I'm willing to go a bit further. Many "mold experts" are basically scam artists. Not all of them, but many. Just like "duct cleaners". Every house has mold spores in it. Including "toxic mold". Did this "mold inspector" tell how *much* mold there was in the air? If there's a lot of airborne mold, that would be an indication that you might have a hidden water problem.. but if there's just a small amount, it's perfectly normal and NOT a problem. Do you know what the *outside air* mold counts for your region, in the summer, when it hasn't rained recently, are? If not you can't make a valid comparison with indoor levels. Attic ventilation can help. If nothing else, it will dilute the air so it tests better, which should calm your buyers down. Shouldn't cost too much to put some "whirlybird" ventilators in as pjb recommended.

I'm sooooo envious of your Community Forklift! I love reading your descriptions of your finds (or whatever cool stuff you see there). Please keep up with your postings so I can continue the vicarious 'finds'! All we have, even in ABQ (biggest city in the state), are the H4H ReStore with any color cultured marble you want. Although before Christmas, the one here in Taos had a very new Bosch (or some high end) double wall oven. Being Taos, they put it outside (!) with the coil top ranges. Somebody carefully cut the chain link all around the back of the ovens and carted them off and presumably had a very merry Christmas lol. cheers

Just wanted to thank everyone who responded to my request for the patterns that I was looking for. Within one week, I heard from at least 1/2 dozen people and had several who actually sent me their copies or book of patterns. I CAN'T BELIEVE the generosity of people on these boards. Everyone is so helpful and willing to help one another. Another part of this story is the wonderful connections with these people. The first one who emailed me was someone I actually met at the SAMA (Society of American Mosaic Artists) Conference in Mesa last March! She remembered visiting with me and sent me the entire book for the Birdbath Molds. Needless to say, we have a lot of cathching up to do! The second person to email me was a gal in Rolla Missouri. She had the patterns for the address stone AND the splashguard/downspout mold! The interesting part of her email was that her husband grew up in the same small town in Iowa that MY HUSBAND grew up in! What are the chances of both of these things happening?! I am just amazed at such fate! So, again thank you to everyone who offered suggestions or tips. And thank you to Jacki in Virginia and Sally in Missour for the patterns & new/renewed friendships! And thank you to this board for the help it has been! Now I am anxious to start several new projects thanks to my many friends! Becky in Iowa

Wow, thanks for all the kind words! We tried to get some sort of reaction out of our kids and the workers but no one was saying much ;-) I should have known I could count on gardenweb! linb007, the floors are common 1 and 2 random width (3-5-7) american black walnut. I fell in love with some I saw at 32 dollars a sq foot (of course) and hunted them like prey until I found them for less than a quarter of that. We got them from Blackford & Sons out of Tennessee, unfinished with hand scrapped edges. My contact there is Luke Blackford. They are sweethearts there. I can send you his email if you want. kitchenkrazed, I am going to post this seperately (cabinet issue), I need the GW advice! The firm is a very reputable firm, HOWEVER, our designer left a week before we placed the order. So we are in a sort of odd situation and they never gave us a list of exact cabinets (I wasnt liking that but that is how they said it worked), they gave us 100 drawings and elevations and the cabinet type and finish, etc. but not a detailed BOM. So we are discussing it with them right now but I dont like that I dont have my original designer to clearly state that this is not what we discussed. honorbilkit, yes, we are surprised to find out that we are doing ok without the first floor. Esp since we always say the house is too small for us (we love our neighborhood though). My 6 year old said today he doesnt want to move back into the first floor. I thought he liked the closeness of all of us. Turns out he liked being able to watch TV while eating (basement set up, not allowed in real life upstairs). Rascal. Dinalo, yes that is stenciling, or as we like to say: entertainment for the onsite crew. Its one of my "Projects" where i experiment and stress out my husband. We had rich blue walls (faux sky) before so to cover it, I laid a TON of primer and ceiling white, and I COULD STILL SEE THE BLUE! So then I lugged 50 lbs of joint compound in (this is where the workers perked up wondering what the heck I was up to) and slathered it on. Then I color washed it with acrylics. Then I did a dimensional damask stencil with some of the bottom metallic paint mixed in. Since this photo I have added metallic highlighting to match under chair rail and then started distressed it with sandpaper (not done) b/c my highlighting was too "new" looking. Its like an 18 layer wall. I think I need to be committed if I make any starts towards 19. It's been sort of fun, Ive been cranking the ipod and putting movies on for the kids, but I think most people could skip 80% of my steps and get a similar effect! Lol.