A bit harsh? rutgers1 is most likely 100% correct, but I never pull any punches and am blunt. Seeing that this is a DIY (do it yourself) forum and the actual nature of the thread, - "Have you inspired anyone to join you in your lawn obsession?" many of gbig2's comments, I find very pretentious, aloof and pompous, which prompted my reply. "What makes you think you can landscape your own house? You can't!" "why would you nickel and dime the landscaping for it by trying to do it yourself?" "Pick up the phone and call an expert, PLEASE!" -Maybe they like doing it themselves? Maybe they are proud of what they did! "I'm sorry but going to home depot and spending $400 on a couple plants and trees is not landscaping! " -Maybe they LIKE what they bought at Home Depot? Maybe they are proud of what they bought! "My neighbor who didn't take the above advice, [****hiring an expert, I assume?****] put in two front beds himself (not raised beds, he decided to put in slightly below grade beds, lol) -Instead of now laughing at him so pompously, maybe some neighborly hands-on help would have been nice? "it looks so bad that some day I may have to pull the weeds myself." -This statement is not condescending? "it's a mistake (that I almost made years ago) to try to do it yourself, hire a professional" - This statement is not supercilious? "I went from not knowing what KBG was or TTTF was [snip] to now, completely renovating with KBG" - So I must ask ... did you DIY or hire a professional?

Thanks for the warm welcomes, ladies! This group is such an inspiration and a bottomless well of creativity. I am vowing not to let life get in the way of relaxing with my laptop and staying in touch with what you all are doing. Boy, some of the things you're working on have me humbled!

Here are a couple of pics of a hutch I painted for our kitchen (still a WIP, we just painted the walls, trim is next, then an island countertop), it was painted grey and glazed (which I realize is "in", but it's not "in" at the sandyponder household). Some of the glaze was flaking off, so we sanded, primed and painted with 3 coats of C2 "Fez", satin finish. It has help up very well and it gets daily usage, our dishes and glassware reside there. It can be a long process, but also a very gratifying one. Good luck- sandyponder

Honing Uba Tuba isn't going to be a DIY project unless you want a complete disaster and have to replace the granite entirely RIGHT NOW. A pro could do it, but also with questionable results in the field. And it will be the messiest most awful experience you've ever had. Granite dust is extremely abrasive. It ruins your drawer slides. It ruins your hinges. It ruins your floors. It ruins anything it comes in contact with. And you can't keep it fully contained. Sure, you can try. You can put up zipwalls and put down masonite and take every door and drawer off and tape off the remaining drawer components, but you won't successfully foil the granite dust. It will find some victim somewhere to destroy. Paint your cabinets. (I'd also think about having a cabinet maker create some stacked glass cabinets for on top of yours and beef up the crown moldings.) That's 3 or 4 months of work right there unless you have a sprayer or a lot of free time. Once you're done with that, reassess how the Uba Tuba looks. It will actually look GREAT! I've done lots of white cabs and Uba Tuba counters, and it's a classic look. If you don't love it at that point, save your pennies to put in a different counter.