We have almost completed remodeling a small bathroom in our 70 year old home. Used 2 inch hex honed bianco gregio (Carrara) marble for the floor. White vanity with Carrara top. White subway tub/shower surround. BM glass slipper (very light blue grey) walls. I'd add pictures, but I don't know how and no time to learn at the moment. All trim work is white. I love the look. Clean and airy. I chose Laticrete Silver Shadow grout for the floor. Marble and grout have been sealed. Non white grout, sealing, and the use of a ph neural cleaner should help with keeping the floor clean looking, hopefully. The use of the mini brick would also depend on the amount and type of use your bathroom has, and number & age of children in your family. Also, how frequently it will be cleaned and how well you like to clean. You may not want to be a slave to keeping it clean. IMO your choices for the bathroom are perfect. I agree with no wainscoting. We had similar reasoning-too sterile. Will the subway border on the floor be seen in most of the floor area or will it be hidden? If mostly hidden I'd forego the border. Why do we always 2nd guess ourselves? With me, it is just part of the process! Liz Here is a link that might be useful: Marble Floor

Forgive me if this wouldn't apply in your situation (I'm a bit fuzzy-headed with a cold!). We replaced two double hung Andersen windows (that we had put in a few years prior to the reno!) that extended below counter height. We replaced those with a 3-window Andersen Bow window. We stayed within the width of the original opening, had some lee-way with regards to height placement (we opted against counter height--the space between the faucet and window would be filled with water puddles on a regular basis in our home). Our windows are vinyl clad (Terratone) on the outside, pine on the inside (oak interior might have been an option?). We had the pine stained to match our cherry cabs (which abut the window), and had our cab manuf supply stained/finished cherry molding to match the cabs as well. In addition, we "upgraded" to the Tru-scene insect screens partially because the frames (for casement type windows) are are clad in wood on the inside, rather than metal, and therefore blend in with the window frames when stained to match. "Old" windows/old kitchen: New windows/new kitchen: HTH!

Well, you found what some suspected, that it wasn't an extremely "good" set. Now, Costco/Sam's Club furniture can be just what the doctor ordered and many people are quite pleased with their purchases. I have a tv armoire in my bedroom that was an 'assemble it yourself' piece from Sauder I bought ten years ago for like $99 new. It has worked fine for us for many years. But right now, I would love to find a good solid wood piece that will stand the test of time and fit my style better. For that, I must do used, like CL or estate sale or garage sale. The great thing about going to check on something like that (overpriced!) bedroom suite, is, that it gives you a better feel for the next one you find. It helps you know what questions to ask and to price things out in your head better. I rarely feel a trip was not worthwhile, even when it's a No-Buy. Usually, if I spend the time to travel across town for craigslist stuff, I only feel cheated if the seller badly misrepresented or if I didn't ask enough questions first. And sometimes, I do ask, "So do you remember where you bought the armoire?" or "how long have you had this piece?" If someone tells me Costco or JCPenney, I know it's probably not just what I thought from the photo. If they just bought it, then, why are they selling it? I hope your next set is the real deal. And while you do NOT want to haggle down the price on the phone, it's still ok to just ask, "Before I come see, is your price real firm?" or "I do want to see it, are you negotiable at all on the price?" Don't make an offer, just feel them out. Red

so you're saying that this grade difference is across the WIDTH of the walk (as in, if you walked down the path right now you'd be tilted like you didn't have a V8)? Is this how I'm reading it? Only an idiot would lay a walk like that, which leaves us with two possibilities: 1) you screened poorly and hired an idiot, or 2) you didn't hire an idiot and the contractor is raising the grade appropriately, which involves adding gravel, compacting in 2-4" lifts, adding more gravel, compacting again, and so on till the desired grade is achieved. Depending on how many people are on the site, perhaps they only got but so far and will continue raising the grade tomorrow. Since you provided no pics and I can't read your contractor's mind, perhaps asking the person to whom you're writing checks is the most expedient solution here. I know that if something was freaking *my* client out, I would rather s/he called me and said "this is freaking me out, what's going on?" instead of going online and asking people who have no way of knowing what's going on. If you hire someone, they have a duty to answer your questions and make you comfortable with what's going on. The flip side is that YOU have a duty, when you have a big question that's worrying you - your duty is to ask the contractor asap. We live in this chaos and confusion and destruction every day and we know what the steps are that will get us to an awesome result. It's easy to forget that our clients do not. So don't be shy.