OK. My opinion only. We had a red eared slider for about 2 years and she took on a personality of her own. Made me and my family laugh with some of the mischief it would get into. My wife and 2 kids really liked her but this spring she left and never came back. Personally, I was thrilled. The reason is I built my pond in direct sun all day and wanted to grow water lilies and other "stuff". Almost impossible to do for me with a turtle and a Savio Skimmer. Either the few plants I had would end up in the skimmer daily from the turtle pushing it's way through the water or they would be eaten by the turtle. Either way, nothing would stay where you wanted it. Funny side note, about 3 months after the turtle left, another red-eared slider came wandering up the lawn towards the pond. It definitely wasn't the one we had for 2 years. Totally different look. My wife looked at me with love in her eye for the turtle and I said "NO WAY!". I picked it up and brought it down the street to a place called Butterfly Bogs and released it. Bottom line, if you are a control freak like I am, the turtle will win every time. -Mike Here is a link that might be useful:

I have been having so much trouble posting this. I put it at the end of another post but really need it as a seperate one. As you can tell I have so many questions and I just can't believe all the people with great ideas and experience so here's another question. I was so excited when I saw someone post that they had a Brizo hand held shower head in their bath! I just was in a store today and selected Brizo polished Nickel for the double shower. So it will be a handheld (3 water flow positions) on the pole with a thermostatic control that I will be using as an everyday shower. The other end of the shower will be the Brizo 3 position Raincan Showerhead (which has full spray, rain and massage features)and another thermostatic control for my husband. We currently have old Delta faucets in this shower. Since the tile is being redone it seems that this shouldn't be difficult to put in for a plumber. Does anyone have any experience with these showerheads? How is the multifunction on both these showheads? I would hate to buy them and then end up hating them. It's hard when you can't try them out. Now the other faucets in the bathroom (2 vanity faucets and 1 Roman Tub Faucet with a handheld) will probably be Restoration Hardware Compaign also in polished nickel. I just fell in love with them and can't find anything else in that style. I saw on this site that they are made by Newport Brass which is a good company but I don't get the impression that if there was a problem it would be easy to get parts or help. Their website is terribly for getting specific information and Restoration Hardware is not too good either. The problem is that the Roman Tub faucets from Restoration Hardware do not come with a handheld so I think I have to order it from Newport Brass and then hope it will be compatible. I need to call them tomorrow. I also, read on this site that plumbers don't like installing these so that scares me a little. Anybody with any experience with any of this? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have used AS chalk paint on several pieces. At first it was to see what the excitement was all about, and I bought only sample jars when they were much less expensive than they are now. The sheen is VERY FLAT, and personally, I don't care for it without wax. I have not bought the AS waxes, but I have Butcher's Wax in clear, and Briwax in both light brown and dark brown. All of them protect and (to me) enhance the appearance of the chalk paint. This was a black and gold CL mirror that I did in blues and grays in AS chalk paint. I then used Briwax in dark brown to get into the carvings and add a bit of sheen to the mirror. BEFORE - AFTER - I experimented last year with a maple bureau that I bought from Craigslist. I put on patches of several colors (both chalk paint and regular latex in different brands). What I found was that the chalk paint stuck to the unsanded finish like glue. When I made my decision to go with a chalk paint color, I found that I could easily remove the latex paints by just running my fingernail over them. THAT is what I like about the chalk paints on furniture vs. the other types. This is the bureau that I mentioned above, still in progress. I used AS Paris Gray, and I am decoupaging fabric to the drawer fronts. In order to preserve the color match between paint and fabric here, I will use the butcher's wax in clear when I finish this one. I am replacing the knobs with chunky 'English style' knobs that I have painted in the AS Paris Gray. And before I started it, in the seller's garage -

Have you actually seen or felt any of the hardware you're considering or just taking your GC's word on it? I had my heart set on the Aubrey pulls so drove 65 miles to a store to put my own hands and eyes on them before I shelled out my hard earned cash, which, btw, I recommend doing with ANY hardware you're considering. I was impressed by the quality of the pulls and knobs RH displays on the little boards. (I was disappointed to not be able to rummage around on the huge wall of hardware like they had years ago.) I bought small samples of the Aubrey in polished nickel and polished chrome, a couple of other pulls DH liked, and a couple of different knobs. They all felt solid, heavy, and very well made. I went on to order samples of a few other pulls from different companies when DH didn't initially like my choice of the Aubrey. Compared to the other pulls, the Aubrey felt completely smooth on the handle part and heavier. Some of the other pulls were rougher and you could feel a seam on the handle from the mold or whatever they use to form them. Even though DH didn't like the style of the pull at first, he liked the quality very much. In the end, I chose three sizes of the Aubrey pulls (no knobs) in polished nickel. Of the 100 pulls I ordered (bought many more than I needed as I wanted the flexibility of changing my mind on sizes and then returned the rest), only one any had sort of little flaw in the nickel. Having read that some people in the past had trouble with the Aubrey screws, I sent a pull with the screws to my cab maker ahead of installation so he could decide if I needed to buy different screws. He said the ones I was sent would work fine on my cabs. He had never used RH hardware before, but was impressed with the quality and appearance after he installed them. It's only been a few months, but I'm having zero problems with the pulls. Well, except maybe my obsessive need to walk around wiping the small finger prints off so that they shine. :-) Look at any pull you're interested in IRL. Touch them. Hold them. Hold them up to your cabs to test the projection and appearance. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: More pics on this thread