House I designed and planted all the plants and shrubs myself. Of course I needed a big truck and manpower for the two trees. My old rescue girl. Back yard and the "BOSS" Foyer to game room Area Front porch, steps and walk way diy bricking is done,the cement area below is now a bricked step. Next the back porch and patio. The picture you have seen a thousand times. Living room you have seen a thousand times. Miles of nature preserve for walking,biking or horses just around the corner. A mile down this path leds to a state park with some great kayaking and canoeing. 12 minutes to the beach And, since I'm shameless...this 4/3 house on 1 1/4 acre is in P.B. County and will be up for sale in a year or so. I best get a better camera and let someone else take the pictures lol.

Well we're not done yet, so I'm sure I'll have more to tell you in a while..:) But, for now: -I went with a lot of vintage lighting. First of all I tried to save money which I did; second, they were charming and well-made fixtures. most of them from Europe. The wiring is fine, etc. However when the time has come to install them it appears some of them missing little things like crossbars and stuff..naively we go to Home Depot where we are told none of the standard American stuff will fit these lamps. So then it begins: running to specialty stores, ordering things on British website(why British? no idea. apparently they do have some of these parts. while other sites simply don't), and I-don't know-what-else. Yes, I saved a lot of money. Maybe hundreds maybe thousands I don't know (of course I'd like to think it's thousands)). But I really have no patience for another month spent trying to refit two thirds of the lamps. The GC has much less patience than me of course. You get the picture.. -Or: the countertop in the kitchen doesn't overhang enough. Doesn't bother me I must say, but my husband is really mad. We had no idea we should specify it, and the granite guy didn't ask. It also happened so that the inspector from the gas company came at the same time to look at something the city saw as problem(not related to the build; just a coincidence) when the granite guy was working on the template..we had to run between the two of them. The inspector is outside, the granite guy is measuring inside..no wonder we didn't ask. I don't know why he didn't; he then said that we seemed really knowledgeable and confident. No! That's how I look when I'm really tired lol. -Or: we went with a very complicated design for master bath. Or should I say, we wanted a lot done in a modest space. It looks good by the way. But they redid it so many times to fit it all, that now we'll have a) narrower vanity b) narrower bathtub. If I knew I'd let go some of our grand ideas. It would be still nice, and I'd have more functional space. -Or: I'd order some things more in advance than I did. I had no idea that oil rubbed bronze and chrome are usually in stock, but polished nickel is suddenly considered a special order and takes weeks. And you don't really know until you start actually purchasing. In short I did not know many things. So a designer wouldn't solve all of these issues of course. But he/she would anticipate most of them. Simply because of experience, better spatial thinking, better knowledge of the resources..because of studying it before and dealing with it a lot every day. Even me-not a designer-would be wiser a second time. Only I'm not going to do it for a second time, never ever..:) And if I'd choose to work with someone and had money for it-wishful thinking here-it would be someone significantly more talented than me. Sense of admiration from working with someone better than you not just helps. It creates excitement and pushes you forward too. When you're alone it feels different. Not right away maybe. But within several months, I felt less excited, less creative, less confident, less everything. It's not fun; when it's small reno it might be fun, when it's long and involves a whole house, it's already a job. Almost a full time job. And you don't necessarily enjoy it as much as you imagined. Every job has nice parts-and parts that are tiresome and very lackluster. You do the lackluster, a lot. And you pay for it too:)

Internal drainage doesn't stop the water from damaging your foundation and undermining your footings. Unless there's absolutely no alternative, eg., there's only a foot between your house and a neighbouring house, it's a poor choice. Absent the known water problems, this could be taken as mild settling. Indeed, I have friends whose home leaned over several degrees but was still deemed by a structural engineer to be stable. If you're concerned, the only way to be sure is to have a structural engineer check it out.

@Jilly - I am also kind of curious why everyone you know would have the same preference. I have found that people who live in older homes seem to like the yellower lighting while more modern homes like whiter lighting, but that is just local observation. It does seem to make sense to me. My MCM home has all the clean lines large windows and is brightly lit and most of the homes that are 100+ years old are darker in general. Window tax of the time created the row homes with windows only on the front and back of the house and many of the homes were built prior to public electricity, so the limited number of outlets and lack of ceiling lights is also common. They don't feel like they were supposed to be light and bright and the whiter light may feel quite stark in those homes. Most homes built from the 1970s forward seem to have the lighter brighter feel although they may not be as light filled as the MCMs, they are much lighter and brighter than the older homes.