Well I will go first. We did 7 bathrooms. One of those has 2 of everything ( 6 boys share). 5 of those baths had full tile surrounds, pebble shower floors, hex bath floors. Each shower had its own unique deco band to give each its own appropriate look. The 2 other baths are powder rooms and have no tile. All inclusive grout, tile, deco bands, etc. it was the bargain price of 11,000.00. I forgot that the price also included the extensive subway back splashes in the kitchen. Now it may seem like a lot, but for what we did it is a good price in my opinion and many others. I could have easily spent 3 times this amount but did do some stock tile like the Daltile subway, at less than 3.00 per sq. ft. it was really a bargain. Here are some pics. I also included kitchen back splashes just so you could get the scope of how much tile we bought. I must say I have 10 cases of subway left over so that makes it even less costly as I will probably sell it.

I'd love it too! I like to eat all over in Grand Rapids, I've got a list of new places to try and I have old favorites too. There's a relatively new Mexican place downtown called maggie's Kitchen, they even have barbacoa made of beef cheeks, there's a Caribbean place with some kind of goat dish that's only got curbside service, a fish place on Kalamazoo down by the Mediterranean Market, and there are old standbys like Pietro's. I love the Blue Water Grill but that's clear over off Plainfield on East Beltline, and there are a lot of places I haven't even tried downtown near VanAndel and The B.O.B. Any preferences? Sushi? Indian? Fish? Diner? Even chain restaurants if you have a favorite, heck, we've even got a Sonic now, right across the street from Gordon Food Service on Alpine, LOL. You tell me when and we'll find a where! I'm definitely going to have to check D&W for Koeze's, though, and the one on 44th has DeRueze's Gourmet Market right next door. They now have a cut rate gourmet department where they get pallets full of stuff for really cheap, it's fun but you never know what you'll find for a buck... Annie

I have used two different groomers in the last year or so. The first two times with the same groomer were for Amos, the larger of our two minilabradoodles, about 30 lbs. The first was a puppy cut for him and the second a shorter cut. Both times he charged $35.00 The second groomer was just this past May for our smaller female, Andi. She weighs 28 but is much shorter than Amos. She got a puppy cut and it was $35.00 I was told by both places that if there were mats to be dealt with, it would be $10 more but neither had mats.

Midland, Texas. My suggestion is to get as many bids as possible on all aspects of your job. The variations from one contractor to another was HUGE. Also, I splurged on important things and went middle of the road on other things. But for this area it is a nice remodel... I live in a nice neighborhood... my house is the smallest on the cul de sac... my neighbors house is well over 4,000 sf on a half acre or more lot. Obviously my house is no million dollar home ;) (there's a few of those neighborhoods here) but I am a perfectionist and it is good. Not perfect... the cabinets are from a local cabinet maker and painted on site with a reputable painter- but it's not perfect but "good" and definitely better than acceptable. I could have easily spent $20k more on the kitchen with little to no additional ROI. We also did some work ourselves... i.e. All the demo, and any other non skilled labor we could do before the pros took over. We are also doing the trim work ourselves (baseboards and door casings). We bargained shopped for the appliances (all new Bosh except for range and bev fridge); new vinyl windows and not wood clad (no one has wood in this neighborhood); buying anso nylon carpet buy using one of the in stock colors; splurged on bath tile; got a good price on wood look tile $3.75sf for Marazzi American Estates for the other flooring; splurged on a few light fixtures but most are pottery barn level. Found a great deal on mosaic tile that's going behind master bath vanities; re-using the master bath mirrors and having them repurposed with bevel edge. We made and have been keeping a detailed spreadsheet of all expenses and making other cuts when necessary to stay on budget (for example, we didn't get the pot filler because we need to shave a little off and we didn't want to spend on the faucet but we have a second sink 2 ft away that can fill pots... tons of little $1000 decisions like that add up! Honestly, I have lost money on being indecisive. We had a general contractor for the kitchen, master bath, plumbing and electrical, but we subbed out all the other work ourselves. Also, we didn't use the highest end contractor, but we also didn't use the cheapest. Just middle of the road people honest people we felt good with and that would work hard and wanted to do good work. They all came with recommendations from friends, our designer, or flooring store sales person.