beware of the "welcome to my garage look that you can get with a wider driveway and less interruption of the view to the garage that the tree now provides. Also consider more than the stairs. Do you want to get more space out of your small front yard for purposes other than mowing exercise and a foreground to your house? If so, consider a retaining wall or more than one with a walkway and steps incorporated through it. I don't know if this street and/or your personality makes it such that you would want to spend time on that side of the house or not, but you should go through that mental exercise. I don't have a problem with bisecting the lawn to make a walk/stairs that would re-center the attention of the curb view of the house from the driveway to the front door.

Having some cabinetry refinished isn't the end of the world if the tile and everything doesn't work out. You could at least paint it in place if after everything is in and it. just. doesn't. work. But I think the direction of the slip up is in your favor. Chances are antique white will go with a lot of things, where as cranberry stained cherry is more specific and would likely clash with a lot more materials. So if you are going to shoot for one and get the other, I think you are at least stuck with the safer option. I hope it works out for you.

I can relate! I don't know if I am making the best possible decisions trying to make this place work. At the age of 63 I moved from a rent controlled apartment to a 96 year old "fixer". I wanted to be able to grow vegetables, so I did not opt for a condo. They are not that much less expensive around here anyway, and for the most part, poorly constructed. The home inspector, and all the contractors who have worked on this place give it flying colors for construction. It is apparently a very solidly built house. We talked the seller down considerably, but it still wasn't cheap. I know going in it would need $35 thousand dollars to replace broken water heater, heating system, plumbing, etc. before I could even move in. I also ripped up the carpet and refinished the beautiful hardwood floors underneath. I also replaced the old, stained fiberglass bath/shower that was growing mold and made me shudder whenever I stepped into it. I figured I would bolt the house to the foundation (living in earthquake country) and leave it at that for a while. Then over New Years, the wind blew down part of my fence and the 20 year old cook top had a gas leak, so PG&E turned off the gas. I couldn't find replacement parts for the old corroded burners, so I bought a new Kitchenaid cook top...WRONG! It emits a low hum even when it is off. I looked it up in the manual, and sure enough, under troubleshooting, it says this hum is a normal part of the functioning of this product. My bedroom is fairly close to the kitchen, and I couldn't sleep, so I returned it (with a 20% restocking fee). Now I have ordered a GE Cafe model cook top. It scores consistently in the top ten cook tops, and I read reviews from two professional chefs who installed them and were very happy. I haven't received it yet. I can't help but wonder if I should have just called Kitchenaid and asked them if they had a quieter model. I live alone, This is all new to me, never having owned a home and not having to deal with these things myself. I don't have anyone to advise me on these things, except friends who laugh, pat me on the back and saying "welcome to home ownership". I am not particularly handy, although I am not opposed to learning. This was supposed to feel liberating, having my own home, but I've been here for 4 months and am feeling very stressed. I'm not thinking of selling though-yet.

Laceyvail, you just proved what I have always said. Bread is one of the most forgiving things to make. I know some really care about the science of baking bread, but I've never cared about anything except the finished product. Unless your yeast is dead you will almost always end up with a great tasting loaf of bread.