I agree with the previous poster: you really can't estimate these things very accurately because your skill level increases with the more you do, plus with old houses you never know what you'll find ..... (OHJ's famous "Mushroom Factor"!) But I'll take a crack at it. 1. Window scrape and prep: Well, I wouldn't do the inside w/o having done the outside before or doing it at the same time, since if the outside needed repair, most likely new putty and re-glazing (which can be a bear) it would be necessary to take the glass out and necessitate re-painting the interior, again.... So, remove sash 10 min to 40 min depending on how lucky I am and whether it's painted in. If it was necessary to replace the new putty then one could spend anywhere from 1 hr to 3 hours per sash getting the remaining putty safely out. Cleaning the lights (glass) 15 min to 1 hour per sash. This might not be necessary, depending on the age of the glass and how much haziness there is. Scraping the sash including muntins: 15 min to 30 per sash. That assumes it's scrapable and I'm in the mood to deal with the lead paint chips and dust. If not, then twice as long to get it off with heat or chemicals. Prime sash. (20-25 min per sash) (This assumes nothing needs tidying up or retruing, repegging etc. first) Let it dry. Reglaze sash: 20 min (2 lights) to 90 min (8 lights) per sash. Let it skim over. First top coat (Here's where it would get sticky because I would want to start two different paint paths, one with exterior paint and one with interior paint. I'd put inerior on the inside and on the sides of the rails, and tops and bottoms but on the exterior, I'd be using exterior first coat. Each would have to dry or at least mostly so before I could do the other surface. Figure 15 -30 min for the outside, and 25 to 40 for the inside, depending, again on the number of lights. Let it dry. Lightly sand it (10 min per sash). Now, to the frame, again assuming no major structural repairs are necessary and that I didn't break the parting bead when I got the upper sash out. Scraping inner trim and jamb. probably using a heat plate and gun, 30 min to 1 1/2 hours, depending on the complexity of the molding and how intact the under paint was, and whether I was in a particularly determined de-leading mood. Prime the frame (if necessary) 25-40 min. Let it dry. Sand the prime coat on frame lightly. 15 min tops. Paint first coat on frame 25-40 min. Reinstall both the sashes and install parting bead and reattach trim: 10 min to as much as 25 min -if I broke the parting bead and have to trim up a new one (which would have to be primed ....) Lightly sand the the first coat on the interior of the frame and molding (15 min). Do top coat on sashes and frame, indoors and out: 1 to 1 1/2 hours depending on how many lights. If you had as many as 16 lights, I'd expect to add another half hour. Now, of course many of these jobs would be happening almost simultaneously and you would probably be doing cerveral of the same things to multiple windows, so your time would be less as you would carry on without having to start and stop so much, but, then again, on the first one it might take you as much as twice as long. And no allowance was made for filling any little dings with wood putty, or for installing bronze spring weatherstripping, both of which I'd expect to do with any windows I worked on. Also no allowance dealing with the exterior trim, either, which also need some caulking. Depending on the state of the interior trim, I might do a bit of caulking there, too. 3. Wallpaper could take you anywhere from an hour to a truly miserable couple of days depending on the number of layers. 4. I wouldn't tape a crack in plaster but a small repair might take only 5 -10 min, a couple of times with a light sanding in between. Larger cracks require cleaning out, so it's harder to say. Mixing the various plasters takes me an enormous amount of time. Larger holes require several special (and different coats) plus time to tie in some mesh lath. 8. Tearing out a 12 foot section of a plaster wall, I think would take me (including the clean-up) the better part of a day. Plus you have to figure out how to keep the ceiling plaster up - assuming you weren't tearing it out too. Re-plastering would be my only choice and that takes only a phone call to a plasterer. I have never attempted three-coat plaster of a whole wall. 9. Refinishing a mantle would depend on what you were going to wind up with, and what you started with. If it was simply stripping a natural finish and putting a clear one back on, it might only take 2 or 3 hours on each of a couple of days. But if you were dealing with layers of paint and you wanted to do a faux-painted marbelized finish, it could take 20-40 hours. 10. I can paint a 12 X 12 room, including skirting board, and window and door casing in a hard-pushed nine-ish hour day. Trim, including a couple of door surfaces 3-3 1/2 hours; ceiling 1- 1 1/2 hours; the walls take the rest. But this assumes that the room is ready to be painted. I generally figure that it takes at least twice as long to get the room prepped for painting, even if there are no major dings to deal with, simply washing, minor patching, sanding, tacking, etc. And that's when you have all the paint ready, stirred, equipment, drop cloths on hand etc. 13. Laying subfloor, would take a variable amount of time depending on how much shimmin' and trimmim' was necessary. But I would allow the better part of day, at least. It would go faster with additonal laborers to cut and carry. 14. Installing a replacement window is not something I would ever do. (Though I have watched crews at other people's houses do one in only a couple of hours, with an experienced team of three.) Rebuilding a window is something I would expect a finish carpenter that I hired a day to install. To make the components, including building the sash etc. I would expect take him another day, or two, in his shop. 15. Repairing a window could take 15 mintues or a day or more depending on why it didn't work, and then you'd need to repaint, probably! HTH Molly~

I am not interested in "knows how to treat a lady" because I almost knocked my last date over with the car door as he was running around to let me out. I like non gender specific politeness. I really hate when a man puts his hand in the small of my back and maneuvers me to a seat in a restaurant because "ladies first". I dont mind going first if there is no host/hostess but I dont like being used as a shield. I said tall because tall men make me feel smaller and thats a good thing right now. My self esteem could use a boost. For dancing (and other activities) having someone your own size is a plus. the sad truth is that the older you are, the more life experience you have, the more particular you become just at the point where your power to attract begins to wane. (laughing) I am talking about myself here. and I am not interested in men younger than myself (or much older for the equipment failure problems Daisy mentioned and, sadly, the worry about other health problems). so the field is pretty narrow for me. BUT (lest this be TOO depressing), I like my life which is why I will be careful about who I invite to share it. jc

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, Paula. I ordered through Lowe's online. They do not offer them in the store, so I know they came straight from the supplier. The tiles are perfectly uniform in thickness and edging. I loved them until I started moving them around. I am using the lightest touch and they are still chipping, bottom and top. They are not through-body color, so I am left with dark taupe where they have chipped. I am going to contact Olean tomorrow to see if they possibly had a recall on this lot. I am glad to hear yours have held up. Perhaps if I can get them installed without more damage, they will be ok. I am really nervous about cutting and installing them, though. Your bathroom remodel looks fantastic. Do you recall what color and brand of grout was used? Thanks again, Andrea P.S. I hope my son finds a house that doesn't need a bathroom remodel. ;-)

I took a great decorating course that was given in my area about 30 years ago. It was offered by the Newcomers Club and was led by a well-known local decorator. I think there was a limit of about 10 enrollees. Each week we went a different home, and when it was your week, you chose the room you wanted to work on. Lots of great ideas from the decorator and the other people taking the course, and it was good having so many people to help move furniture, pictures, etc to try out the different ideas. You got fabric swatches and rug samples for the meeting if you were planning on buying new pieces. At the end of each session, we socialized with coffee and cake. Was a lot of fun, and I wish they still gave the course!