Hi again everyone. Just a few thoughts... Lisa I am sorry to have made you add things up! It's exactly what sent me reeling. Making the list and looking at the numbers, all in one shot, was stunning! I am actually very happy about the move, even though the process is difficult. I really love my home here and the way it has turned out. It's been a joy to work on and I am finally feeling pleased with the results. Interestingly, the staging process seemed to seal the deal. A little less furniture and clutter and the place looks "perfect" to me. (To the powers that be, may I please carry this awareness to the next place!) But we have never felt like we fit in here in FL. Going to MA is like going home. Our friends and family are there and the general mentality is a much better fit for us. DD has said repeatedly she wishes we could pick up this house and move it. To some degree, I will recreate certain elements up there...like in the kitchen. As for finding a good mover, we have been referred to someone by our piano dealer. We have a mid-sized grand to store and ship and supposedly this company is the best. (Don't even ask where we're going to fit that thing!) I have seen movers do a hack job. As a confirmed control freak, I'd love to do it myself! But that is ridiculous, of course. We will hire the best and just hope for a positive experience. Nothing we own is without patina anyway. Funny, Hoyamom, I woke up this morning thinking about my grandmother's silver. I think that will go in the car with me. So, if anyone's still reading, do you think I need to offer things at 25% like my realtor suggests? A good friend suggests I start at 40% and work from there. Patina or no, this stuff is only 4-6 years old and it's mostly name brands people would know and recognize. The dining table is the first thing you see on the Ethan Allen website when you do a product search for dining rooms! So, it's still relevant.

This is a fun thread. I've had such a weird love/hate relationship with my new construction home. We bought the land over a year ago, then decided to put off building until Spring. Over the past fall and winter, I had so many misgivings about building the new home at all. We were staying in the same township, same school district, etc., but were building a bigger home on a much bigger lot - so money worries exacerbated the whole idea of the build, and the fact that I've never been totally in love with the new area (moved from NJ to NE PA 5-1/2 years ago) added to my misgivings. In March the build just sort of started up; I'd spent the winter in denial that we were really going through with it, and then in the midst of the build, it took us four solid months to sell our old house, so I was afraid to like the new house for fear that we would end up putting that one up for sale and see which one went first. We ultimately accepted our first and only offer in July, closed on both homes in September and moved in on Sept. 15. It actually felt comfortable and homey right away; it is a beautiful, large home, with a lot of acreage, and it helped that my daughters felt at home almost immediately as well. (Naturally, staying in the same community and same schools helped their transition immensely, and ours too.) Ironically, now that we have been in just over two months, I'm starting to discover things that I don't like about the house that I hadn't really focused on before. And I mean BIG things, like dh and I really aren't that in love with the two-story foyer (like that's ever going to change!), the fact that my daughters' bathroom is directly above the stairway and can be seen from the foyer and the huge window on the front wall (how did I not notice THAT gaffe in planning - I modified the home plan myself!). And small things, such as odd placement of light switches, closet shelves too high to be useful for my girls, etc. etc. My dh and I are so fortunate to be here, it is a great home on five acres on a cul-de-sac in a small, quiet, new community of only 20 homes, we have so much to be thankful for, but still . . . we both agree that new construction is great in that you can design things your way, and get everything brand-spankin' new, but it also allows for so much second-guessing and re-thinking and re-assessing, and you have only yourself to punish!

The shoe molding is permanent. GC said some floor people like to have it nailed down before and some after finishing. I guess the ones who like it down before are ones you can trust to be extra careful with your cabinets. I never really noticed in other kitchens whether they had that or not, so you might want to look specifically for that in FKB and ask some of those specifically. It's one of those things my GC automatically puts down unless I specify otherwise, and in my case with my uneven floors and walls and ceiling it was necessary. I bet if you say something about your fridge to them when they are giving an estimate, they will be sure to take care of it. Something like 'I know someone who had her brand new stove marked up during the process, and I'm so nervous about something happening to my refrigerator [demure giggle]. I know you will be careful but I couldn't help mentioning it.' (I'm no good at those giggles but you get what I mean.) We have painting left, next week, and then moving furniture back in to be 100%. I have pics floating around on various threads for one reason or another, but here is the link. Most current pics are in this album and the During one. Thanks for asking! Here is a link that might be useful: My almost-finished kitchen

We are considering getting new maple flooring in a medium color. It will be 8.50 sf installed or hubby can try it for 5.50 plus supplies (nails, underlayment). It has aluminum oxide coating so won't be able to easily be buff and coated later, but hopefully it would hold up a while. I might leave the area rug off off of it, at least in the summer. We think that for the price and inconvenience of re-staining, it might be a good choice. There are two closets and one short hallway, but the tricky area is probably going to be around that step in the back corner of the second picture, it is curved. He has never done it before so...