I do need to girlie it up. I will have to try & find some deorative accessories with some color in it. I have no idea where I am going to put all of the junk I took out of the room at now. I will get rid of a lot of stuff but things like hair spray & such I have no good place to put it. Also that makeup table is pretty small compared to what I am used to. f I only I didn't need so much work done to make myself look presentable! LOL Terri

Traci---I had no idea it was so bad. We had our own little floor disaster (floor guys destroyed our silgranit sink) and right after that nothing happened for weeks. It was a waiting game to see who would blink first---we were adament that the sink be replaced and the contractor really didnt want to risk damaging the granite. I think when something goes bad, the contractor sometimes retreats to see if you'll get so tired of waiting that you'll let it slide. Ours kicked into high gear once the sink was replaced, so maybe yours is waiting till the floors are resolved. It helps if you have money in your pocket that they can't collect until the project is finished. In our case we've kept a running list of all the little things that need to be completed before they will get the final payment. The longer they wait to fix them, the more things that get added to the list as we discover something that is now failing or was not done correctly. We send that list to the contractor periodically to give him some incentive to finish and get paid. I'm not clear in your case if you're hiring the subs directly or thru your contractor. A friend had suggested to us that we could "incent" the contractor by advancing more money but I didn't feel that was a good option in our case---why would I pay him more when he wasn't doing the original job I hired him for? If the contractor is in the middle, do you have the option to sit down and negotiate a firm date to finish the job, with the clause that you have the option to cut ties with him if the job isn't completed by then? What I can say is that although we have a punch list of things that need to be done, at this point we have our house back and they need to make an appointment to show up. We have money held back. I take some solace in all of that. Yes, it's irritating that the new gutter is leaking on my head when I go out the back door, but I trust that that will be fixed at some point, along with the other things on the list. It will get better for you too....

Here's a simple empty floorplan that I did a while ago (I should double some of these measurements). A few notes about it -- porch is on the far left (east) side of the house. The top half (north) is the uninsulated portion that we'd try to "square up" that we currently have some storage shelves in and a bunch of shoes :) The bottom half of the porch (south) with the window is where the current 3/4 bath is. When the previous owners "finished" the bathroom, they put all the plumbing on the exterior east wall, with the shower, sink, and toilet all in a row on the east wall, top to bottom so to speak. The kitchen is the large room right off the porch. There are stairs directly to the west of the kitchen that can't be moved. So basically, we are constrained to the west of the kitchen by the stairs, and to the north is our driveway which we also can't move. We can tear out some of the south wall of the kitchen to open to the dining room, but we would not be willing to steal space for any kitchen components, just open up. We need at least a 1/2 bath somewhere in there, and no, we're not willing to put it in the foyer (it's been asked many times already). So realistically, the only option for improving the layout and growing the kitchen a bit is annexing some of the porch and slightly expanding the porch. Below, I'm going to post a draft of a layout inspired by a fellow Houzz user that made these suggestions. A few things aren't precise, but it's an idea (there's a bit of extra space added on to the east that could be skipped if we want). I'd definitely be interested in other ideas though, and may post again on the kitchen boards.

Agree with above, if you are looking for a refresh, you might be best served contacting an interior design professional in your area and have them come in for a color consult for you. You have a lovely home and the existing tile and kitchen cabs work in your space. I’m not sure your wall color is doing you any favors and think you might need a refreshed over all decor/color scheme. I see yellow and beige (?) in your area rug. With your warm floors and wood cabinets, I think a blue/green scheme would be better for accents and a brighter/warmer off white on your walls. If you do choose to paint, paint out your pantry door the same color as the walls to help that disappear. Updated lights over your peninsula would also refresh your space. As for LVP floors…. I am NOT a fan. We have them and they feel cold and plastic-y on the feet (we don’t wear shoes inside) & they do not hold up well to things being dropped on them (ours have chips and dings that we need to touch up) Also, since you have dogs, as my friend does with LVP, you will hear their nails scratching on floors constantly. Makes me crazy when I go to her house.