Well, I'm having some of the same adjustment issues with my new FL because I also used liquid detergent and OxiClean powder together in my old TL, predissolved in the wash water before clothes were added. And I'm just not accustomed to using powdered detergents. Before my recent research, I had just assumed that liquids are better. Oxygen bleach works "best" at higher temperatures, meaning it works much faster. But it will also work in cooler water if you give it LOTS of time to soak. I got that tip from Cooks Illustrated, when they tested stain removers. They said that if you don't want to pretreat, OxiClean will get out almost any stain, IF you give it 30 minutes, or ideally 60 minutes, to work. It works for up to 6 hours or so. So, I substituted time for temperature for fabrics I thought couldn't take the heat. With a FL that lets you dispense either liquid or powder but not both, if you want the cleaning power of OxiClean, you should use a powdered detergent: - Tide HE powder - Gain HE powder - Persil Universal Powder (NOTE: there may be other brands similarly formulated, but I have only researched these so far.) Think of these powdered detergents as already containing OxiClean --- PLUS other cleaning agents needed for dirty laundry. OxiClean contains: - sodium carbonate (55-65%) - sodium percarbonate (aka sodium carbonate peroxyhydrate or oxygen bleach) (30-40%) - ethoxylated alcohol C12-16 (2-4%) Sodium carbonate is sometimes called a "builder" because it "softens" mineral ions in hard water. It also buffers a solution to a high pH, which makes other cleaning agents like surfactants work more effectively. Most of the soils and stains in fabrics are acidic, and the high pH helps break them down. Sodium percarbonate is oxygen bleach. It contains a molecule H2O2, which has an unstable, reactive oxygen molecule that's eager to break away and go off on its own, leaving H2O behind. The oxygen molecule oxidizes stains in fabrics. (It's kind of interesting that this same process happens inside our bodies, where the reactive oxygen molecules are called free radicals. Strongly-colored plant-based foods, like berries, coffee, tea, curcumin, etc., contain antioxidants that neutralize the free radicals that otherwise wreak havoc on cells. It's the same reaction as in your laundry. With laundry, we think of the oxygen as getting rid of the berry stain, and in our bodies, we think of the berries as getting rid of the free radical oxygen molecules.) Ethoxylated alcohol is a surfactant, which is needed to remove oils from items being cleaned, to make OxiClean an "all-purpose" cleaner and stain remover. OxiClean, however, does NOT contain enough surfactant to remove the oily body soils in a load of laundry. The powdered detergents I discussed in my post above (Tide, Gain, Persil) contain those exact same ingredients, PLUS add more to make the formula better for cleaning laundry. Think of them as OxiClean PLUS: - an oxygen bleach activator, to make the oxygen bleach work even if the wash temperature is not super hot - more surfactants, because oily body soils are a main component of dirty laundry - a hard-water builder system that's more effective than sodium carbonate - a polymer or emulsifier to keep the soils away from the fabrics once they've been pulled off by the surfactants - protease enzyme to break down protein-based stains like blood, grass, etc into small particles. The oxygen bleach can then break down those small particles much faster than it otherwise would. - optical brightener. All white and light-to-medium colored fabrics contain these, and refreshing them in the laundry makes the fabrics LOOK dramatically brighter and cleaner. - ingredients to stabilize the oxygen bleach so that it doesn't react with the moisture in the air while it's sitting on the shelf Those ingredients are like a cleaning orchestra, where the ingredients are more effective together than they would be separately. I do not think you will gain any cleaning power by adding liquid detergent. Everything you need for cleaning (mainly, the additional surfactants) is already in the powder detergent. And all the OxiClean ingredients are already in it too. To make these powder detergents work their best, use hot wash temperatures OR longer soak times. (Or both, if you have horrific stains.) The activator in Tide/Gain makes the oxygen bleach work better at lower wash temperature, 30-40 C (84-104 F). Above 40C/104F, the activator in Persil works equally well. So in general, Tide/Gain will clean better in American machines and for users who choose "warm" as the wash temperature to be more gentle to fabrics.

Thanks, Steve, What i meant by "milled badly" was that at one end of a board it would be 5.5inches width and at the other it would be 5.375inches. This required me to go thru all the boards to try and find matching width ends where they butted, or re-rip ten foot ipe boards on site using my Sears 10inch Harry the homeowner tablesaw. It wasnt pretty. The quality of the wood and the sanded sides seem good to me, just gotten dirty and a little gray. Its really noticeable whenever I wet it down. Wet looks incredible, but soon dries back to dusty gray. I will be testing a 50sqft area with sanding then finishing and if I like it better, I will tackle 50-100sqft every weekend until done. Or hire some helpers and get it all done in a week or so. Thanks again for the advice. And if you or Celeste is ever out here on the left coast near Santa Barbara, you should come by for a marguerita! Its really nice here when it isnt on fire, or earthquake, or flash flooding, or locust season, or an election, or... :)

I am chuckling a bit because when I read your first post, I was going to suggest F&B Buff, but I had a sense you wanted something lighter. Buff and London Stone are very close in value and were the two final contenders for my last living room. Buff won because in my light the LS threw a bit of pink and the Buff behaved in a completely neutral way...no green, yellow or pink. So, I am a little confused...do you plan to use London Stone and need a lighter color elsewhere? Or are you looking for a lighter version of what London Stone does? And if so, why? Can't go that saturated/dark?

DO THE CREAM FRENCH COUNTRY ISLAND LOOK, DO THE CREAM ISLAND!! I cannot repeat enough ahhahah. I could have written your opening page and for a minute I wondered if it was me talking ahhaha. We just completed our custom build. Kitchen designer talked me out of cream kitchen with cherry island (gut now says wish I had gone that route) it is such a light and bright feel all around. We did cherry cabs with chocolate glaze and although they are rich, elegant and beautiful they match the wood floor dead on too- it is rather dark at times. We almost went with a black island and I think it would have felt soooo cave like although I do love black islands, not with dark cherry cabs (sorry everyone) and a wood floor - too dark. I wanted to do a french country island and again KD discouraged me as my island is very small and literally talked me into the same island cab as the surrounding and I would have sooo much loved the cream island better. Moral - trust your instinct and ignore these persuasive kitchen deisgners who say "trust me on this one, do....". It is YOUR kitchen and noone elses. We did Giallo Ornamental granite and I LOVE it for lightening everything up with the Wow factor but if I were to do it over I would either definitley do the french country island hands down or do the reverse of all of it ( cream surrounds with dark island). Other poster is right, although my wood maple floor is beautful I am a SLAVE to it and would NEVER do it again that dark as every dog paw print shows as does every crumb or juice spill that my 3 young boys spill on it. I can even see if the dog leaves a water drool on it..UGH > I literally clean them EVERY SINGLE DAY and could vacuum twice a day. NEVER AGAIN! Hope that helps and good luck during this stressful but exciting time.