a research librarian many years ago. Don't worry. Brainstorming is good for us all.

Thanks Patricia for taking the time to read my post! I agree with the built-in banquette seating. My finance is pretty convinced that it's a great idea for big family dinners (which is funny since most meals we eat out OR eat in front of the TV since we live in a condo and it's only the 3 of us). As for the pictures, I took these with a wide angle lens, which unfortunately distorts the edges of the pictures (ie like a fisheye lens, but less severe). I took them like this to fit more of the room into a single snap shot. While the drawing isn't 100% to scale, it, for the most part it shows the correct scaling of the walls, nooks and crannies. We're mostly hoping to have general furniture layout suggestions to keep the room looking not awkward, with clean sight lines from walking up the stairs, out the patio and from the kitchen (far screen left in the diagram; it's cut off, but will be a full kitchen that has a pony-wall overlooking the stairs).