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and created a turnaround in the driveway for shop guests and ourselves. The original owners would not recognize their house.

Although our "two-story ranch" may seem oversized for three people, we love the versatility of how we can use "our space."

Each bedroom is decorated according to individual taste. We painted two bedrooms blue. My daughter's room has off-white walls and black carpeting filled with brilliant-colored-geometrical- shapes.

I have feminine, white-painted furniture. My husband chose large Mediterranean furnishings and a 15-foot wall mural of a nature scene. He now has a place to play his guitar any time he wants. We each have our own TV. We each have our own bathroom and personal closet space.

The upstairs bedroom that was created to store books and accommodate a guest, has now become a sunny-yellow sewing room. It also has a huge desk that allows me to constantly update several scrapbooks at a time for all of my family members.

The six- by 16-foot-long upstairs storage closet holds an unbelievable amount of stuff - clothing, blankets, pictures, and stacks of see-through plastic containers. If you can't find something, you go there and look for it.

Everything is organized, clean, dry, and readily available - no wet garages or stifling attics for storing our little-used valuables.

Is a six-bedroom-house a bit much for a family of three? No. The front-entry room is now our living room. At one time, it was the dining room that seated eight for the holidays. When the children were very young, it was their playroom, off the kitchen where I could easily watch over them.

The upstairs bedroom is now my daughter's in-home office. She also took over a 12- by 28-foot-room downstairs for her display room. (That had been the children's playroom when they were old enough not to need supervision.) The back bedroom is now an in-home shop for my retired husband to continue a hobby of his while making some extra income.

We have become used to the multi-use space, the PRIVACY, and the ability to spread out from one another. My husband can play his guitar, my daughter can play any kind of music, and I can happily write for Helium all at the same time without annoying one another. We meet in the kitchen for meals and share the living room to watch TV.

We have tried to be environmentally responsible. The house has four separate heating zones, all windows have been replaced with energy-efficient ones, the roof is new, everything has been fully insulated, and the furnace was replaced last year.

We think the biggest American dream is to own one's home in which to live, raise a family, and enjoy retirement.

If one of my sons would come back home to live, we have the space. If we decided to take in an elderly parent, we could. Many of our smaller-home friends are paying huge present-day costs for home additions to do just that.

Let me assure anyone who can afford it, a large home is a worthwhile investment. You can luxuriate in it for many years, and it will serve you well.

Learn more about this author, Karon Brandt.
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