frozenelves8 - how far apart are your kids? Mine are all close in age. The oldest (son) is 7 1/2, then 4 girls - 3 of whom were born in 25 months), a 2yo, and baby #6 (unknown gender) due in the next few weeks. We are hoping to break ground in March. We fell in love with the Life Magazine 1999 Dream House and Sarah Susanka's Not-so-Big principles and have been planning this project for nearly that entire time. We have adapted the plans to meet the needs for our growing family and like to joke that we are building the bigger "not-so-big" house for our "not-so-small" family! We have planned a dorm style suite for the girls (space above the garage) that includes a big bedroom with 6 built-in bed nooks that can each be closed off with a curtain. There are two nooks side-by side built into dormers, with a large floor space in the middle. They will share a walk-in closet which will also have dressers (which just happens to be located immediately adjacent to the 2nd floor laundry, since I imagine they will be generating the largest amt of dirty clothes! The bath will have 2 toilets, 2 showers, and 2-4 sinks...we are still working out the specifics of that. As the plans stand, my son will have his own room for now with bunk beds, and share a Jack and Jill style bath with the guest room. If baby #6 is a boy, he will probably eventually go in there - once he is not nursing around the clock and moves out of the nursery (our walk-in closet). We are Catholic and both young (mid 30's) so have potential for more kids. We will have a first floor guest space (though not a dedicated room - it will be a Murphy bed in our "away" room (office, computer, library) and the potential to finish off the basement down the road for an in-law suite, or older teen bedroom. Our primary living area on the first floor (DR, LR, kitchen) is all one open space (with lowered ceilings and floor changes to delineate different areas) except for the closed off away room, and the "back hall" to the garage which will house a pantry and sizable mudroom. We designed the house to maximize the family living spaces, but included several "get away" areas, like a window seat nook on the switchback stair landing. It's nice to hear from other big families. There are a few on here. It's a very daunting task to build ANY time, I'm sure, but especially so when you are on a fixed budget, have very unique needs, and may not have champagne and caviar tastes, but want certain higher quality and not builder grade finishes. Anyways...good luck with your project. I look forward to hearing more about it.

On the opposite side of that wall is the closet in the 2nd bedroom. I could easily cut the wall and drop in an access panel. That is more plumbing work than I feel comfortable doing myself. I like to experiment and learn to do things on my own. But since when I shut off the water supply, I shut off eight units in total, I don't want this to be a learning experience that inconveniences my neighbors for a long time. If I do that, it can wait until I do a complete remodel in my master bath and have a plumber here. I've got that planned for another year or two. Thanks for the tip though writersblock!!! And trtsmb, I do agree with doing a linen closet or hutch with a smaller vanity. But I need suggestions or pics for ideas. I'm not sure exactly what.

Hmmm...Wasn't going to post for another couple months! lol But, CC#1 = $170.00 (maybe a bit less), & plans are to have it pd OFF by years' end. (I actually have till Jan '08 statement for the low rate to expire - which wouldn't be so detrimental due to the low balance) I hate the bank tho, and really wanted to pay it off sooner! But that didn't happen. CC#2 = Don't know exactly, but definately under $700.00. Next closing date is SOON. (I haven't been focusing so much on CC #'s 2 or 3, as they are fixed unless I default on ANY payment! - oh I don't like the sound of that 'clause') CC#3 = About $3150.00. AND...That "Oops!" CC bal is paid in full - YAY! (And I m SO patting myself on my back for THAT one! haha) PLUS, I paid our full mortgage payment(s) this month, plus about $150.00 over on 2nd. (YUP! I just couldn't pay minimum only. I want that 2nd paid OFF ASAP!) OH! AND...I started "paying myself first" last May - min 10%. BUT, after the first "pay myself", I decided to play "catch up" for the year, so I started paying myself 20% or whatever more I could. Also ran across an opportunity to lock in some CD's @ 5.45% APY - so I did that, and I trf'd some old 3 mo cd's into 6 mo cd's for the higher rate. They are in such a manner that I cannot easily get my hands on the money! LOL! So, basically, I'm living on the "below the edge of poor"! Christmas has been discussed, and we are going to do nothing except maybe take advantage of food sales, and IF we NEED something like thermals or sweats to keep warm, or a new battery for my trusty 18 yr old $2.00 hand calculator, or stuff to go into septic system... The ONLY gift we may buy is something for my Mother, which will probably be small $ amt gift certs for her favorite grocery stores or resturants (people from her church oft frequent places for Sunday lunch, and many times she doesn't go if it's expensive.) The GOOD thing is, we've had a sorta fairly mild summer. So, I've been able to use more $$ to pay towards bills. I have done some shifting on my pay plan to get CC #1 paid off (hopefully by years' end), and to get that "Oops" paid off. I've been SLAMMING on that #1 for awhile. (Sometimes it's a GOOD thing to hate a certain company - motivates ME to not give them any more $$$! LOL!) BUT, I'm going to have to slow down now, as winter is approaching - need to be prepared for those high heating costs for about 4 months! (We have heavy drapes, but bad windows! It gets SO cold here in winter, and I HATE the cold in my home!) I feel pretty good for now about my debt pay plan and how much I've paid off. I'm very impatient tho. I wanted more paid off SOONER. I've been obsessed with my bills and constantly reviewing them. (Sometimes 3 or 4 times a month lately - it's like I have a 'bulls-eye', and only one chance to hit it!) It's going to be hard to 'slow down' over the winter to adjust to high energy costs. We've already taken a big hit on less income in the household. We will adjust - at least for a short while. I will keep reviewing where we stand, and hopefully we will survive! IF it comes necessary to start digging into my pittance of savings, it's time for some serious decission making...(like I haven't already been thinking about that? Yes I HAVE!) For NOW, I need a big pat on my back for what I have accomplished! LOL! (I've a feeling next year is going to be even tougher than this!)

Sometimes a new machine needs a couple of rounds of leveling and foot balancing. With due respect for your contractor, he may have just checked it with a level, but not done the extra check to make sure each foot is equally loaded, and the lock nuts are (still) secure on each foot. Also a tile floor offers significant opportunity for slight but vibration-making differences of thickness, particularly at corners and edges, and for many types of tiles, in the field, too. These small hills and valleys on the tile can create a situation where each foot appears evenly balanced but in fact is not, and your are actually only weighted on two or three. It's very important to check each foot individually not just run a level across the top of the machine. Once you have the feet all correct mark the floor with tape so you can get the feet exactly back in place after you clean or move the machine for other purposes. Because feet leveling and balancing is a fidgety job, I like to do the washer installation first so I'm not bumping into the dryer. Lord only knows how people manage this in closet installations or under granite counters. I have enough trouble and my machianes are placed two feet from the nearest wall. Some people have reported here that they have used vibration-dampening mats to quell the worst of it. However I think it's really important to try to get the machine correctly balanced rather than try and correct it externally. I think it will cause excess wear, in the long run, to have the machine out-of-balance but synthetically dampened. I would only use the mats after I was very sure the problem was structural not just incomplete leveling and balancing. Try to separate the sound impression of the full-cry spin from the vibrational quality in your mind. The sound is normal, excess vibration is not. After you have run a few dozen cycles, check the balancing again as I find new foot-nuts tend to loosen up sometimes, Don't know why. Regarding the K/S comforter ... does it actually fit in the machine? If it does you might try a test wash. If it's down-filled it may be a problem, but sometimes other ones do fit. I have the smaller 5K Mieles and I wash heavy q/s down-filled comforters regularly. I have posted special down comforter-washing instructions here, which you can probably fid if you search for them. HTH, Molly