Remember the theme song to the Jeffersons? Something about 'moving on up, to the top.' That's definitely running through my head as I read this :) What a fun adventure and amazing location you will have... Congratulations!

I thought I'd close the loop on this thread, since my original intent was to chronicle our adventures with a contractor. We're DIY-ers and this was our first foray into the world of hiring others. We had a few issues come up near the end. Here's what they were and how we resolved them. I strongly believe that the fact that we still owed him $10,000 helped us resolve them without too much trouble. 1. He told us that he could recommend someone to do the soffits and gutters, we told him that was in his bucket to do. He said he hadn't included that in his bid. We referred him to the plans, which were very detailed about what was to be done, and highly specific about which things the owners (us) were doing. The plans were referenced in the contract we had. He groused about it, but we politely but firmly told him we didn't feel responsible if he had overlooked their inclusion in his bid. He called out a sub and got them done. 2. The floors of the addition were not level with the existing house in 3 of the 4 places they connect. Fortunately, the one place they were was where we need to continue existing tile from our kitchen into our breakfast nook, so we were okay there. He told us that they lined up the nook with the existing floor and built it level from there, so the part our sunroom attaches to was not level (subfloors are off 3/8"). The flooring will not be continuous, so we agreed to deal with that ourselves when we refloor the family room. Haven't decided whether to build it up, use a transition, or do some sloping of the floor to graduate the transition. Upstairs the new floor was 1/4" higher than the old floor, and we're continuing existing carpet. There was no excuse for this, IMO, and he said it was because our existing joists had shrunk, and the new ones he used were higher, so what did we expect him to do, plane down the joists? Yup, that's what we would have asked for if he had pointed out the issue. He suggested pulling back the carpet, and putting some leveling compound down. I suggested he do that. He gave us a $200 concession. 3. Change orders: He had 3 add-ons to our contract price. $250 for attaching the transom to the slider (he said normally they come attached, and this was a pain to put together); $125 for some extra cutting in the brickwork (he had told my DH about this); and $250 for hanging 2 sets of french doors. We protested about not being told on the slider/transom (change orders were all to be in writing), but agreed to pay it. Hanging the french doors was in the plans, so we once again referred him to those, and he withdrew the charge. Soooo, bottom line, we paid him $40,175 for the beautiful shell he built, plus we bought the windows and doors, which totalled around $6,000. Hopefully we can eke out the inside so the total comes in under $50,000 for the 500 square feet we added. And here are our final outside photos. We got hit by the remnants of Hurrican Ike that blew through the midwest, and it stood up like a champ, shingles and all. We plan to take Thanksgiving week off and do a blitz on the inside then to finish it up for the winter. And next spring a new deck....

From Jill Perry's post on Face Book.."I'm hoooooome...and brain-dead. The Preservation Commission meeting went on for FIVE HOURS. The first two-and-a-half hours were devoted to an infill project on F Street. It got boring at times but I was happy the Commission took every detail so seriously and really paid attention. The second two-and-a-half hours were ours. Dozens of cemetery volunteers, plus scientists, neighborhood activists, and historians spoke passionately and eloquently about the importance of the cemetery's Historic Rose Garden, as well as the Perennial Garden and California Native Plant Demonstration Garden. There was one curmudgeon who apparently hates all plants, but he was an anomaly. The city historian and city parks supervisor (who devised the draconian guidelines) had to sit there and listen to it all. The moratorium on removing roses will stand while the city develops a smarter set of guidelines. Democracy in action, folks. Sometimes it works!"

I don't think you can fit two sofas in the room with the TV. Place the TV and console in the same place the current owners had it. Then look for a sectional or one long sofa with floating chairs to use at either end. Make sure the seating stays in the main area of the room and not in the walkways (no chair by the stairs). I think painting before they move in makes a lot of sense as long as they choose neutral light colors. Narrow down your options though - you don't need 11 whites to choose from. I would look for a neutral warm white with the floors and fireplace and possible antiques, and paint the ceiling white like the trim.