boop--a fellow Dr. Who fan! Who knew? ;) I'm glad my post found an understanding soul :) Hm, the new Dr. is a topic of much discussion at our house. We love David Tennant inordinately -- did you see his Hamlet? At least twice or three times an episode we find ourselves screaming at Matt Smith, "lift your head up!" I can understand why they cast him physically--he's the complete opposite facially of the birdlike Mr. Tennant--his features are broad and soft...but the hair, man. It's a big problem. And the head down thing just bugs us so much. The writing is by a different person this season, too. The Doctor makes mistakes, loses his cool; actually, his companion (Amy Pond, whom I like but not everyone does) ends up coming up with the solution to the problem more often than not. He's fallible!! I remember back in some of the very first Dr. Who episodes we watched online, the Doctor was tetchy and short tempered--a different character altogether from David T. This Doctor seems to fit into that kind of lineage--he's much more isolated and sad, IMO -- less of the ecstatic 'be magnificent' inspirational talk that David T. used to do, iykwim - it comes up every so often, but not the same way. And the way Matt talks even bugs me -- it's like he talks with the front of his lips and you hear every little 'p' or 'b' he makes. yuck. Do you know what I mean? What do you think of him? All that said, I have to admit that he did a superb job on the VanGogh episode, possibly better than DT could have, because of that tendency toward introspection. I'd love to know what you think of this episode. Some folks thought it was saccharine; I didn't. I thought it earned all its bittersweetness honestly. I haven't been able to bring myself to watch Torchwood yet at all. Definitely not w/DD, from what I've read of it. Yes?

Hello Joe ... I am one of those guilty folk who have not ... until a few minutes ago ... thanked you for your response to my query on the Bay Tree. I also posted this query in Trees so must go look to see if anyone has since responded there. To be honest, I gave up looking for a response to my query after 5-6 weeks, probably about the time you responded. I have not visited GardenWeb since as I am really only interested in the Med section and the inactivity is painful in my opinion. As far as the adverts, this seems to be the 'in' thing on many sites. I have been a member for 3 1/2 years on a VERY active UK gardening forum where people post day and night (and was a Mod but resigned for my own reasons) and they have recently taken to Google ads which is annoying many people ... not only that my also are now suggesting donations in order to get rid of these ads !!!!!!! I am also a Mod on an expat forum here and admittedly I only look once a day as there may be no postings for a couple of weeks at a time, if not longer !!! I find it hard to get around this forum (possibly because I really don't know it). It doesn't seem that once someone responds that that post goes back to the top of the list and you have to scroll down looking for your query (or response to a query). Not that you have to scroll far due to the infrequent activity here. I shall now go and look at the Portuguese query here and see if I can be of assistance. Victoria

Let me doublecheck my numbers but it's not fully double the costs. Also I'm looking to get as much online to save on price. I'm just trying to understand what's reasonable. Because 40K is not going to get my bathrooms done unless I pay for it all myself, which I can't right now. Plus I do think 40K is high. I'm trying to get down to 25K so that my husband will agree to this project so I can get the bathrooms done. I'm looking for help on approaches, websites, information to be able to hit the target. One bathroom is very small - about 50 sq feet. The other is larger; around 80 sq feet. But the main things changing are: cabinets, countertops, sinks, tile and fixtures. The small bath is getting a pony wall. We are keeping the tub in the larger bath and adding frames to the existing mirrors. We have decided to do some demo ourselves. I can't go too low end because that will affect resale down the road. I have to stay mid range as much as possible. I appreciate everyone's input. We've always done our own remodeling work in the past so why I have to truly understand these costs. Is my target unreasonable? Do I have to give up this project and put the funds I have towards a master redo down the road?

The Mediterranean is a very big pond, with 1000s of miles of coast, and while it is true there is precious little hard wood anywhere on the Med that people can use to build houses (rather than heat and cook with it), the style and colors of their houses are really very, very different depending where you go on the Med. If @Alexandra has visited places in Mediterranean that left her with happy memories, that might be her reference point for what “Mediterranean” style is — which can bear no resemblance at all to what gets called “Mediterranean style” in southern California or Florida. If there is no hope of using stone or stucco in the house design, but still a desire to incorporate some Mediterranean color palettes, then consider From around Nice: canvas white, strong yellow, navy and aqua blue, gray/lilac From the Italian Riviera: creamy white, mustard yellow, coral, olive green-silver From the Amalfi coast: stark white, turquoise, lemon yellow, deep green From Sicily: stone white, gold-yellow, aqua blue, purple, rose From Tunisia: stone white, sky blue, terracotta, black From Spain: Gold, pink, sandy white, emerald, cobalt, iron gray Just about nowhere on the Med do you find red anywhere (maybe in Sardegna) Interestingly, there are many parts of the coast in both France and Spain where modern rectangular 2-story houses made of light materials are really quite popular (around Barcelona, around Marseilles), but they make a lot of use of glass. I think a house in New England with modern windows (without grids or grilles) that used pure whites, strong blues (both deep sea and sky) and lilacs, with touches of yellow might pass with the neighbors and not look out of place, while bringing in a lot of Mediterranean sunshine, even with a great big green American lawn.