Nikki from Lilybug Designs's Profile

What is your subfloor? Because if it is concrete then I'd just bust out the tile. I'd much rather live with a concrete floor than have tile popping up and cracking. You did say that "much" of your tile is cracked, so to me why spend the money to piece it back together. If only a few tiles were cracked then I'd say fix it.

I'm not sure what to think. I'm all for wacky and fun and if the users love it then why not. You are an awesome mom. I'm not sure I would have agreed to using doll parts for cabinet hardware. :)

stg23- Flor is considered "green" because it is made from recycled products, is put down without glue and reduces waste since they are carpet tile vs. rolled carpet. I think there is still some off-gassing, but it sounds like it is minimal.

Kate- I have a love/hate relationship with carpet, but I understand why you need it. Do you have a garage that you can put the new carpet in to allow it to off-gas before you have it installed? I think if the carpet were allowed to off-gas before installation then you wouldn't have to deal with the VOC's and off-gassing of the product as much.

With a budget of $5k you would get the most out of it if you tiled the floor, take down the wallpaper and painted. Your whole budget would be blown if you replace the countertops with the same grade of materials. Since it appears that your countertops are solid surface material I would not trade them out for anything less than that. You can definitely work around that color until you have the budget to replace them later.

What a terrific idea!

I made some essentially free decorative trees. They turned out super cute and the only cost was some styrofoam cones.
http://lilybugdesigns.blogspot.com/2010/11/nature-walk-trees.html