Timsmil, I'm about to get an AU Furniture sleeper sofa for my small guestroom/sitting room. They've got an unusual structure that means no 'bar' in your back. I've heard only good things from people who own them. You can search on their site (below) for a store near you where they're available. Best of all, for my purposes, they are very short front-to-back when they've open. (Like I said, my guest room is *small*.) A typical sleeper is 90-100', within which you only get a 72' long mattress (even in Queen sizes). The AU sleepers are only 83' deep, and within that you get an 80' long mattress, even on the Full & Twin sizes. The long mattress is great for grown-up visitors. The AU Furniture sleepers do cost more than competitors -- the Full size is about $2000 in microfiber, more in leather (under American Leather brand). The Crate & Barrel 'Nuevo' sofa is made by AU Furniture and has the same mechanism and virtues. It's bulkier, overall. Hope this helps! Here is a link that might be useful: AU Furniture website

Some thoughts-- Could you hang a small cabinet or place shelves above the toilet for storage? It looks like you are storing paper towels and toilet paper under the countertop. Perhaps the recycling could be moved to the garage. How about a curtain hung in front of the toilet? If you have children, they probably won't pull it closed, but they are also unlikely to close a door. My washer and dryer are front loaders under a countertop which can be used for folding. Some people seem to love that, others not. Just a thought. . . I would then extend the countertop for folding to include the sink so that you have one long surface. Since you moved the storage, laundry baskets could be stored under the countertop. By putting a shelf the depth of the countertop under the countertop halfway up from the floor, you will have room for more laundry baskets. A rod could extend from the side of the cabinets (or shelving unit, see below) above the countertop to the back wall, depending on how long the pants and skirts you would like to hang are. Mine fit above my countertop, but I'm not very tall, either. If you are tall, maybe you could hang the rod higher. New door? A pocket door. A step ladder could then be hung on the wall where the door currently swings. In fact, that would open the entire wall up for whatever you would like. The space is fairly narrow with the washer and dryer on the opposite wall, but the wall could be used to hang things. For a landing pad, you could use part of the countertop or mount hooks for keys, purse, etc. on the wall. It just depends on what you would like to use the landing pad for. OR, you don't say what you use the cabinets over the washer and dryer for. I'm guessing laundry detergent, etc., but there is quite a lot of storage space there. Raise the upper cabinet to the ceiling and you will have room for a shelf underneath which could suffice for a landing pad. Depending on what you are storing, replace the cabinet with shelving. I don't really see an option for a drying rack on the floor. I hang just about everything that doesn't need to dry flat. If it does need to dry flat, I use the countertop. By using skirt hangers with clips as well as regular plastic hangers, I can hang just about anything other than sweaters which must dry flat to avoid stretching. The hangers used for drying are stored on the hanging rod. Good luck!

It is updating an old idea from the Victorian era. They had screened in sleeping porches, and the bed could be pushed out of the interior room to the outer screened porch. Those Victorians were health nuts who believed in the power of fresh air. When I was in high school, I visited the summer house of my best friend, and that is the kind of bed we slept on. It could be pushed inside when rain was blowing, but when it was hot as blazes in the summer, the porch always had a great sea breeze blowing, and no mosquitos. I've seen the fold down Murphy beds stored in an entertainment center sized piece of furniture. I've also seen (in an old Irish stone cottage) the bed stored in a cabinet which was a twin size, placed the long way on the wall, about the height of chair railing, with a nice shelf above it. These days, having the bed long ways lifted against the wall, with 16 inch thick mattresses, you could put a hanging closet above, or other storage, and the bed would be really out of the way except when being slept in. Hydraulic lifts like car hatch openers/closers might make it easier to deal with if you are physically challenged.

To start no TV above that FP and IMO getting rid of that big entertainment center will free up that wall for a wall mount TV above a lower cabinet and if you want to add some display maybe look at IKea Besta for some cool ideas . Get a sofa and either place it facing the TV or the FP depending on how you watch TV then see how much space you have for chairs. I really dislike sectionals for seating IMO poor for conversation and only 2 people get arm rests which IMO means 2 people are comfortable like a sofa except you paid double.