Wow, I forgot I shared that Tx. She walked down the hall... then came back, asked "is SD going to be ok if I oust her from 'that' room" and I said "oh, no, sorry, you and dad are in DD's room". And then continued what I was doing. I didn't even look at her. But the energy sure was weird! I could "sense"/"hear"/"feel" her muttering to dad.... She slept in the spare room last night and DD and Gpa slept in DD's room. DH told me not to put her in there but I just didn't feel up to anything. I did not change the sheets or make the bed though. Usually I would. But I am just barely well right now. When they came back last night I said "there's homemade chicken soup in the fridge" and they weren't interested so I directed them to a nearby restaurant. Yay me. I was up coughing all last night. This virus will not go away. hahahaha the funniest thing happened though. SM came in the house last night and then I heard her and dad talking and she said something and then he said, I have to get the bags out of the car first and then she said, oh, well, are you going to want me to help with that? and he made this noise... huh-ma-gib-a - ish noise and she said "oh, (trilling laughter) of course you're going to want me to help" AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Bi-zotch! Quick Poll: Would any of you just expect your DH to carry all the bags in? If so, is that because you have a physical condition or a pre-set division of labor and you will be doing something else that is contributing to getting "it" done (whatever you need to do as a family to get ready/settled) In other words, would you ever go somewhere on vacation and be sitting on the couch yapping while your DH carried all of the bags in the house?

A rectangular trestle table (with slightly rounded, non-pointed corners if you can find it with these), ideally with at least 1 or 2 leaves, will seat more people than a table with legs on the corners. Who will be sitting at the table on a daily basis, and as visitors? If you will be buying a table of reasonably decent quality to keep for the long run, and will have people older than little kids sitting at it, at least 4 chairs would be a minimum, and 6 would be better--if there is some place else in the house where the extras could be used or stored until needed. When my daughter was first married, she bought a table with 4 chairs due to their under 1000 sq' house and kitchen-eating area smaller than yours. When they wanted to entertain, which often was a total of 6 adults, 2 people had to sit on folding chairs and be relatively uncomfortable, although she could have put 2 more "good" chairs into the small space if she'd had them long enough to enjoy the meal and conversation. For years, I had an 8 x 12' dining room with the long side open to the living room. Because a 6 x 10' rug defined the dining space and therefore the location of the table, there was actually about 9' in width. I routinely had 8 people (7' long table including 2 leaves) seated. Crowded? A little, but doable. How busy will the walkway at the "bottom" of the kitchen be--what does it connect? If it's not super busy, could you shift the left wall of cabinets and the island 3 to 6" into the walkway to get more space in the eating area? Anne

jmdkc, I have only a few dresses and no long gowns. This is my Florida house so no long winter coats here. I have a closet in our den where I keep my sun dresses. With this design you could easily divide the rack for some long items. These were custom by a small company here in Florida. I was surprised at how many small companies there were. We did a California Closet for daughter up north and it is low quality compared to this one. In deciding, it all comes down to what you have and where else things are stored. Up north I have loads of sweaters on shelves. But, I have other drawer space in the bedroom. Figure out how you want your space to function.

How about a wooden path with bark and drought resistant plants on either side, that leads to an vine-covered arbor where you can sit in the shade? You can actually buy roll-out wooden walkways, in sections, from places like Walmart and buy a big premade arbor-arch, or a pergola — but definitely nicer to have a designer. If you need lots of stability underfoot a carpenter can knock out a wooden path for you that is as secure as walking on a deck.