taggie- I wish I had one of those dh's that could care less about what goes on the wall, etc. but he always has a say, so I will definately not show him this thread! carrie7- my sink is a silestone sink & I love it. My Range is a Dacor. I looked at Viking and Dacor and liked the Dacor better. I got the double oven because I cook alot, but I'm sure I would be able to adjust to just 1 oven. cpartist- looking forward to seeing pictures of your kitchen!

This tree is like a somewhat smaller version of the big silver I lived with in my backyard for years. Finally decided-this after coexisting for thirty years (the tree itself was much older)-that safety concerns dictated it be removed. Now mind you, we had much larger limbs overhanging our house and the houses of the neighbors on either side of us. The problem with silver maples is that they often develop V-crotches, with included bark. Yours exhibits these features, as do nearly all of them. Some very determined structural pruning when young could in many cases have lifted these specimens out of this category, but in so fast a growing tree, and given such knowledge is of more recent vintage, it was hardly ever done. So you're left with large limbs, whole "leads" actually, leaning over your home. There is simply no way to predict if and when the right wind, ice or snowload, or any combo of situations could conspire to have a whole leader split out from this tree, or any others in similar circumstances. Mostly, that's what homeowner's insurance is for, but in my case, it was the thought of human injury or death that finally had me taking the big guy down.

I would also keep it. I really like the visual interest and character the different levels and angles adds to your ceiling. Ours isn't a ceiling soffit, but we also have a very prominent soffit that housed florescent lights that ran around the perimeter of all the rooms in our home. We briefly considered losing it, but doing so would completely change the look and feel of the house, to the point where it would have lost a lot of its quirky MCM look. The soffit was one thing that people commented on when they saw the house. So, we're re-building the same soffit throughout the house, even though it seems to "lower" the beamed ceilings:

Side note, there are two threads that I created by accident, this thread originally didn't show up so I created a new one but hours after later it appeared. Anyway... My contractor arranged all of this. He brought me samples and pictures and I picked the color. He purchased the slabs and installed plywood and another guy came to cut and install them. The flooring and counters were being installed the same day and since I have 4 kids I left so that we wouldn't be in the way. When I came back the counters were completed but it two different colors. In hindsight maybe I should have just stayed or asked more questions. Our contractor has been amazing and I guess I just trusted him since he has done such good work with everything else. Dh talked to him this morning and he's going to redo that wall.