dlm2000: WOW, you get the "green thumb" of the week! Thanks for posting the picture. We've located a wire crib like the one in the pic but still has the roof on it. In our plans is the crib being set over a tree (dead and pruned to about 10' tall) and putting the electrical outlets and lights on/in the tree. Believe it or not, my sweetie-pie husband is going to pour a concrete footing ledge for the crib to set on. Of course this is done AFTER crops are in, hogs are shipped, etc, etc, etc. Thanks again for the update. PS: I just love this site!

You both did a great job on this corncrib...love it! Beautiful fireplace & love the log plantings in the front! Wisteria will be beautiful & spread alot ...also love the brick floor & path! Lots of work here...nice save & looks like a fun place ...esp on a cool evening! TFS! Jeanne S.

kkim: well, that explains some of your issues. Some questions and thoughts: I am assuming that all of the dimensions you refer to (9'', 18'', 10'') refer to the HEIGHT of the hood. What did you plan to put above the original hood? A cabinet? If so, what about using an elbow to go vertical to horizontal, hidden inside the (unfortunately not very functional) cabinet? At least it would look OK and allows you to go with the 9'' vent. If there is nothing above the hood, I guess you could have someone fab a "fake" chimney running vertically to the ceiling, which would conceal the elbow, and look like it was a vertically venting hood. Or, if there is nothing above the hood, what about a custom hood enclosure that goes up high enough to conceal your elbow? Though this will likely force you to go with an even narrower hood liner, probably not a great idea). If you're going custom, you could consider a deeper than normal hood to make up to some degree for the narrower than optimal 45'' width. Need to watch out for taller folks who might hit their head on it though. If you have a layout you could post it would be helpful. You list many of the good custom hood companies. Search this forum for other suggestions. Hang in there! It will work out fine no matter what--98% of the time the 45'' hood will be more than adequate, and 2% of the time when you sear or wok something you may get a bit of smoke spillover, certainly not the end of the world. Just make sure it's as pretty as the Aga.

I'm reading it, kats! I'm embarking on a two-pronged window project at my 108-year-old house. One part is restoring and repairing the remaining original windows. Most of them are in perfectly good condition, but entombed in paint and caulk and missing their cords. Nothing we can't fix. A couple are rotten beyond repair, but our local wood window guy can replicate them. The other (and very expensive) part is is replacing the horrible vinyl replacement windows with proper wood windows (by the same guy - his workshop's whole business is building old style wood windows for historic/old buildings). Oh, and then the side project is commissioning a stained glass guy to make us new transom panes and landing window, as all the stained glass was stripped from this house long ago. That'll be once I've saved for a decade or won the lottery. I hope to have window and interior trim restoration done before we start a family, but I bought myself a very nice respirator. I'll say this about old windows - there are few things more satisfying than opening a giant and heavy yet perfectly balanced hung window sash with a single finger. It is the most epic manifestation of man's mastery of the concept leverage and the invention of the pulley. You can't do that with vinyl replacements. maifleur01 , it's important to know that the buyers of old houses (specifically those who buy old houses BECAUSE they are old houses) have different standards and "checklists" from typical buyers. Things that are attractive (or non-issues) in a typical contemporary house become massive detractors in an old house. Modern replacement windows are a big one, also updated layouts (especially newfangled open ones), new (replacement) finishes, carpet, "updated" forced air heating systems (forced air is LESS EFFICIENT than hot water radiators, did you know?), addition of anachronistic details like can lights and other silliness, etc. I see updated modern kitchens and bathrooms in old houses as a neutral, because while it's nice to have a decent kitchen and bathroom in the meantime, I'm going to tear them out anyway and redo them to match the house better (out of all the Victorians and Craftsmans we looked at, I did not see a single kitchen, newly done or falling apart, that I liked or felt was appropriate for the house. If you're a seller, you might as well spare yourself the cash and headache. There are a bunch of dumb shoddy things the previous owner of my house did to put it on the market, like paint the rooms dumb trendy colors, that we are systematically undoing. Luckily she didn't do anything beyond superficial "improvements". At the end of the day, less is better. Us old house buyers tend to be fixer upper types, so I'd rather fix an old house in an unadulterated state than fix an old house that's been remuddled and mucked up, because after I rip out all the dumb changes put in to make the house "more appealing" on the market, then I still have to fix an old house anyway.