Thanks everyone. This is an exciting time for us. DD3's upcoming wedding and DD4 got engaged at Christmas. PM, the table is raised just over 2 inches. It shouldn't make much difference for seating. There will be about 50 people at the wedding. Jane, please 'steal' my idea for the napkin rings. I'd love to see what you come up with. I miss seeing your your wonderful tables. I hope your house sells soon. Jeanne, Peach is my daughter's favorite color and she is using it in her wedding. Fun, my DD did love my ideas, she is going with something simpler, tho. Kathleen, thank you. I won't be doing the wedding tables. She lives to far away, and it would be too hectic. I want to be able to spend the time with her, before the ceremony. Thanks again everyone. Nana

Hi Allison0704, I came across this thread while looking to see if you had posted other pics of your beautiful house. I read everyone raving about your kitchen and found those photos. It is absolutely beautiful! I can see why you are happy in your home. My job puts me in the middle of your type of situation, between the ARC and the homeowner. I manage an Association and their facilities in Georgia. Given that I have not read your governing documents, but having read your posts, I would say there were probably lots of mistakes made on behalf of the Association. I'm glad that you have worked things out to your satisfaction. Unfortunately, volunteer homeowners, whether on the ARC or Board of Directors, are considered the "scum of the earth" by some residents. Seldom have I met any who is there for reasons other than the "good of the community." The more homeowners become involved with the running of the Association, PRIOR to the developer leaving, the better off your Association will be in the long run. Developers have total control until they turn operations over to the homeowner HOA. Those departure circumstances should be documented in the covenants. Usually, that will be upon reaching a certain number of years or when there is only a small percentage of properties unsold. I do not want to paint a broad brush of all developers, but some have been known to leave HOAs totally bankrupt. It can be a very difficult situation for the homeowner HOA, if you are not prepared and are surprised by what you find upon their departure. I wish you and your neighbors well. Again, I'm glad you worked things out and I will continue my search for photos of your beautiful home.

It is pretty easy to get a decent match on older wood - if you are willing to pay! There are numerous companies that specialize in reclaimed lumber. They would be able to match you up with some planks from the same time period and mill them to match yours. We just did that with heart pine in a 1912 house. It is not cheap though. Lumber, milling, installation/weaving, sanding and finishing came in over $25/sq ft. Fortunately it was just a few small patches. If you are just trying to make a new board look "old" - good luck. Modern lumber just isn't going to have the same look as the old growth trees they were logging 100 years ago. If you can swap out some boards from a closet for "free" that is a better option. As for the costs, ripping up 2 sections and repairing them obviously will cost more than just 1 section. For the urine damaged areas - whose idea was it to just sand? If you asked him to do it to save some money on repairs and now don't like the look, expect to pay to have it fixed. If you left it up to the contractor as to which boards to replace and which to salvage and he just did a poor job, then he should stand by his work and fix it.

Very nice. Back in the sixties my older brothers had me plenty worried we were going to have to go over that "bridge" as we approached during a car trip.