It depends on their DIY/handyperson skills. I took some door bases and turned them into drawer bases by building drawers and installing drawer glides. You can also by drawer box kits from Barker, assemble them, and add drawer glides. (Pullouts are just really short drawers.)

I was going to respond similar to Ms. Freeman. Most of the unique solutions and interior design touches you're describing, were figured out by folks here or at the Home Decorating forum, Remodeling forum, or Build a Home forum. Seriously. I've seen more innovative ideas suggested and come to successful fruition in these forums than anywhere else. I think sharing scale drawings of your layout in these various forums will get you a ton of ideas from the collective hive mind. Also search out magazines and photos on Houzz and other websites for inspiration ideas. And share any ideas you glean from them for input and potential tweaking. Even if you do find a great Interior Designer who is able to come up with some innovative ideas for your space, I encourage you to share them at the forums mentioned, as appropriate, before moving forward. Many times I have seen folks on these forums see drawbacks and suggest solutions to ideas presented by KDs, IDs and architects that might look clever but really didn't work that well for real-world lifestyles. You want unique ideas that work, not unique ideas that don't, right?

damask, That is one thing I'd never heard of. Learning something every day. That's what I call cheating! :) I am starting to think that gardengal may really be onto something! If anything, I may have fertilized too much. It dawned on me that I indeed used less fertilizer in another container with pansies I have on the lower deck (pictures below). I have not reached out to that one as much because...well, further away. Out of reach. Lo and behold, that one is doing better! I am trying to post some pics but I am having trouble. I will try separately below. Just like last year, violas did much better ...to the point where I am not even sure I will bother with pansies anymore next year. Maybe a few - but I will rely on violas to get my bloom fix. These little things keep blooming their heads off throughout winter. That being said, even these I feel could have done better. Too much foliage. Maybe I am a bloom glutton because even when my plants perform decently, I still end up jelly of those commercial, picture perfect results where the plant is completely covered by a carpet of blooms to the point you can't even see any foliage. (I call it lettuce LOL). Probably must of those are Photoshopped or ...well, blooming hormone.I need to practice some bloom gratitude and be happy with what I have. And maybe lay off the fert. :)

Whatever you decide, keep in mind: you can do almost nothing from the inside. Let me tell you a story. I have a friend with a small 1920s home that had the same issue. They got a quote for $12,000 to dig up the foundation around the house, seal the foundation from the outside, and put in a gravel filled trench drain with sump pump around the exterior of the footing, and then backfill with proper drainage material. That sounded like too much so they started pick poking..... They had the interior wall "sealed." That didn't work. Interior sealers can't resist hydrostatic pressure. Then they had their gutters redone, and that helped, but the walls would still get damp with prolonged periods of rain. Then they paid someone to cut back the cement in the basement and put a sump drain around the interior foundation. That kept the floor dry, but did nothing to dry out the walls. They've had a few more "small" solutions done. Some have helped a bit, some not so much. Want to know how much they have spent now? $20,000 total, and they have STILL not dug up the exterior of the foundation. If they had just done the right "expensive" fix from the beginning they'd have saved a ton of money and they would probably have a dry basement. Also: that kind of work would be a general contractor, preferably someone who has home building experience and knows what a properly drained footing and foundation look like from the outside.