Yes, thank you for the suggestions. Definately have time to decide on something we can live with. Linda Simelaro - love the idea of stained concrete. Our house is designed a little (okay, very funky). Ground floor is a 2 car garage and beyond that was approximate 1000 square feet of space which was never developed. It's fully enclosed but never developed by previous owner as it was mainly used as a rental. Last year we had the concrete slab poured and so far have put in a full bathroom from scratch and are now working on the 18' x 25' media room. There will also be two other rooms (secondary kitchen/laundry leading to the patio and backyard and either an office or exercise room). My husband and I are doing the majority of the work ourselves so it's slow but great. We stained the concrete in the bathroom and liked it so much we also stained the media room. It's a mix of blues, greens, browns and Tuscan Gold. One friend saw it and wondered where we got the large tiles from (we laughed). He could not believe how well it looked. The 2nd floor is where the main entry is and includes the bedrooms, baths, kitchen, living room/dining room and sunrooms are and this is where the new flooring will go. So it will be a while before we start on the renovations upstairs.

Sorry to dredge up an old thread- I'm back to working on this room. I ended up going with brown leather storage ottomans- (1) because there are no sharp edges and (2) because we can use some more storage as we have six kids and no basement. I'm feeling really drawn to white (I know, crazy, as I mentioned I have six kids) sheepskin rugs. I'd get two 6x8 and continue with the symmetrical look of the space. Aside from the practicality of white with this many kids (they rarely use this room- there is no tv), am I crazy for wanting sheepskin in the subtropics? I really want to add some texture with so much smoothness (leather and travertine) and sheepskin seems to do this. I prefer the look of white, especially since this room needs to be lightened up artificially (there is one tiny window- even in the midst of Florida summer, this room gets no direct sunlight). The other option would be a natural fiber rug like jute or seagrass. Originally I was going to put that in the tv room and didn't want to repeat, but I've since decided jute is too coarse for the tv/family room. Also, because of the space, I basically need a 7' square rug and an 8x10. I can't have anything with an obvious pattern because of the way the rugs will be laid (not a lot of 7' square options, so I'd go with possible another 8x10, just oriented the other way so it'll fit). Two 6x8 sheepskins would give me adequate floor coverage. HELP! Opinions please before I click buy.

I bought a two story condo a year and half ago and turns out it was riddled with mold all throughout the second floor due to an architectural defect from the very beginning of the building 30 years ago. The association just kept ‘patching’ and replacing the roof over and over hoping the leaks would go away (insane) I was lied to by the sellers and association. Non of this was disclosed to me. The sellers painted the whole second floor with a fresh coat of mold resistant paint so no one could see anything. It’s true that once you see it on the walls that’s only the very tip of the iceberg and it’s likely much much worse inside the walls. I was also a naive first time home buyer on my own and didn’t pay for the extra mold inspection. I learned my lesson. I consulted several lawyers and they all came to the same conclusion. The sellers would file for bankruptcy and you’ll get no resolution and spend thousands in legal fees. So I threatened to make holy hell rain upon the association in a last ditch effort and finally after three months they relented and a forensic architect was brought in to diagnose and fix the cause of the leaks and decades of mold was remediated. Btw borax and hydrogen peroxide are great options for killing mold. It took an additional three months for them to remediate and rebuild the second floor. They also found a major support beam that was rotted out and needed to be replaced to keep the integrity of the structure. One month later I found that one of my subground walls downstairs in the living room was covered in black mold when I moved a piece of furniture. Turns out this wall was never sealed to code considering half of it is underground. The association fixed the drainage outside the wall to direct water away and replaced the drywall but still waiting for them to properly address this issue. The mold will only return until the outside of the wall underground is dug up and covered in a water proof barrier. It has been an absolute nightmare for me. I cry myself to sleep often. I have no way of selling this place and getting even close to what I owe on it. Also we are all under heavy special assessments now because it was discovered after working on my unit it was at the very brink of being uninhabitable. All units in this building have had the same leakage problems and now all have to be fixed and remediated. I am trying to make the best of it and hope that someday I will be relieved of this nightmare. Attached is my downstairs subground wall when I noticed the mold.

Christmas decorations are in the attic. The big Christmas tree is in the garage as I can't get it upstairs then up to the attic. Outdoor Christmas decor is also in the garage. I don't have the storage I had in my previous homes (no Basement). I bought two sets of shelves that I put in the garage that holds stuff; the Christmas decor coolers, extra paper towel, candle holders. I also have less kitchen storage than I had previously. I have granite counter tops in the kitchen and when I bought the house 8 years ago, I realized that "stuff" on the counters detracted from the beauty of the counter tops. My small appliances that aren't used often are stored on the second shelf that is right by the entry into the house. My 10 cup coffee maker, toaster, toaster oven, waffle maker, etc. along with extra canned food, cases of water, and other miscellaneous items. Yes, my car is in the garage also (a one car). My second storage space are closets....