Somehow I missed this thread. Boy, can I empathize! My house is a converted church and we have 4 (FOUR) closets in 3000 sf. 3 are the size of small coat closets, one is a bit larger. And, there is only a small galley kitchen, no pantry. Yes, this does make it hard to organize!!! Though this house is roughly 3X the size of our old one, there is less than half the storage space. There is only so much stuff you can get rid of! Of course, we spent all our $$ on the house, so remodeling is not an option in the near future. I put cabinets over the toilets - big enough for hand towels and washcloths and shampoo, etc. I keep the rest of the linens under the bed (in rolling drawers.) I still have to keep the vacuum cleaner behind the sofa (and my guitar underneath)! We have a large laundry room and I'm trying to figure out how to make better use of that space. What is frustrating is that there is space that we don't really use, but I'm not clever at trying to convert this space myself. The house is all windows, too, so that really cuts down on available wall space; the third floor is an attic conversion - very steep walls and not conducive to practical storage. If I had a nickel for every time I've banged my head up there! I did buy a couple of big melamine cabinets (garage quality) to store stuff in, and that has helped a little. Glad to know that I'm not the only one with this problem! I spend a lot of time on the home decorating forum and just drool over those new houses with big pantries and huge walk-ins. Good luck and if I come up with any brilliant ideas you'll be the first to know!

The post does not say where you live so I cannot tell which plumbing code you are under, however this house is new to you and if you are under the IRC (International Residential code) or the IPC (International Plumbing Code) there is a very strong likelyhood that you may have an "AAV" (air admittance valve), AKA "Studor Vent" or "Cheater Vent" instead of a true vent pipe in your bathroom. One quick way to get an good idea if you have an AAV is open the cabinet under the sink when you smell the odor. If you have a defective AAV the odor should be much stronger under the sink. AAV's have a spring loaded plunger that will allow air to enter the drain line to prevent a negative pressure that would suck the water out of your traps, but, when working properly they are closed to prevent sewer gasses from escaping from the pipe. Given that it is a mechanical device, it also stands that it is subject to malfunctioning. AAV's must be installed at a location where they can be periodically inspected and allow access for repair. Typically for a bathroom they are installed on the lavatory bowl waste arm in the cabinet under the sink. Look at the sink drain line. If you have an AAV you will see a Tee fitting on the horizontal line coming out of the wall and before it connects to the P-trap from the sink bowl. You will then see a vertical line attached to that tee which rises a minimum of 6" above the horizontal line and generally it will rise up behind the sink bowl. You will then see a Cap on the top of the line, but if you look close you will see either some slots or a square opening on that cap fitting. That cap fitting is the AAV. AAV's are mounted by means of ordinary pipe threads. On the top of the vertical riser there is a female thread adapter and the AAV is simply screwed in. To replace it you simply unscrew the existing AAV, than apply teflon tape to the threads of a new AAV and screw it back in place. You can get the AAV's at any hardware store or home supply center. Personally I prefer to go to a True Value or ACE hardware and you will be more likely to find a clerk that really knows what their talking about to help you.

It's not just Daltile, it's most larger tile shops. Seems if you are not a contractor or a designer they don't want to give you the time of day even though they are open to the public. Rittenhouse at Home Depot is not the same as from Daltile. Nonsense. All tile will vary somewhat by lot. It's tile. It's important to buy enough for the job from the same lot. Even within the same lots it's often a good idea to mix up the tiles from each box when setting them. I find that matching trim pieces with field tile is really nearly impossible at big box stores because they don't move enough to replenish their lots. For example the bullnose or cap could be sitting there more months while the field tile is reordered frequently.

I'm giving my 25 year-old original kitchen a much needed face-lift. The plan is to paint the cabinets (BM White Dove). I like their style which is frameless with flat panels, they are in great shape and the kitchen layout is fine. Then I'll replace the cabinet hardware. The countertop I'm putting down is butcher block (beech from Ikea). The walls will be painted in BM Fieldstone - it's a nice neutral gray. And I'm putting in white subway tile with a pale gray grout. Now to the real problem - what to do with the floor. What's there now is the original vinyl tile that they attached directly to the subfloor with this sticky black tar adhesive. This is the original flooring. I can get the vinyl up with a hair drier but the adhesive isn't cooperating at all. Nothing gets it up. I was originally thinking I'd put down a beautiful porcelain tile that I found but the tile store wants the vinyl and adhesive all removed. They'll do it but it has just gotten too expensive for my limited budget. Total installation cost alone is running over $20 SF! And that's with me removing appliances and the existing baseboard. So back to the drawing board. I had concerns with the hardness on my joints that tile was going to bring anyway so maybe this is a blessing. I think a floating floor that could go over the existing floor is may be the way to go. I think that means I'm limited to either engineered wood or cork. I've always loved the look of cork but I'm concerned that it's going to dent too easily. Main problem is that I have a very heavy six-burner Wolf stove that needs to be considered. Would engineered wood even hold up to it? Do I need to only look at real wood? Even though I like it, linoleum isn't great option for resale in my neighborhood. Any opinions, observations, or tips would be greatly appreciated!