gglks - you and anyone else should feel free to share any pictures I've posted on GW. I'm happy to help and am surprised and a bit dismayed to see that doing a search for "smarge" only yields a few posts! I had posted thinking I was helping all future renovators looking for ideas since GW helped me so tremendously. If it is helpful I'll post a few more pictures of my kitchen. One day I'll set aside some time to get my kitchen in the finished kitchens area. Here is a long view of the exterior wall of my kitchen, showing the vaulted ceiling. Here is a pic of my other backsplash, located above a sink on in interior wall that needed something nice to look at. This wall is perpendicular to the stove wall with the tree of life mosaic. (its an old pic, taken before the UC lights were installed, which is why you see the wires.) Here is a closeup of my perimeter countertop, which is Caesarstone "Raven" in polished finish. I adore it and get compliments on how natural it looks for a quartz composite counter. These are old pics and I'll try to start my own thread showing the whole, finished kitchen one day when I have an extra hour. Feel free to ask any questions and good luck with all you out there in the planning stages!

Hey I was wondering when you were gonna show up. Yes, our street has gotten very popular due to the JCC and such. We bought it to walk to All Saints, where we're very active. I was a member of the gym at the JCC -- you're right it's a great facility! As for the listing on the cul-de-sac, it's side entry and the driveway is there, as is the mailbox, although the street address is "Drive" not "Court". It's not as "secluded" as being the next house down, but it does make a difference to having the kids able to play out on the driveway and such and not feel like they're running into traffic. The backyard is all natural and a gentle slope. I know what you mean about ravine -- I got vertigo just looking out the den window at my SIL's house over in Dunwoody Club Forest. I'd be scared to death to let my kids play in her yard. I'll check with the realtor about including a shot of ours. There's an open house on Sunday; you should go wander through. ;-) Do your inlaws have blue trim on their house? I'm trying to remember which way the street numbers go and which houses haven't turned over lately. The people behind me on the cul-de-sac are the owners of the Blue Fox Salon. The kitchen has tons of storage. I have a 5'x4' walk-in pantry, and the cabinet space doubled with the remodel. (Which was a complete gut and wasn't even finished when we decided to move. The orginal backsplash was spangly red glasstile, known in my house as the "Vegas Whorehouse Backsplash". Had that actually gone on the wall we would still be there, because you think the green isn't neutral, wasn't nobody gonna buy it with that backsplash! LOL!) Unfortunately, within the past couple of weeks 2 other traditionals with finished basements have come on the market in Kingsley; fortunately they're both in the $425K+ range. Based on the comps I think we're priced right ... we'll see.

I think I would move on to someone else. It sounds like this guy has a poor work ethic, as well as being downright strange. I hope you didn't pay out a huge deposit. The extra stress isn't worth the money lost, or the toll on your health. By the way, I found hiring a builder caused WAY more stress than DIY building. My husband and I have built three homes. Two we built with our own sweat. The third we hired a builder. Never again. We sold that house, bought some land, and are in the process of building a log home, ourselves. Fortunately, we know some local trades people, who are wonderful to work with, for the large jobs that we need extra people for. Good luck. I'll be looking for a good cabinet maker also, as the quality of the ready made seems to be poor these days. Sandy

Jamies! That's so sweet that you remembered that room! Well, we got sidetracked by many, many things, but we're finally back in that dining room! I have a valance hung, plates hung, a few new accessories to add, the chandelier is being rewired as we speak, and I've started the makeover on that unfinished china cabinet!! I should have the primer on it by the weekend. It'll still be a few weeks before it's all together, but barring any more disasters or emergencies, it should definitely be (mostly) done by Thanksgiving. I'll be sure and post lots of pics when it's all together, and I really appreciate all of the advice that was given, especially about that chandelier. If it turns out even close to what's in my head, I think I'll be happy with it. I do live vicariously through this site!! There's a lot of styles and colors that aren't right for us, but I still appreciate them and always enjoy looking at a well designed room, even if it's not my taste at all. Those are the rooms I try to really study, rather than just dismiss as "not for me." I look at the colors, the lighting, the accessories, the proportions of everything, how the curtains are hung, the textures, etc., and try to take something away from that to be used in our home. What I like most of all, is seeing how regular, ordinary people that have the same resources as the rest of us problem solve in their homes. I'm always amazed at the creativity that people have! I like seeing how people deal with weird architecture (or lack of), weird windows, bad floorplans, bad lighting, small spaces, big spaces, and everything else that's not perfect and pretty. I feel like I'm new to decorating. We've always been renters, so we never even considered changing out fixtures, painting anything, or any of the list of things that are forbidden in a rented space. Some days I feel completely overwhelmed and lost by all of the choices and possibilities, and other days I feel like "YES! That looks great!"