The living/TV room is long and lean, 11'8" wide by 25ish feet long. This space is broken up with a 33" wide arched doorway in the far northwest corner, a 9-foot wide opening toward the south east end, a 7-foot long window to the east, and a front door to the south east. The main thoroughfare cuts through the upper 1/3 of the space.

From the front door to the south wall is about 3 feet wide. This 3-ft. space runs the length of the south wall and ends with a short wall to the kitchen. Right now it's totally wasted space. We're building in the entire 11'8" x 36" space.

From left to right will be a 44" wide broom closet, a 19" wide cabinet/bookcase unit, a 60" wide window seat, and another 19" cabinet/bookcase. I still have to decide if I'll run a shelf between the two bookcases, above the 58x58 window, or just leave the 14" deep soffit open.

This is the south wall as it looked on the day we closed on the house. Those horrible "things" on the windows are not mine. The beautiful puppy is! LOL

This is the north end of the TV room. The light fixtures have been swapped out; I've gotten a new ceiling fan, too. Now we're trying to decide whether to keep the arched doorway (leads to the hallway, bathroom, and two smaller bedrooms) or close it in with drywall to hopefully open up more furniture placement choices.

Someone has the frame for an original "Murphy" brand bed for sale in Detroit's Craigslist.

The house I bought in 1994 had a great built-in. It was a bookcase that was built into the wall in the dining area of the living/dining room. Nice enough on its own, but nothing special. When my dad walked through the house, he asked himself why the bookcase had a piano hinge, then walked over and gave it a tug. The bookcase was actually the door to a cedar closet! I had not noticed the piano hinge, as it had been painted many times.

It turns out that a traveling carpenter came through the neighborhood in the late 50s, after all the houses were built. He offered to do built-ins to make use of the space above the end of the basement stairs. When you get to the bottom of a stairwell, there is a lot of "dead space" above your head. He put in bookshelves, china cabinets, and cupboards in that space, leaving enough room at the bottom of the stairs so that only the tallest people had to watch their heads.

As I mentioned, our bookcase was quite caked with paint. When we readied the house to sell, we had a carpenter re-make the original bookcase with oak, which I stained and finished to match the recently re-finished floors.

--"I guess we are creatures of habit "
You're so right Marti8a. When I re-arranged my
kitchen cabinets, I was forever looking in the wrong cabinets for plates! It takes time to learn a new habit, lol

The thing to remember is that if the recessed bookshelf is going to open, the back of the bookshelf has to be smaller than the front, in order for the deep shelves to clear the frame around it, as it swings open.

Idie2live, I have to tell you about my test for how to know you've moved too often - not only do you have no clue what kitchen drawer holds what utensils, but you keep reaching for a drawer where there is no drawer at all! I also believe that you better move into your final house when you are young enough to remember where the silverware drawer and junque drawer are.

" I also believe that you better move into your final house when you are young enough to remember where the silverware drawer and junque drawer are."

That is so true. My in-laws just moved here at ages 83 & 84. They are having a tough time adjusting to an apartment after having a home, and everything in a different place.

DH stores all his bathroom items in colorful Ikea square wicker baskets that sit on the shelves and hide the strange items within. It is really amazing what boys keep in their bathroom (screws, flashlights, pellets from a pellet gun, washers, pennies, old receipts, etc. lol).