Oh what a cutie! I agree that you have a good reason to not have a lot of time. I've been reminding of that time in my life the last two years that I've been babysitting our grandson. Who cares about decorating when you have a precious little one to love. And I can understand more about why hubby doesn't like changing things or doing more than "has" to be done. He's more worried about being a good daddy and supporting his family than having a "pretty" updated home. Our home was rather sparse with mostly hand me down or used furniture when our first born was a baby. Heck it wasn't much difference by the time our second baby was born. Not saying it wasn't warm and welcoming. It was, but not everything was perfect. I've learned with age, that it's not so important. Perfection, that is. I went through a period where things had to be just so. Maybe it's more living in a unfinished home with a hubby that works a full time job year round and umpires most of the rest evenings and weekends to keep in shape and it pays nice too. We'll be in good shape for retirement and that's a good thing. I'm glad you like the corner door shelf. It's really easy to do. The hardest part was cutting the door in half. It's heavy so it took three of us to do. But if you used two doors you wouldn't have to worry about that. I bought the door through Craigslist since I was going to distress it, it didn't have to be perfect to start with. Habitat Restores are a good source for used doors too. As for the lighting in the entry I was wondering if you'd be able to use a decorative type track lighting in there. They have some really nice looking ones that the "track" curves and all you need is the one box for the fixture.

We have the EA Arcata sofa and I regret the purchase every day. We got all the most expensive cushion upgrades/options, and frankly, I don't think the sofa looks much better than the darn IKEA EKTORP we had when we were first married. Admittedly, my husband sprawls on it, but the cushions always look terrible. And they slide out of place very easily. I'm always having to fluff, turn, and stuff them back under the back cushions. This is our second "grown-up" sofa purchase in ::cough:: five years. And I'm anticipating having to make another very soon. Granted, these aren't the most expensive sofas ever ($1800-2k range) but...it's disappointing. We had one sofa during my entire childhood. One. And when my mother was finally tired of it, it lived in a cousin's house for eight more years. I'm not asking for 25 years, but 25 MONTHS isn't too much to ask, is it? So, I would shy away from an EA sofa where I could not flip and fluff the cushions.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! Such wonderful tips you've shared, and now I'm feeling a bit more confident about the whole thing! I work best when I have an organized process going on. It's when things become jumbled and chaotic that I tend to feel like I'm going to lose it. And speaking of losing it - yesterday, DH and I were working together and found that we kept moving things. The scissors - which were JUST RIGHT HERE not five minutes ago, had somehow taken flight and flown two rooms away. The packing tape ... where'd the flippin' packing tape run off to? It went on like that for quite some time, until we determined it would work best if DH would go out and mow the lawn and leave me to the packing on my own. Sometimes having a helper isn't much ... help. Our boxes are all broken down into flat pieces at this point, and DH is going to "make" two or three of them that I can work on each evening. I think that methodically working my way through the breakables and getting them all boxed up will be a big load off my mind. I know this will all come together and we'll get it done. I appreciate the encouragement and the info shared here -- definitely ideas we will be putting to use as we get further along in this.

Nice looking sofa! I've never seen sheets designated for sleeper sofas. What does Crate and Barrel recommend? They might make sheets for their sleeper sofas. I don't think even the older mattresses were 4". Perhaps you can get elastic clips to hold the fitted sheet in place?