Bought an old home...I loving refer to as my retirement bank..124 years old. If your husband or you have any carpenter skills or a family member who loves you a lot...look for old doors that includes barn doors that are too large...cut them down or refigure to size...its custom. You did it...wood is thicker and better....paint them all the same color....instant character. Or start with the one that is the worse problem...see how it goes...mine are beautiful...add something different and built to last. Most were $25.00 to $50.00 except the front door..but new doors they are thin...not real wood and to me cheap . its work to sand strip and measure ....make sure to measure about five times...keep in mind old homes are not square...but for us it worked...old doors you pick up for almost nothing aren't either. I made paper doors to take with me to lay on top of old doors to see how it would be...that wasn't easy but used old cardboard first and butcher paper taped together I could fold and take. You can check the height of the door knob which is important I found out..we have a door that we mismeasured and it like a dutch door I think they call them top opens and bottom opens or together..it goes from kitchen to dinning room so like a pass through. Which worked out to look good but what a headache..so the butcher paper template is a must. You are in for a lot of work and fun...as long as you know. Just about anything can be changed someway to work...diy magazines and web sites are educational...good tools...borrowed or hope for as a gift a blessing...renting if your sure you can get it done in a day is an option. Lots of info...custom doors start at least at 200 where I live uninstalled not real wood...for us this made sense...not for everyone...we love our house or recycled doors.good luck...doing it make you love it more.

I would suggest you take out the cabinet that is to the right of the stove and use it elsewhere in the house -- perhaps in the bathroom or dining room with a hutch above it. Then, I would suggest you have someone install a lazy susan cabinet in the corner between the sink counter and the stove, meaning you would move the stove down a bit and have a small cabinet/counter top to the right of the stove. I would suggest you have the cabinets refinished in white and then paint the walls a pastel you like. If you would prefer white walls, then add white-painted crown molding and paint the ceiling a light neutral blue, such as Sherwin Williams Niagara Falls Blue. Then, I would suggest you choose a favorite accent color and use this sparingly in accessories like towels, pot holders, small vases or floral arrangements, and a valence above the triple windows. For a genuine 1940s look, you might have white ceramic square tiles with a rectangular red border installed as a back splash behind and above the stove. If you are replacing counter tops, I would suggest a light color such as white with a beige or light grey vein or striation for some sort of pattern. You might be able to find the same color and design in floor tile OR opt for a wood floor as another poster suggested.

Thanks Orangecamera. It's still a work in progress and mud everywhere Sorry we did look at having the steps' off set' but it didn't seem to go with only three steps and a small area. And about the zen well the cats are doing that for us much to our disappointment (it's still like a litter box to them). We went to the garden supply place still not knowing what kind of stones we were getting. We stood in front of all the bins (there where many). We even looked at mixing some. The grey stones had a bin more the size we wanted but we ended up getting the golden fleck. It was a little smaller, which was a shame, the bigger ones were so mixed in their grading it looked too messy. So this is what we finished up with. It was seagardens that got me thinking away from grey and nwduck mentioning the drainage. So this has really helped. Also everyone seem to think the wooden steps needed to go a lot lower. Next it's figuring out where the large river stones should go

@thinkforothers, Ha-ha that's so funny about your American trip but yes I use the duvet as a top sheet. As for getting the dooda back into the cover, I have a pretty simple method and it doesn't take allot of effort nor does it include being swallowed up by the duvet in the process as you said ha-ha..... but there is a bit of back and forth around the bed. I flick the duvet open onto the bed, I grab the one corner of the doona head up towards the respective corner and pull the duvet back towards my hand a little too and place it down, repeat on the other side, then I grab each top corner seperately holding the doona firmly in the corner and pull it up to the headboard, whilst walking back to the end of the bed I lift the cover slightly, allowing the doona to get further swallowed up by the cover, then I'm left with slipping either corner of the doona into the duvet. I do up the buttons then holding the bottom of the duvet, I flick the cover, towards the headboard, so that the doona edges forward in the cover and even flick the doona on both sides of the bed left to right and vice versa and it's usually perfect. Its very easy doing a single doona by again spreading the duvet over the bed, grab the doona corners, one in each hand, walk them up to the corners, lay it down then pick up the dooda by the top corners and shake a few times just straight down, even stand on a safe stool or on the bed and you will usually find the duvet with eaze it's way down with just the bottom corners to slip in and again voila!!! Unfortunately, when I bought two of my duvet sets from Ezibuy, I bought NZ king which is a bit wider that an Australian king size and I didn't know that at the time and I have a bit of slack on the sides but it doesn't cause any problems and what I mean by this is, that the doona doesn't slip all the way to the left or right, it does stay in place. Hope that explanation was clear, I should do a video ha-ha Cheers, Barbara