I wouldn't want the master (or any bedroom) right off the family room either. Would it be feasible to bump out the current master? I don't know. But I'd like the 4th bonus room as a sun room with the other room as an office or exercise room off of it, not as a bedroom. Something so far out of the way as the 5th extra room I'd be thinking of as an inlaw suite or guest room, if a bedroom at all. It could also be a craft room, being close to utilities. What else is going on in the utility room other than the water heater? Unless you have a specific purpose that works for you, I wouldn't invest in changing the house for someone else unless you want to spend a good bit on changing the layout so it's more flexible and accommodating. If you don't have an attic or basement, the extra room is very welcome storage for a lot of people. This post was edited by snookums2 on Thu, Jan 17, 13 at 13:48

Believe it or not, decent looking ceiling fans exist. On every design show I've ever seen they're the first things to be thrown out, but I have them in every bedroom. Mmm slight draft at night without the sound of floor fan... I pspent no fewer than 18 weeks looking (off and on) for a "pretty" one to go in my master. I have lived with a 4 poster bed. My experience - unless you have really high ceilings, and I'm talking like 10 ft, and a sizeable room, it will turn your space into... tiny. Once upon a time in a previous life I thought I had a big bedroom until I put a poster bed in there. I like your computer nook. I always wanted a space like that, which I could separate from the rest of the room with some romantic drapery tied back. I might force that idea on my formal dining room. :) beds/headboards coverin ga window do bother me. I don't like anything to cover a window (couch, table, or otherwise) -- but that's just me. And if it came down to a queen bed, or covering that window, sure - the window would get covered! We have single panels on our two bedroom windows, mostly because they're skinny and it looked silly to me to have two panels. If you need to cover the window, something that seems to help (at least when I've seen it done) is to pull the bed away from the wall a foot or so. Then you can go with two panels, and it looks kind of intentional instead of "didn't have space." Something else to keep in mind with blocking windows -- does the sun come directly in such that it would fade your bedding over time?

Exactly, although I really appreciate your critique of my bedroom space. DH would not allow me to switch chest of drawers. That's his "side" of the room, bed, bench, lol. Y'all don't know what it took to talk him into curtains! Although, he has been pretty good throughout this decorating process. I did previously try to put the basket under the side table, but it is too tall with the pillows and would be a pain to get under to retrieve them. As for the air return, I cannot block it with anything that large and solid. You should have seen the dust on the solid painted screen. The heating and air guys were not thrilled with that, either. One of these days, I'll see the perfect console table to put there, but in the meantime, that's what I feel comfortable with and it's staying. I can't believe y'all have not seen these decorative screens as just that...decorative! Must be a southern thing. Anyhow, all I wanted to do is show you my newly revamped space because it is such a big improvement over what it was. Thank you for the kind words, tryingtodecorate. The color is Decatur Buff in the bedroom, and my fireplace wall is as well. I have considered painting that entire wall like the trim color, a paneled look like my previous home (seen below) and may do so when we replace the fireplace box (another story.) yayagal - We may sell, so come on!

Elmer, firstly, I wasn't disagreeing with you. Second, if you didn't notice I 'liked' your post. Third, my job is research on US vs other OECD countries - where we are doing well and where we need to improve. As to Google, it is actually a great resource that most people doing research at any level will use extensively. Even though I do this research as a core part of my career, I frequently learn stuff in comments from 'amateurs' on the internet who I frequently find know more about some particularly topic than I do. Finally, living somewhere can certainly give insight but rarely gives understanding. How many people who live in the U.S. understand why we have the highest road fatality and injury rates of all developed countries? Or even know that we do? Or understand our poor IAQ issues? I spend a lot of time outside of the U.S. doing research and it's important but I actually do not consider that very critical to most of our research. Now, alcohol. You have to look below macro level numbers. There is a vast difference in a population all having 2 or 3 drinks per day and one that has the same or even less per capita consumption but where half the population doesn't drink at all and the other half has 4-6 drinks per day. That's an extreme example but hopefully makes my point. What we are seeing is that in the U.S. the 20% heaviest drinkers are consuming about 73% of the total alcohol consumed in the country. In Finland the top 20% consume 67% and in France the top 20% consume 49%. When all of the numbers or run we find that the 20% heaviest drinkers in Finland consume the most, those in the U.S. are a surprisingly close second and those in France are a quite distant third (of these three countries). This even though per capita France consumes more (11.8 liters/yr) than the U.S. (9.7 liters/yr). Alcohol consumption in the U.S. is much more concentrated than it is in France. Is alcohol good or bad? There is increasing scientific information about the benefits of moderate alcohol consumption though we still don't fully understand why it's good. Perhaps a much better bit to consider is that if you look at the healthiest populations in the world (the Blue Zones of; Ikaria Greece, Sardinia Italy, Okinawa Japan, Loma Linda US and the Nicoya Peninsula Costa Rica) you'll find that one thing they have in common and that is believed to contribute to their good health is a few drinks of alcohol per day. (Loma Linda is a partial exception as they don't drink as much so there's research being done to see if there is something else providing the same benefit or if it's simply an issue of here are 11 healthy things - pick 9). How much alcohol is good and when is it too much? We actually don't know. Just when we think it has to do with someone's size or what they eat or when they drink relative to when they eat... we seem to find too many exceptions to call it a rule. And then layered on top of this are concerns about liability in the U.S. Science now seems to point to any alcoholic drink or most alcoholic drinks as providing similar benefits but among the healthiest populations it's almost purely red wine (which we use to think was the healthiest before deciding that it wasn't but maybe we should reconsider?). What we do know is that there is very strong evidence that 2-4 glasses of red wine per day appear to be beneficial. Similarly, there is growing evidence that any level of CO2 above 600ppm is not good. If so, then how bad is 610? Or 700? or 1000? For how long of exposure? Is any harm cumulative or temporal? And something interesting brought up to me this morning - can a glass of red wine cancel out any harm caused by sleeping in a room with 1200ppm of CO2? Now, I'm going to ride my bike to the pub for a healthy pint rather than continue to sit here drinking water.