Great kitchen, Kelly! The wood color was a great choice--to me it's warm and inviting, and an all-round great mid-tone color. Can you specify which stain and doorstyle you used? I am looking at cabinets for my bathroom (I have granite left over). Also, I think there are a lot of people lurking here who never post and would want to know. My pre-remodel kitchen was very similar to yours, especially the color. Wasn't it great to say goodbye? Love the skylights. Fascinated by the photos of the process of building a skylight. Did your husband do it all? I ended up passing on that idea for our kitchen, but still holding out hope for a skylight the front bathroom. How crazy/hard was it to do?

To keep from having to open the pictures again Posted by gmom74 (My Page) on Fri, May 26, 06 at 15:27 Eric- we have a good many pines that I wish were not there. It would be nice to have more hardwood down in our back, but no more of the Sweet Gums that drop those balls for you to skate around on. So many of our pines have been struck by lightning so I would like to get rid of the very tall ones. However, tree removal prices are too high except for when it is necessary.

Is this your first trip to Paris and or London? If you have three weeks, I would certainly plan to do more than Paris, especially if I had not been to Europe before and was not a frequent traveller ... you can do a lot comfortably in three weeks. Let me start off by saying though, I really would not go to Paris in April. My first trip as a "grown up" was April in Paris, and I just assumed it was a good time ago (isn't there a famous song?). The song is probably just because the guy needed two syllables. April in Paris is usually cold and rainy. I have been there a dozen times on business and 4 times for pleasure, and I much prefer June or September. I totally understand the spring break timing. I am confronted with that every year too ... it seems you either go skiiing, go to the beach, or you have to go somewhere off season. Drives me crazy. But I truly believe April is suboptimal, and I had to say that upfront. One of the best things about Paris is just strolling about, and it is much nicer if it is green and pleasant. If this is a once in a lifetime trip, I'd do it in June. One of my favorite places in the world is the Bagatelle, a small tulip garden in the Bois du Bologne. In April it will be barren. So will Giverny, a great day trip to Monet's home. Okay so I have said my piece on that and will desist! The Georges V on the right bank is steps from the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elyssees. Over the years it had been flagged as a few different brands, but it is currently a Four Seasons. I tended to stay there on business, and while it is excellent, it is not my first choice for leisure. I don't really like the Champs Elysee ... it has large, modern stores on that section .. and I would much rather be based on the left bank for leisure. My fave is La Lutetia, but I just looked it up and it is closed for renovations. I also like the Hotel Montalambert and Relais Christine, both left bank. Do note that both cities are very pricey as I am sure you know. Moreover, unlike American brands, rooms are typically very very small and often cannot accommodate a third person. Lastly, try to be very specific about the actual room and get photos. Many hotels are in older buildings and the rooms are anything but cookie cutter. One person can have a fabulous charming room and the other a dump. But in my mind it feels much more Parisian to stay in an old building! So keep that in mind when looking into alternates. As far as an itinerary, I would try to take the full three weeks so as to maximize the bang for your buck on flying over there. BTW I just read about a new all business class airline into Paris that, for business class, is quite reasonable. If you don't want to spring for a flat bed seat, fly during the day, land at night, and get right on the local schedule. Avoid caffeine, drink lots of water, get sun and exercise and you won't have any jet lag. I would consider flying into London (frankly between Gatwick and LHR there are so many flights and carriers that you can usually get the best deals). I would consider excursions to Stonehenge and Bath. Then I'd take the Chunnel to Paris. No one needs to tell you what to see in Paris! Outside of Paris I'd consider train trips to Versailles of course, and maybe to Chartres to see the famous cathedral and have dinner. If you are going a full three weeks, I might throw in Belgium and do an open jaw, flying into one city and out of a different one. I like the Hop on Hop off buses, tacky though they are, because they give you a quick lay of the the land. I usually research the "36 hours in" or "three perfect days in" articles in advance, to get ideas about what Id like to do. These are from the NY Times and periodicals so more timely than guidebooks.

Melsouth, the floor wasn't difficult, it was just tedious, and the smell was pretty bad. If you notice in the pic, DH had a fan ventilating to the outside. It took a few days to cure. It chipped in a few spots when heavy objects were dropped, but DH says he can patch it up easily. We opted not to tile or put any sort of flooring down for two reasons. One was to save money as we have several other huge projects (new main bath) we would rather spend money on. Second is we live in a flood prone town. We have been here 7 years and did not flood with storms Irene or Sandy, however we didn't want to take a chance. Once our drain the the sewer backed up and we were able to easily clean up. The floor is pitched towards the furnace area where are sump pump is. We opted for a black ceiling after I started taking note of how many people simply paint their ceilings black. DH found the black ceiling tiles at HD and thought that would be easier. Since he was installing it, I wanted to do what was easiest for him. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. He also put a full bath in down there. Our main 2nd floor bathroom had a major leak and needs to be completely redone. Since we are mostly DIYers, it will likely take time and now we have a 2nd full bath in the house. It's not quite complete yet.