Hi loves2read, Yes, the room was pretty dark to start with hence the wall and desk lighting. I would like to put her ceiling fan lighting on a dimmer (I always put my lights on dimmers) and put in high watt bulbs. The room does look darker than what it is though. I had wanted to paint the back wall as well (behind long desk) but just didn't have the time or energy. We are still searching for the perfect art pieces to give the wall more color. My mother-in-law has recently retired but stays busy with various projects. She does not meet with clients, it's just a space to allow her creative, intellectual juices flow. Love your feedback, Thank You!

@writersblock- ">Everyone will tell you that if you replace, you are REQUIRED to get impact windows and doors Hmm, I live on a barrier island off the east coast and I have never heard anyone say that." - If you're not in Florida, you may not have heard this. It may even be just south Florida. It seems to come up in discussion with Realtors, contractors, neighbors, etc, and thinking about it, just conversations with people who live here in St Pete or more south (Ft Myers, Cape Coral, Marco Island, Sanibel, Captiva, Keys, etc). And it's not just limited to windows - people just don't check the code requirements themselves - they rely on what some contractor told them or how their neighbor had to do it - I saw this also with building our pool (setbacks and such, which changed dramatically the year we built ours) and seawalls and docks and lifts (the major improvements we did to our house) One particularly opinionated neighbor even asked if we had talked to our insurance company before we planted our Royal Palms. ">since they were impact, they had huge frames and tiny panes Confused by this. It's true that the frame of an impact window goes further into the wall, but it should not make any difference at all in the amount of visible glass. There are places, like my upstairs sliders, where I couldn't use impact glass because there's not enough wall at the sides to anchor them properly, but if there were, the amount of actual window would be identical with regular glass." - What you describe is exactly the problem. It was a grouping of (I recall) about 4 or 6 separate impact windows where one would normally put a large picture window (I don't know if it was less expensive to do this way or why they didn't put in one window - but even they now admit that this add-on was a mistake). And the window panes are slightly smaller and the frames slightly bigger on the impact windows you buy here (Maybe just Florida? Miami-Dade code we all have to follow now). But if you can imagine the framing support requirements for each window, it put about, I don't know, 8-10" between the window frames (seems like more). The main horizontal support between the upper and lower windows is right at my eye height (I'm 5'7") and I can't see into the upper windows without hopping up, and have to squat a little to see out the lower windows. Remember this is the waterview side of the room. There are new tenants moving in right now, but maybe I can sneak over and get a picture from the outside sometime... Your neighbors' insurance story is awful. I can't believe they need certification for shutters, but I assume it's the insurance company inspector and they can do whatever they want. The city inspector didn't even look at the certification for our one impact window (for egress) because he was familiar enough with the PGT brand that he took one look and knew it was fine. For the front door, he just looked at the anchors around the door, and saw the shutters stacked in the garage, and signed off. I had pictures on my camera to show him with the shutters installed and he just waved me off. My insurance company hasn't even asked, and we have almost all original single-pane Miami windows (with no shutters) and we don't want to replace them because you can't get them here anymore (unless we do it unpermitted). But we are concrete block, didn't insure the carpet, and the rest of the house is tile, and we have a newer tile roof. Those are bigger factors here for insurance.

What a beautiful house, the progress is very impressive, sorry about the hurricanes. keep up the good work so far everything looks so beautiful and the house has so much potential. J Design Group | Interior Design company in Miami, FL 225 Malaga Ave Coral Gables, FL 33134 Ph: 305-444-4611 https://www.JDesignGroup.com

Much, much nicer! Love your choice of things like the area rug and art accent. One comment on the layout: With the desk facing toward the window he'd be constantly squinting into daylight. I'd consider turning around or turning at a right angle to the window. I've been researching this question because I'm going to change the layout in my home office that's in a bedroom (10x15 with a little alcove for the door). How has this worked out for him in daily use?