an easier way fell into my lap, well mail box, really. 2 little boys down the road left a flyer in my mailbox and i'm having them de-weed my garden and re mulch. nice cheap labor. haha. Try to find something similar in your area.

I like a lot of your contract points bevangel. When we built our garage in 2003, we hired a framer who was also a friend. He and his helper didn't show up the first day, or the second, or the third. Dh is the son of a carpenter/builder and knows how to do the work, but he has had back surgery and shouldn't be doing it. But on the 3rd day, he got antsy and we had 3 walls up before the framer finally showed up about 3pm and they put up the 4th wall. The next day they started putting up trusses and dh went to his real job. That night, he was looking at the work done and saw that the trusses weren't set on the same marks on each side. The helper must have either been measuring from a different starting point or he was using the metric side of the tape. Anyway, dh spent that evening moving one side so it lined up with the other side and he let the framer know about it so they would do the rest right. The next day, no framer. The next day they showed up at 4pm. and only got a couple of trusses set. The next day they finished the trusses and then we didn't see them again for 3 days. Then they started putting up the plywood subsiding and decking. After they finished that, we didn't see them again for a week. During that week, it rained and the plywood warped. The next time they showed up, they started putting siding over the warped plywood. I stopped them and told them the warped siding had to be replaced first. They said they would so I left them to it. When dh came home that night, he found that they had replaced a couple of the lower pieces of plywood and sided over the rest. And it was really wavy. Dh called him, told him to come get a check and not come back. I roofed most of the garage by myself and dh and I replaced the warped plywood and finished the Hardi-plank siding. The plumber left his assistant to put in the gas line and water heater. He did fine with the line but he installed the water heater with the controls facing the wall and in a cabinet with no way to reach them. Dh had to redo that. The concrete contractor and the electrician were both terrific, so it wasn't like every sub was a problem, but the framer caused enough grief to make up for all of them. That was at a time when building was still good and even getting bids for a small job was hard. Our biggest mistake was hiring a friend, who used our friendship and put us last while he ran off to work on other jobs. We aren't friends any more. A contract from our end and not just their end would have made a big difference.

for some reason, i stopped getting emails about the follow-ups. thank you so much for the ideas everyone. gmp3- i didn't even think about gray with green!! i love that print. i have dorian gray in the living room and hall so it would def be easier to continue the gray into the bathroom. would it be too dark? there is no window. I also have revere pewter in another bedroom so I can use the left over. I was planning on using revere pewter in the yellow bathroom. we decided on this tile for the kitchen and hall: 'canyon expresso' from lowes, would this work as well? I'd love to be able to use all the stuff we already have as it would really help us on the cost and labor. i love that vanity, and i can't find it. please send me a link. thanks again.

Well I ended up going out today and buying a mattress, I've had it with the couch and delaying fixing the bed-- this forces it to be done so I went with the Temp Cloud Supreme. I just tossed a S&F-one of the ones you might be talking about. Beautyrest has their new "black" line, so S&F is revamping their line too now. To be honest, I've never seen or slept on a Kingsdown, I think that is the manufacturer for EA beds. (my buddy at EA says they won't work for a platform, you need the box spring to make it work. (Worse case I can return or exchange the Temp. The "heavenly Bed," I used to layover at all the Westins when UA owned them. They are ok, but you can load up your own bed to make it like that. I used to have a nice pillow top something when first out of college, then a thick featherbed from ScandiaDown, then NICE sheets, and a down quilt and pillows also from Scandia. I slept on that forever until my dog (no longer alive ) got sick and peed all over it. I think from that point forward, I have had trouble with mattresses. :( plus during that time I flew all over the world and started my career of jet lag ........... I am HOPING this one might work. and I sleep cold, husband does sleep hot, but always has to have a fan blowing on him year round - so he has to adjust. My sleep is more important. He can sleep on a brick uneven floor. He falls asleep in a minute no matter where and on whatever . HATE THAT SOOOO JEALOUS. I need ambien (doc prescribes it for you medical folks) every night for the last 20 yrs. (literally, my job has messed me up, at least I had 8 yrs of good sleeping with my line of work before the issues kicked in!,those were the days......bed is coming on Sunday, I'll keep you posted. I'll most likely still stay on the couch and air it out for a bit LOL!! (smell) I've had latex pillows before, they stink too. (smell) I did toss those, I can't ever change from down pillows!