Guest post from interior designer Jason Martin who has just launched his e-design venture DIY+.

First, I would like to say thank you to everyone who sent in his or her design challenge. I appreciate the time it took to photograph and write about your spaces. It is always enlightening to get a peek into the homes of others. The rooms that I picked to highlight are spaces that represent questions that came from multiple readers so I hope that there will be ideas to help everyone. Just a side note, out of all the entries we received I didn’t see one bedroom! Is that because everyone has a clear idea of how they live in their bedroom or is it that we lead such busy lives the bedroom has become the place we spend the least amount of time?

Week 1. Living/Dining – Two different spaces with similar problems-

Adrena’s Living/Dining

Adrena has a good start but needs help bringing it all together. Like many out there, she has a combined living dining space that is long and narrow. She is having a hard time making the space multifunctional and comfortable at the same time. I think showing Adrena how to complete this space will help others with this dilemma too.

Rali’s House

The design needs in Rali’s living/dining area similar to those at Adrena’s house. She wants to find a way to make the best use of the space and create a family friendly beach house. Rali, like many people who move into a new house, is struggling to make the new space feel like home.

Week 2. Corennei’s Dining Room

Corennei’s dining room is the prefect example of a room that is 90% there but just that illusive extra 10% to feel complete. It is a case where a fresh perspective is the only way around the design dilemma. I hope the design work we do for Corennei will help others to look at their own home with new eyes.

Week 3. Roeshel’s Living Room

Roeshel’s living room is a good example of working too hard on a space. Often when we are graced with a room as detailed as this it can be more daunting than figuring out what to do with a charmless “white box”. With built-in shelves, a fireplace, staircase and French doors this space is a great example of understanding how to respect all those elements and still make room for you and your family.

Week 4. Maggi’s Apartment

Maggi’s apartment is representative of many of our homes. She obviously loves design and has no problem getting in there and working on her space. However like many homes what Maggi’s place needs is an editor’s eye. I have a feeling a lot of readers out there will find the info in this post very helpful.

Week 5. Mariana’s house

If only we all had the problem Mariana has- How to make an amazing house in Brazil feel cohesive and comfortable. Outside of the location Mariana’s home is similar to a lot of new construction these days – large open floor plans with high ceiling. As nice as that is it creates some design problems with paint, furniture layout and general flow of a house. We will address all those topics in Mariana’s house.