OK--this is my plan of attack. I will also try not to over water the thing....That would be most un-helpful, I gather :). And, I learned something new---I have a pelargonium, not a geranium! Who woulda thought? :) (Can anyone tell me how to tell the difference, since my plant is what I always thought a geranium looked like?) Thanks for the advice! Erin

tigerdunes -- thanks for your input! Much appreciated. That is the direction I'm heading, subject to final price, warranties, etc. (The last quote from Company 2 had the Infinity furnace with the Comfort A/C.) The tendency here seems to be the "1 ton / 500 sf" approach. I've been pushing the final two dealers to really be sure about their sizing by giving them as much info as possible (the number of windows in the house, no insulation, orientation, etc, etc.) vyasmk9 -- I'm on the Peninsula -- as are all of the contractors I've contacted. It just seems that people around here seem to service a smaller area (although I could be wrong), plus I like to support local biz whenever I can. Just FYI, I started by selecting a couple of well-known brand names (Trane and Carrier) and looking on their websites for local dealers. Followed that up with searches for reviews of those dealers on local.yahoo.com and yelp, as well as checks on the BBB. Also asked my electrician and utility company guy for their thoughts/referrals. Not sure what the forum rules are for recommending contractors, so I'd rather ask before naming names. Anyone want to comment?

Yay for leopard and purple. Seriously, this forum is a great place where people can come together and collaborate on projects. I was scared at first to do the leopard because it seems like there's lots of people who don't like the look of animal print. They don't appear to be here, though!:) So, it's funny because a guy came up and told me that that's the kind of bar that serves appletinis. I laughed and I have to agree. So lets share some! I'm handing everyone an virtual appletini, thanks for your help:) lv r golden- You pinned the look I was going for unbelievably well! Incidentally, the skyline is in San Fransisco I believe. I love the mix of cool and warm colors and in this space, it was hard because of it's size and openness. Considering this is just a concept bar and nightclub, I only really planned for it's look at night time. One day, when I'm a famous designer, I'll have it made:) This design is only going to be judged on the rendering, rather than the design of the space. I don't have a website yet but it's my next stop. So considering your eye for design, do you happen to be a designer as well?

Hey folks. We've been using the 36" Zephyr Monsoon DCBL one-piece-liner with the following specs for a few months. We really hesitated to spend this much since our reno is essentially a budget/DIY one, but we are pleased with our purchase. Min.-Max. CFM 250 - 715 Min.-Max. Sones 0.8 - 5.8 Our installation is not ideal as our hood is mounted quite high due for head injury prevention reasons. That contributes to higher noise level and less efficient function. Overall, we are pretty happy with this hood. The hood can't keep up with extreme searing, but we are no longer routinely setting off the smoke alarm :) . It does move a tremendous amount of air at higher settings - at the outdoor vent you can see nearby leaves whipping around. I am satisfied with the noise levels, which was my major concern. At setting 1 (250 CFM) I hear a low hum, which does not annoy me if I am trying to chat or listen to music. That setting is fine for regular cooking and I am getting used to having the fan all the time when using the range. Setting 2 is louder, but still possible to chat or listen to music...and definitely pulls more air. Setting 3 is getting noisy, but I use it for shorter periods when frying bacon, etc. Setting 4 or 5 might suck up one of my children - powerful and loud. I like using Setting 1 when I notice lingering cooking smells after cooking in our large open concept space. The LED lights are pretty good. I like having a high and low setting. I like that all controls are on the underside rather than the front. Also, there are no LED lights when the unit is off (unless the baffles are due for cleaning) - also a plus. I like the feature that shows when the baffles are due to cleaning because I probably would not do this often enough. Previously we used two different builder grade hoods, and there is simply no comparison with the efficiency of suction and the noise levels, so this is a huge upgrade. I was thrilled to get free shipping of the hood to Canada from wayfair.ca. We never get free shipping in Canada!! Unfortunately the unit arrived quite damaged from the shipping process. The box was sturdy but the internal packing was inadequate. We decided to fix it rather than deal with the hassle of getting a remedy.