Wow, I hadn't realized there were other replies after I posted a couple wks ago. I only came back to check now to rehash my decision. Because no...I still don't know what I'm doing :( I'm literally past obsessing about it. And moved on to being plain, ol' DEPRESSED over it. So much so, that I booked a flight to CA for Feb 26th, so I could go to Ikea and just waste some money on accesories. And NOT paint! At the time, I decided to just put glass in the doors, open up the other couple. Try to find something I really liked to go over the cabs. Nice rug, some under cabinet lighting, and call it a day. But, dh and everyone else knows that would only make me happy for about a wk. So, we're painting. What color? Well, we'll decide that when the guy comes for the doors :( Seriously, I'm just going to flip a coin. Last night I was set on all white. Figured adding some other color in a rug, painting the inside of the glass cabinets green, and adding other stuff wouldn't make it look so sterile. But, that darn floor and the white appliances keep staring at me. I could happily do white cabs if appliances were SS. OR..if the floor was wood. But, having both things against me. I've yet to EVER clip and save a kitchen with light tile, and white appliances. There's a reason for that. I don't like the look ! The black..sigh. I love black. But, since my first post I've changed out my living room quite a bit. It's taking on a lighter tone. And I worry the black is too heavy with it. I've had visions again of going green/gray on the bottom. Dh doesn't want to for resale. And because of how he thinks it'd look against the Lenox Tan paint on the walls. Blue, I love the color you've done! I can totally see doing something like that to work WITH what I have. Not against it. But, again..the paint throughout the whole space would be hard to work with. Dh suggested maybe going with the wall color, at half strength..for the lowers. White uppers. OR..back to black lowers. It's quite obvious I'm all over the map still. And am thankful for all the snow. So, my painter can't get started yet :( Here's my living room. Right off the kitchen. I need to make things flow. And I pretty much stink at this whole decorating thing, so it's a struggle!

I've gotta tell you about our 1922 beach cottage made of spit and bubblegum. PO's? There must have been a PO for every year of the house's life. It seems that we are the first owners who planned to stay a while, without renting it out. It has gorgeous views, a beautiful beach and is in a very desirable second home and rental home beach community. So po's buy it, rent it for big bucks, never put a dime into it, and sell it-they then buy their 'real' second home. It was the cheapest, shabbiest, and only affordable house on Lake Shore Drive, so we bought it. 1. It's on a dune, and still sits on a two foot tall iffy crawl space. The walls of the foundation have holes. We found brand new boxes of floor jacks (to hold up the floors) in the crawl sp. Pre-sale, the inspector could not inspect the contents of the crawl because it was jammed with 80 years of stuff, deliberately. 2. Crawl contains the plenum (thingy which distributes heat and a/c to the various rooms), lying on its side and connected to the furnace in the first floor util room. Two of the four second floor bedrooms are unheated and un a/c'ed because the plenum is too far from the rooms. There are no chases, no ducts going to these bedrooms. I'm afraid room air conditioners will blow the knob and tube upstairs wiring. 3. There is no real drywall or plaster, just wallpaper smoothed out over paneling. Only thin paneling over random studs. 4. The floor under the second floor toilet was rotted, a common occurence I've been told. The metal linen cabinets in the solo upstairs bath were rusted, dented, disgusting. The shower was uh, kind of blue and rust colored. It was worse than fourth world countries' bathroom facilities. We gutted to the random studs, searched for elec in the most unexpected places, and remodeled into a beautiful room. 5. Bedrooms measured 7X9, 8X9, 9X9 and the master is 9X15 with a sloped ceiling, from 6.5' to 7' high. No upstairs ceiling is taller than 6.5'+. Painted paneling with many, many holes. Had to remove closet doors:they were gerryrigged and never fit. 6. Oh, yes, the popcorn ceiling panels collapsed in two bedrooms. Fixed it once and after the second collapse, we installed new drywall ceilings upstairs. 7. Instead of having regular can ceiling lights in the bedrooms, they had shower lights, which gave off, oh, 10 watts of dim. 8. The walls bow a bit, here and there. 9. The floors have holes but I covered every square inch with inexpensive laminate which looks great and has a few bouncy spots. A marble rolls on the floor from one end of the house to the other in a split second! 10. We have fixed most of the major things and it is now a cute cottage, but The afterthought utility room which holds the furnace, some water pipes and the water heater has a 13" wide door. However, the diameter of the water heater is 18". This may be the year when we create a new door from the wall of the util room to the outside of the house, to replace the water heater, whenever, not if. Still, 6 years later, some money, lots of effort, it's delightful and in great demand by family and friends. Oh, btw, dh and I went there for N.Y. Eve and a big snowstorm hit and we had to evacuate quickly, because, among other reasons, the only way to get down and out, would be like sliding down an olympic luge, aka known as high flights of stairs, unevenly spaced stairs. We went to the casino hotel and had a great time! Bev

Luvs, it's been a while since I thought about "child proofing" my house, but with a new niece coming in Feb I have been looking at things more carefully. Guess you will have to do the same! He is a little stinker! lol Have to start calling him Piro! I have a few friends who use the Peapod grocery delivery and love it. We don't have it here yet or I would consider it especially in winter!! Unfortunately I have not had time to paint yet. I have a few ideas of some things I want to get done, but no time to work on any of them yet. Hope to get working on them this week, but I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year so probably not gonna get anything significant done til after that holiday. I want to do the 12 days of Christmas, but so far no family has stood out to me that I know. Still thinking on it. Was thinking about finding some little platters at the $1 store and attaching a little poem "When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang out of my bed and tripped over this platter" for my neighbor gifts. Most people can use an extra tray or platter for goodies during the season. Will maybe make some goodies to go on the platter and maybe add "So I filled it with goodies in hopes it makes your season gladder"?? I don't know...kinda sounds cheesy! lol Still thinking about it. Also thought about making "snowball" cookies and putting them in a pail or something painted with a snowman head?? Oh actually I just remembered I bought some small snowman head cookie jars on clearance last year so that would be perfect!! Woot! Thanks for helping me brainstorm! lol I am running out of time, but I seem to work better under pressure! ha Well, just wanted to check in with you ladies. I promised I'd do better and I'm sincerely trying to get here a few times a week! I have to do my Thanksgiving shopping on Monday but perhaps I'll be back here on Tues. Talk to y'all then. ~Anj

Based on my monitor, I like Pearl best. Once you need to make your final decision, there is a method to help when dealing with a number of different possiblities. First, you could take 2 of the 5 choices and choose which you like best; then take the winner and individually compare it with the remaining 3, keeping the winner each time, until you see which one comes out on top. Second, a more complicated heirarchy for choosing would be to make a table with 5 rows and 5 lines. Across the top, list the name of each color; and down the side also list the name of each color. Quickly fill in the grid by taking the first one listed on the side and comparing it to all of the other colors listed across the top, choosing your favorite in each comparison. Then mark in the appropriate space which is the winner (i.e., number each color and write in the number of the winner for each comparison). Do this all the way down those listed on the side, then check to see which one came out the winner. This method allows you to compare every color to all of the others. (Hope the description made sense---if you just make up the grid, it will probably be clear to you.) I have used this method when having too many choices and, surprisingly, it has been helpful. Or just go with your gut. :)