I'm right there with you mindstorm. Funny no one sneered at the concrete walls. But I love Bulthaup -- it's perfect for smaller spaces and the quality of those cabinets and workbenches is tops, I think. Wish I could afford it. It would be fun, wouldn't it, if we could know what Berliners who live in minimalist apartments mainly rebuilt after the Wall came down would think of some of our rather Baroque kitchens with all the embellishments and granite? Our former neighbor, who was German, reno'd his apartment like that -- had all the steel doorways stripped and taken down to expose the metal and they dropped the ceilings (plaster) and installed drywall. Very austere. The couple who has it now repainted all the metal and put down the spongy candy-color kid-carpets in the halls. Taste is relative, for sure.

OK More experiences of 2/3 loft over lower floor. Just tossing these experiences out there. We had new carpet put in the whole house and when the guy was repairing the floors upstairs all the hammering brought down scads dust and grit from all the years seeping into the cracks. There was tongue and groove two by 6's or 8's for flooring. The lower floor did feel a bit closed in by the ceiling above. I believe the ceiling was a bit short of the norm. There were no side walls as ML suggested to give better ceiling height in loft. There was no way to hang pictures on the loft walls except the one end wall. They slanted too much. Since we did not have to worry about heating with the hot spring water available I have no idea on the added energy costs. A person could always hang a heavy draw curtain across the loft opening when not in use to control heat loss from below. Would have to be custom made but us sewers could figure out how to do it. I am terrified of heights but planes do not bother me other then now all the bother to board. I have pretty much given up flying. Not to mention the 90 mile drive each way to and from airport. The only place to fly to for me would be to see my Mom and it is also a 90 mile drive to airport and back on her end. I might as well drive the whole way. LOL I went through exactly what you are going through Sandy. I had some more limitations because once we chose the manufactured home that would fit our lot I had to work within that floor plan and only had the options of adding stretches and moving windows and the closet thing I explained before. then the master bath switching it up from glamor bath to half glamor bath. I really would have liked a larger laundry room. but this one works fine. I just fold laundry wherever it lands and I do use the line to dry the clothes most of the time so they come off the line and end up in master bedroom on bed to fold. We had another model house chosen at first in fact there were two other models and one I liked better but the added 20K put the bite in things. And there were issues with it in the living room arrangement. There just seems to be give and take. I think you have already written down all the things you want. I just do not think you can ever make it all perfect. What is pretty funny is the house we built took us one evening, a couple of hours, to draw up the plans. Was totally simple. We later decided if we had moved the master bedroom door over to the other end of the room it would have been so much better and still could have been done with out too much trouble. But we never bothered to do it. We were so happy in that house. Was a small house too. We built exactly what we drew up. That house would not work for me now. I am really happy with this house plan. We both are. It is a very comfortable house to live in for us. I do not remember what your SQ FT was going to be. Was it 1200? If so that was a little too small for me as we had it in the last house. Just the lay out here and the added 100 SQ FT helped to make this house work. AND at the last 1200 SQ FT house I had an added out side pantry of 8 by 6 and then my shed space of 10 by 16 and that would add up to more than we have here and it did not work. So it is not always the size that matters. I think it is the lay out. There used to be manufactured home sites on line with scads of floor plans. I looked at them for weeks taking things I liked and things I did not like. One place we chose we had to make so many changes to it it turned out we were better off not getting it at all. Add in we had a special roof snow load we had to adjust for. There were restrictions on how open we could go. I do not think you have that there. Here it is required 85 pound roof load. We have 120 on the house and 100 on the shop just so we do not have to shovel the roofs. You might want to back off just for a few days on this thought process. Like trying to balance the check book that is off 15 cents and you can not find it. Step away from it and when you come back a day or three later you see the mistake right away. Just a thought. You have my sympathy this is so stressful. Chris

I'm loving your mood boards. You have such a playful eye and a great sense of humor to your design. The pillows are stellar. I agree you can't just paint one room in your space and it would be expensive to do the whole space, but you've found a great way of working with the blue to make it dynamic. I'd call a Rowe dealer to get more specific about the prices. The Rowe I purchased was not $2,000 for sure. I'd also consider what the durability is of other less expensive sofas and how much it would cost to replace them more quickly if they are less durable. Less expensive sofas often use thinner inner foam in the cushions, cheaper quality engineered wood frames and joinery techniques, and lesser quality stitching. This can result in sagging cushions, wobbly arms, feet that can fall off easily, seams and welting that shift, and buttons that pop. Before you order your sofa, make sure you get lots of feedback on discussion boards and online from people who have owned the sofa for five years or more. Some people are used to buying a new sofa every three to five years, which I think can get more expensive than purchasing a sofa that is $400-$500 more to begin with. Also, don't be afraid to ask stores if they anticipate sales coming up. There are plenty of online tools that let you draft floor plans and move furniture around in all kinds of configurations. I adore living rooms with two sofas, but you want to make sure it is not overkill for the size of your space. Also, do you intend to watch TV in this room? Do you have an idea of what you want the layout to look like? Where would the two sofas go? Lastly, I had a friend who drove 6 hours to Ikea and didn't regret it! No way I would do that. Just saying...

@User WOW! I love your ideas -- I feel so inspired!! My tv stand is only 60", so 48" would be okay? Sounds like I need to keep proportions and scale in mind when choosing artwork. Do you have any advice on how to divide the space between my living room and my entry table? It feels awkward and bare :( Love the mural wall idea --I did a sort of accent wall up in the loft on a much smaller scale, with some stickers I bought at Target. (Ignore that corner on the lower right -- I haven't quite finished yet!!) @Denise Marchand I never would have thought of that layout -- it's unexpected but very interesting in such a long and narrow space. Do you have any suggestions for under the stairs? Right now I just have a dog bed under there so it's not very pretty and I feel like it could be better utilized... @A Maj Yes, very sloppy right now! I sold everything I own and moved across the country so I'm starting from scratch with my furniture and art, although I'm a little unsure of my vision right now so several of the pieces haven't made it onto the walls yet. I've already re-decorated once. Thank you for sending some inspiration photos -- I especially love this one: It feels comfortable and not too formal. I like all of the textures.