Our bed is also quite low to the ground. It's hard to describe, but the side rails are quite deep. I don't want to use risers because the top of the mattress is already high enough. I've more or less reconciled myself to not being able to put things under the bed. I do have two plastic boot trays that slide under my side of the bed. I can put flat shoes on them. That gets the shoes out of the way, but also fills some space so that things don't creep under the bed where they're very hard to retrieve.

Estate sale coming up with a Queen size bed of ribbons (has adjustable mattress) with matching 4-drawer side chest and double dresser.

Yes, chisue. Look up thread a bit, I did mention haves and have nots and the generation of my kids needing help. It's not new in my area, it's the result of decades of appreciation and runaway income and gains fueling net worth increases for those in and supporting the tech sector in the SF Bay Area. The same is true (with different industries) in coastal SoCal. And I think ditto in other metro areas nationwide. "Are big homes with big RE taxes not lingering in your market?" No, I don't think so. But real estate taxes work a bit differently here than in other places. California's Prop 13 in 1978 limited total tax to 1% of value and capped upward annual value increases to the lesser of an inflation factor or 2 percent per year. Appreciation since then has been significantly greater so longer term owners pay less in tax than more recent buyers living next door in the same house, where that's applicable neighborhood wise. We've owned our house over 25 years. Houses can be reassessed to market value only when sold, so a new owner of my house would pay 3 times as much property tax as I pay. That's true statewide. Here's information, stats from the Santa Clara County realtor board. They're misleading because the community is polarized with more average houses and more expensive houses and not so much in between. That shows in the difference between median and average prices, average being $300K higher. Prices are up overall 3% in the past year, but more so for more expensive houses and less for less expensive ones. Inventory is at 40 days (average time on market), much lower than even 12 months ago, The chart shows days of inventory is down a fair amount, sales are down too (fewer houses being offered for sale). Real estate market stats

I'm in North Carolina. Not a super expensive market but not the least expensive either. Licensed architects are professionals. Like all professionals i.e. CPAs, attorneys, etc., they charge a professional price. Always have the money discussion before engaging services and get it in writing. IMO, you are paying $1750 for that lesson. We've all been there and ouch, it hurts but you'll never make that mistake again. Bottom line, you engaged a professional without a contract clearly delineating deliverables. You got services you weren't happy with but without clear expectations set, that's not the pro's fault, it's yours. Maybe you can negotiate a little off with the help of the person who brought this architect into the project. Get her to lean on him to reduce the price. Sounds like you paid her in full, why are you balking at the architect charge? If it's because it's 8 months later, that's not a reason. Just sloppy bookkeeping on his part. If you had gotten the charge earlier, would you be questioning it? I've been remodeling houses for over 30 years, most I've lived in, a few to resell. Always get it in writing with clear expectations including billing cycles. If the pro hesitates to do this, move on to someone else. The architect I worked with on my remodel speced some windows out incorrectly on the materials plans. The contractor bought what was speced and installed them but when I saw them, I freaked as it was not what the architect had on earlier plans which I had signed off on. The architect ate the cost of purchasing the correct windows and reimbursing the contractor to install them since it was her mistake. That's what pros do when you have a contract and everything is in writing. And we all ended the project as happy campers.