@Laura Hoefer seems like your situation is not as bad as ours in terms of exposure. We didn't know about the windows and my kid's bed was right by them. He got exposed a lot with all the opening and closing. Plus the age doesn't help - he still puts everything in his mouth. If you decide to strip them yourself, I would advise to take a class on lead safety. That being said seems like it's a very complicated process and it might make the situation worse. There are some sealing paints for lead, but you'll still have to scrape the peeling paint off, which is dangerous. I'm going to strip only the 1st floor windows as it gets warmer (they are 8 ft tall so super expensive to replace), but we decided to replace the rest. Restoring is even more expensive if a professional is hired. Have you tried using professional lead cleaning products for lead to mop the floors? Maybe this will help reduce the exposure for your kids. It's all so scary. I'm scared that my kid will be permanently brain-damaged due to all of this :(

thank you both! no cats, but i went to the store to order and discovered that the stock fabric is dry clean only! gasp! and they're not slipcover style chairs, so i had to go with something practical. that immediately put me into the custom fabric category but i got to choose exactly what i wanted. i went with a washable microfiber in a color called hemp. we've had good luck with light washable microfibers on our sofas in the past. i'm a color person, always drawn to color but really trying to exercise restraint in the main living area of this house, so i'm feeling so proud of myself for such mature color choices. :) the base of the chair is a very light neutral, and then the pillow is a large plaid with a warm gray base and beige/cream. it looks very ski lodgey and cozy. bad lighting, but you get the idea. the flash just made it worse on my phone.

Good ideas, Talley_Sue. I'd like for her to be able to make these choices and feel positive about it. Elbow room is one of those things I'm just learning to appreciate in a whole new way, and hopefully she will acquire that if I can pare down more and more and set that good example. She has been good about putting some things away- outgrown books, we've packed away. We had some toys that we boxed for storage overhead, and that seemed like a big step, but at the last minute she changed her mind and wanted them back in her room. For now, she fits fairly well in her room, providing things are in their place, but her closet is a feat in organization. This morning as we were heading out the door, I commented to her that I had gotten another couple of boxes of my stuff together and needed to arrange for another thrift store pick-up. She said, "Great! More room for me!" Um, no.... I think that is one of my biggest fears- that as I minimize my belongings, DH and DD's stuff will just filter into the elbow-room spaces and it will be as though the house only belongs to them :( So far, I've done well keeping open spaces open, but who knows what will happen in the future- stuff has a way of taking over if it's not wrangled.

Fall gold raspberries are my favorite so far they have no bitter or tart taste at all, all of my friends love them and the thorns are not that bad and the berries seem to grow under the leaves which make it harder for all the birds to find. I prefer loganberries over blackberries have a taste between blackberries and raspberries with just a little tartness, there thornless and they have long vines, the blackberries i have don't taste like the ones I buy form the store they are really tart for me so I'll have more loganberries in the future. I also like the dwarf everbearing mulberry and dwarf everbearing fig trees, they grow fast and some can fruit in the 1st year, you can train there lateral branches when they are young along a fence or wall and still have room in front of them for some fall gold raspberry plants or they have some thornless red raspberries as well, I have a Canby raspberry but haven't tried a berry yet.