If I had a real solution to this, I wouldn't be going through so much beer. On a good day, can't wait to move in. On a bad day, don't care if I ever do. Neice was asking me the other day for some advice about building [she hopes to start soon], and I said: Don't. Just Don't. Buy something existing, buy a modular so all you have to do is choose the color of the carpet, live in a pup tent-- just don't even think about building from scratch. But today, I called her back and told her to dis-reguard all that: Sun was shining, finished another tile floor, started to believe there might really be an end to this endless stress and constantly crushed expectations someday. Maybe. Just try not to put too much effort or worry into things that are easy to change, like paint color; or impossible to change, like the neighbors. Don't expect to enjoy every step of this very long journey, and don't forget to stop beside the trail to take stock and gather strength every once in a while.

Thank you all for the great suggestions. I've since calmed down a bit, I think I was just having a panic attack b/c nothing in this project is going as planned (we bought a new home in Oct and gutted it, we are no where near finished and desperately want to be done). Regardless, the painters came yesterday and I gave them a bookshelf that will be part of the island that is going to be hand paint for me to look at. remodelfla , I like your idea of painting the side of the cabinet better, which will ultimately be covered by an end panel, but unfortunately they came before I was able to read your comments. As cheri127 said, I too have never seen anyone paint with a brush and have no marks so I am again second guessing my decision ¼. I figure I can always sand it down again if it is not the look I want. We put some of the paint they had matched on a piece of wood and let it dry and it matches the current base color of the cabinets really well. I am happy with the color, so at last we have that done. Now I need to figure out the glaze. cleo_2007, great suggestion. I had tried to get all this from the cabinet manufacturer (JSI Cabinetry) but they were unable to give me anything. Apparently these are made in China and it is not available. I was my cabinet co. was like yours. nodirthere, your kitchen is beautiful and the same look I am going for. I had come across your blog on the finished page looking around for ideas. Luckily my doors were already sprayed by the manufacturer and glazed and we like the look so we are not touching those. Only the boxes, stiles, rails, columns, trim and molding need to be painted. At least the doors will have a really nice clean finished look to them, I just want the boxes to match. I am attempted to add pictures for you to see, but am a novice at this so it did not work. Anyone know how? Thanks again for all your help. I¡¦ll keep you posted on how things go.

Day 4 Build (Day 6 calendar) - Gunite I'm a little behind with the progress updates. Going into gunite, we were worried if a few things were going to turn out right. And then inspecting the pool afterwards threw us into a wave of second guessing some of our decisions and designs. Gunite in process Gunite Completed So, here are the things that we fretted over. Tanning Ledge Step location - we moved the steps from far driveway end to the middle. I think it looks much better plus it didn't make sense to have steps going into the deep end. Tanning ledge edge - after moving the steps, we didn't think to extend the tanning ledge. Doh! Bubbler location - managed to get it in. Originally had it in the far flat area but then moved it to bottom of the beach entry. And what's with the return sticking up from the middle of the beach entry? We originally wanted a return that came back across the beach entry to keep it clean. I looked at this and thought they are giving me a bubbler return. But then they said they put an angled jet on the return so it sweeps across. Do you pool builders ever get annoyed with our questions? Beach entry angle - it seem too steep. I'm not sure what my options are. Maybe we can flatten the slope and angle it back into the deck? Would this comprise the pool beam integrity? Weeping wall and moss rock below water line - we wanted the rocks in the water and not above the tile line. I thought they were going to build a ledge into the beam to support the rocks. Instead they angled the beam down. I was told that this is preferred since it can accommodate bigger rocks. Reverse beam - In this area, they also transitioned from the angle too late. We should have more beam and less rock. I was told that they can address this with the rock guys. Deep end step out - We had a seat in the deep end. We thought it would be good to add some steps to make it a deep end step out. I think this turned out well. Spa Oh, where do I begin with the spa? Size - dang this thing looks huge. It seems more like a small wading pool! And it looks really high. I remember making sure it was 18" (vs 12") so that it would be a good seat height from the deck. It just looks like a castle turret now. Multi level spa seating - managed to get a section 21" deep as I wanted to be fully seated and submersed. Never did measure the length of my upper body... Seating - they did a horseshoe seating arrangement. Seems like the wall along the spillway is just wasted space. This was to prevent playing footsies with the person seated across from you. Spillway - we didn't spring for the fancy spillway. Nor did we cut it open as we were hoping the notches would give us a scupper effect. Now I wonder if that was a wise choice. Again, castle turret... Piping - What's the deal with the piping outside the gunite? I know it'll be covered up with the mortar and veneer. Should I be worried about this kind of stuff? In pool table We thought this was a cool idea. Being able to have a drink or a meal while sitting in the pool. Well... Pedestal placement - I posted before that the pedestal had to be a mere 9" from the pool wall to prevent the cleaner from getting in there. I thought that was too close. In actuality, there's no problems. The pedestal itself is very small and the corner seating is wide so it's not like having to shuffle into booth seating at a restaurant. We are planning on using one large oval piece of rock as a table top. Table height - now this is where we didn't think it through (or the PB didn't educate us). The table is going to be at water level. They did standard in-pool bench seating. So it appears that when I sit on the bench, the table is going to be up to my neck! At this point, they can't raise the seat with gunite. The only thing I can think of is adding a layer of flagstone to the bench seating to raise it up a few inches. Any other ideas? Of course we also changed our tile selection for the 3rd time and made some last minute changes to the light locations. All of which I hope were the right decisions. Anyways, enough of my rants. It's good to document this stuff as I'm sure my wife is tired of hearing me talk about these things. Sounds like I'm just a worry wart. We're still very excited and can't wait for the pool to be all done and the backyard mess all cleared up. Cheers! Here is a link that might be useful: Day 4 - Gunite

Hi LC, I'm rarely on the KF but I'm stuck in London and my only entertainment is the internet. I'm sorry you're having so many problems. I hope Octavian is doing a good job. Tell him I said "Hi". It will be beautiful when it's all finished. Donna