What you store is totally personal. I have three IKEA Pax 36" wardrobes (in the white, raised panel design) and love them. I have 2 deep ones for my clothes (there's only one closet in the master bd, and it's 4' wide) and one shallow one for linens. Few halls will be able to take a deep cabinet. Ours is 6' wide, and because of the door layout, a 2' deep closet would be claustrophobic. We do not have many linens, but our shallow cabinet is FULL with just linens for our family of four, plus some dirty clothes space at the bottom. The nice thing about the depth, though, is that everything is very accessible. We keep our meds, tp, etc. in the bathroom. Triage everything BEFORE investing in more storage. How many towels do you really need? How many meds are old? How many are duplicates? Lots of people have Nyquil AND Mucinex AND Sudafed without realizing that there is only ONE effective OTC decongestant, ONE effective OTC expectorant, and ONE effective OTC cough suppressant. Have a small bottle of decongestant/expectorant for the day (cough suppressant optional), one expectorant only for night plus Afrin for night use in emergencies, and that's it. With a bottle of pain killers and a swig of the alcohol of your choice, and you can recreate whatever branded blend you desire with a lot less total space. The basic rule is to learn to check ingredients before buying and make sure you don't duplicate products.

Some years ago we did an update in our kitchen and put in new cabinets. After they were done, it occurred to me that an alternative would have been to install open shelving in some places and to invest in everyday dinnerware that I enjoyed seeing and using. As it is now, most of those cabinets are empty now. The same couple of dishes, cups and drinking glasses get used over and over. We have downsized and we live a simple life. I wish that I had put more effort into creating a space that suits the way I live. Sure, it is nice to have some things behind closed doors, but those are almost completely empty and I wish that I had put in some arrangement that let me just hand wash an item and set it directly on a rack that it could drain, dry and be at hand to use again. I don't even have enough of anything to fill up a dishwasher and I don't have one and don't want one. I did leave a space for a dishwasher and the hook ups are still there. I installed a tiled shelf where a dishwasher would be and use that space for open storage of my stainless cookware. I love it! I just wash and return to the handy open shelf where it is ready to easily grab and use. It is all stainless so it is not ugly to look at. I love it to be all handy right there! That is the concept that I am suggesting. And, as I always suggest, it is best to not have too much stuff to begin with. It works for me, but I realize that everybody's life is different. I love a less complicated life with fewer possessions.

"The porch on the first peak" What peak?? "the the next porch" How many porches do you have?? "where we plan on putting the furniture is 8 by 13 feet. We are hoping to fit a small 2 seater sofa, two individual chairs (one on each side of the sofa) and a small table. We plan on sitting out there while watching our kids play outside." Did you tell the designer of the house that??

we have 3 boxes left of kitchen flooring, so would do same in hallway and front entrance. had talked about taking all wood out and putting new throughout but I love the lookof this floor versus laminate planks. wood was glued diwn, so would be awful to get up.