"Variable speed will make me more comfortable and is more efficient---still no explanation as to how" - In the summertime, a fan running on lower speed for longer times pulls more humidity out of the air. In the winter using the heat pump, you don't get the blast of cold air at start-up because the fan gradually ramps up. These are the "more comfortable" part. Since it is a DC (direct currrent) motor, it costs less to run than the typical AC (alternating current) motor. This is the "more efficient" part. Not sure that the variable speed motor will help you at all with floors seeing different temperatures as Daddo stated previously. Ceiling fans will help this and so will running the furnace fan all the time in the summer. The key is to circulate air thru the house to try and equalize temperature. "Variable speed is a gimmic that actually costs more to operate." - This is Bob Brown's opinion. They cost more to repair for sure, but you have to do some experimenting to figure if they cost more (based on run time, power consumption, and cooling effect). I chose not to get a variable speed with my new heat pump. The air handler that I bought has 3 fan speed settings so I get to play with only 3 speeds. The Goodman variable speed air handler has dip switch settings for 4 fan speeds for each mode: heat pump/ac, heat pump + electric back-up, and electric emergency only. It also has a trim adjust dip switch of +15% or -10% CFM for the 4 settings for each of the 3 modes. For this variable speed motor, running the unit in "fan only" on the thermostat sets the fan speed at 30% of the heat pump/ac setting. You get a lot more to play with with variable speed motors. Hope this helps.

Here's the toile. I think I'm figuring out what I've done wrong and why I'm feeling uncomfortable at this stage in chosing colors. Some of you will remember, the first room I started decorating in my mind months ago was my guest bath. I wanted it to have the old New Orleans feel as the house is old style Acadian. I also started decorating the master bath. The fixtures are very glitz/brushed silver and crystal. Being inexperienced in decorating entire houses at one time was overwhelming, to say the least. I know I have good taste (at least that's what people tell me) LOL My problem is I love different styles and want certain rooms to "feel" a certain way. Hope I'm making sense and you are not nodding off. HA! For those of you following my saga, you'll remember I began investigating silver blue for my master as I had a picture in my head from a show I saw on TV years ago. So this is where I think things went wrong. I wanted 2 different feels for the master BR and bath and the guest bath. I chose to follow the silver blue paint to complete the rest of the rooms (with the exception of the hall/guest bath). Then when I came to the last color, this hall bath, I make this realization that my house is going to be old New Orleans in the guest bath, french country/traditonal in the great room, kind of glitz traditonal in the master (I wanted to decorate around the silver blue with glass and silver with black and another color in the accents.) Oh Lord I know I've lost you now, I'll stop rambling. Anyway, I think I see that my problem is; I decorate my rooms around how I want them to make me feel and that means different styles for different rooms. When I first bought the house I jokingly said to my SIL I think I'll decorate each room differently to satisfy all my likes. I never realized I'd unconciously end up doing it. LOL To give you a better idea of where my scattered decorating brain is, the guest BR is Silver Sage with 5ft. white wainscoting and I picture it being a shabby chic. The office directly across the hall is Silver Marlin and really can't name what "style" I want it. Altough I'm leaning toward the same style as the master bedroom. So if you can make sense of my ranting, please tell me I'm OK and my house will be also!! Here's a clincher, we haven't made our decision on the foyer color yet either. We will be papering the top portion of the wall and picture molding wainscoting the bottom, but haven't decided on a color. Again, I wanted this room to have a old New Orleans, yet modern feel. In my head I'm picturing some tan or gold/tan. Hhhmmm, I wonder if doing this will tie the bathroom in with the rest of the house. Good golly miss molly, who let me loose to decorate an entire house. LOL I wish I drank, I'd get drunk just about now.

Thanks for the pictures and "recipes". The room in question is very large: 28'w X 36'l, very well lit (ceiling flourescents, mounted flush with the ceiling!)) and a lot of windows. It's a real departure for me; the ceiling is pale blue, and the walls will be a bright, "clear" pastel in the "pistachio green" family. Originally, I had thought of painting the trimwork white. But the helpmeet suggested leaving it natural. It took me awhile to "warm up" to the idea, but I think it might work nicely with the palette and the bright, sunny aspect of the space. I am hoping for a "frosty" look to the pine and have some concern about it getting progressively "pinker" over time. My immediate instinct was to use straight, white primer for the wash and then seal it with either flat or satin clear coat. I am going to fiddle around with some samples either later today or later in the week. (have to get the walls done, the chimney skimcoated, and the hearth done before I worry about window trim!)

It sounded to me like you were bored with your 5 year old kitchen. I did read your posts and that is what I took away from them. That is what I meant by wanting shiny and new. What I meant about "travel" did not mean a vacation necessarily and was not meant 100% literally, but maybe focusing your energies elsewhere outside of your home. If you are ready to change your kitchen because at 5 years old, it "needs" something to freshen it, and you have spent a year thinking about it, then you may have lost sight as to what a kitchen is. It is easy to get on the treadmill of decorating and lose sight that the house is a backdrop to your life and not the other way around. Just like someone who gets a little nip and tuck and then keeps going back for more and more. If your schedule is such that your time is very limited, then perhaps paying so much attention to a 5 year old kitchen is not the best use of your resources. Does the island color bother anyone else in your family? Did you think it was wrong when you first did it or is it wanting something new and different? I may have interpreted your posts wrong, but I saw boredom and wanting to spice up your life. A new island color would only be a momentary thrill and could easily be regretted if it does not come out as nice as it already is. I am grateful that most of our renovation planning is done and behind us. I am glad to have our lives back and while there is still work to do and to pay for, can't wait until we have more disposable income and time to go out and do more things rather than spend more on the house. My family put up with a lot to get the house fixed up. I'd like us to have some fun and enjoy our new space rather than worrying about the things that are still on our "house - to do" list. A kitchen or a pretty house means nothing if you don't get to enjoy other things as well. If what you have been doing lately leaves you bored, perhaps there are other ways to add some excitement. One thing that may help is not spending so much time on GW. I know I fall into that trap at times and realize it has become a habit. I do find decorating and esp kitchens to be interesting, but also want to find the balance with other things. If coming here makes me want a new kitchen, then I will have to break contact cold turkey. A kitchen is not a 5 or 10 year toy. We all take such care in designing and in materials used that a well done GW kitchen should last well over 20 years. That is the point, isn't it?