budge1, the taps are pretty, aren't they? Fortunately the taps weren't TOO expensive....what is really killing me is the stupid shower/bath faucet sets. Not only am I totally baffled by all the pressure balance blah blah blah options...but they are all so friggen expensive! vondab--I got lucky and found a salvage sink that was already in pretty good condition. I know what you mean, though, I saw plenty of sinks that would have been very nice if it hadn't been for all the rust. I think my sink is porcelain...a lot of the salvage sinks are cast iron, which I believe can be resurfaced more or less successfully. I really have no experience with that process, though, so I can't offer any words of wisdom. I did, however, buy a product that was recommended on the deabath.com website, called 'Zud'. It was quite effective in removing a minor rust colored area on the sink (not visible in the pictures I posted above) as well as some rust stains on my tile floor. Might be worth a try.... Here is a link that might be useful: DEA bath website

Great comments everyone...price ...can be between $2- $3/sf. Anything more is overkill. As to the smell of some companies poly ... there was a run 4+ years ago where a handful of manufacturers that made a poly that was white on one side and black on the other and was reinforced. 1 of 10 after several months to a year started smelling like cat pee and got stronger. I ripped out a handful of these crawl poly's. I wouldn't blame the sealed company's only because we all look for a deal on plastic to pass on to you ... and the odor doesn't start for awhile...that could be 400 crawls in 6 months for a handful of us. That's 40 of them stinking and 30 notice enough. About the DIY'ers ... I have DIY hardwood floors ... brakes... toilets...etc ... It takes me 6 months to get a diligent guy up and going on crawls where I can let him run and inspect his work after. I couldn't imagine the $ lessons learned that a DIY'er gets into. Just know it takes one really experienced crawl space tech and 3 new techs to finish correctly a 2600 sf sealed crawl using 50 labor hours. Know that 50% of your homes air comes from the crawl space so a poorly prepped sealed crawl can trap some pretty nasty mold. Dehu's: to use or not to use??? Tests show that mold has not grown in sealed crawls that use a 4 inch air supply line per 1500sf with average height of 2.5 ft. Though the humidity reduces down in the South (Raleigh Area) to 68%-77% when sealed still leaves high humidity compared to the average homes humidity of 52%. But mold does not grow. Why? I can only guess ... A. Ground, where mold comes from, is sealed off B. Air is slightly circulating from the air supply line on your supply side. And a dehu wholesales $1000 average ... then install and electrical hardwire hookup and gravity fed condensation line. $1600-$1800 should be fair?? And that will take your humidity down to your chosen level ... most, I have found, chose 50%. Now here's the rub ... your dehu is taking up a chunk if not all of your energy efficiency that your conditioned sealed crawl gives to your AC system. So if you don't take the old insulation out and seal in the mold and the defication from the crickets, mice and snakes and you aren't getting any efficiency out of the sealed crawl ... then why invest $ at all??? No savings or better air quality. My recco: pull floor insulation, sanitize entire crawl for SUPERIOR lifetime air quality ... seal crawl and forget the dehu and gain 15.8% energy efficiency on new homes past 2008 ... higher efficiency for older homes. My pet peeve.... if a home has mold on the beams and evidence of cricket poop ... little black pellets all over the joists ... I wont seal it without pulling the insulation and disinfecting the crawl. But 95% of all companies seal the crawl trapping in ALL THAT MESS and that's there standard seal crawl practice. That should be criminal!!! Like all the contractors who knew back in early 1900's that lead based paint was killing children but kept using it because it was cheap ... until 1970's when a law was passed after ??? more than a million baby's past away. I feel mold in the crawl is that same issue that is slow to REAR ITS UGLY HEAD ... buyer beware ... short cuts can hurt you long term. www.SealedSolution.com

It wouldn't take long to just sand lightly with a medium to fine grit sandpaper. You are not trying to take the old paint off, just to make it less smooth (give it some tooth is what they say) so it will accept the new paint. I love the new fangled sanding "sponges", they make it very easy, you might want to try one. I would guess 3 minutes per leg more or less depending on how fancy the spindles are. Then wipe them off with a slightly damp cloth so no dust is left behind, let dry then paint. If you try to skip the sanding the new paint will probably rub off easily. In painting preparation is the most important step! There shouldn't be a need to prime in my opinion as long as you sand. Using your leftover hall and kitchen paint sounds like a great idea and it will tie your table into the rest of your decorating scheme. Whole project should take about an hour and a half assuming some fancy painting with mixed color on the spindles. Good luck kathy

I'm thinking of getting a wall-mounted shop vac so I can quickly vacuum it maybe once a week to pick up dust/debris. But yea -- at least the dirt is contained in the mudroom (we don't wear shoes in the house -- they get kicked off in the mudroom and house slippers put on), but I have to vacuum a lot in there obviously. Dog tracks in a lot from the garage, too.