florida wen....I wish to god I had followed your idea before pulling up my tack strips. I did it without thinking there was another way in two 10 by 12 foot rooms. Now I have probably over a hundred 1 to 2 inch craters I can't find a reasonable way to fill. I had the idea like yours to use a grinder to wear the nails down flush, but it came to me 3 days after I had already done the damage. Now, I can't get accurate information on how to patch these craters with something I can stain afterwards. Will the vinyl concrete patcher that is available from Quikrete take the stain reasonably well? AnyBody know? Or, should I use a concrete bonder (spread on with a brush)(I think also available from Quikrete) and then spread concrete into the hole and level off with a trowel? Then It would be concrete, so it would at least accept the stain. But I don't really know that this "bonder" stuff will really work. (I'm aware there will no doubt be substantial color differentation, but that is OK with me as long as it takes at least some color) I can't find accurate information on the web from someone who has done this. Meaning: patch the craters with something that will stick and is stainable. I've patched concrete holes before with just a mix of concrete and they don't stay down. That floorguy's comments are just worthless. Patching it without some bonder or binder, just doesn't work. They come back up or flake off. I need a method that will stay down and take a reasonable stain, so I can make a finished floor. Please help me, anyone out there who has gone through this. I would love to be able to go back in time and redo it with the grinding down method. It would save what seems like years and a lot of worry and uncertainty.

You coud use a fabric glue for hemming, and not even take them down. You will first need to take the old hem out. Lay the fabric on an ironing board, and with a pair of small *sharp* scissors, cut at the threadline. You may first want to iron the old hem flat before cutting. Determinine how much to cut off. After you've done that, decide how much to hem. Mark every 6" with a ----------(line), and fold fabric, bringing the edge up to the line~this will be your finished length. Press. Open the part that you've pressed, and lay on a line of glue, then spread with your fingers so it won't be a blob. Use Aileen's fabric glue since it dries quickly. FYI, yes I've done it, and it works, but you can't wash/dry clean the drapes or the hem will come out.

Your cabinets are beautiful! Unless you absolutely hate the way they look, leave them as they are. Otherwise prepare yourself for a l-o-n-g haul. I stripped & refinished all moulding and kitchen cabinets in house we bought for re-sale...what a NIGHTMARE! First, all doors and drawers were numbered so they'd go back to original location. I used stripper, then sanded for days. Stain went on next, then three coats of clear with sanding between each. Before tackling this I loved to refinish but won't go near it now & I didn't have near the length of strap hinges nor as many cabinets as you have. Suzi

Lots of great tips given already, but my best tip is not to let it get dirty/untidy/cluttered in the first place. In other words, take care of issues with a few spare minutes before they get out of control, rather than having it overwhelm you After it's out of control. Think - PREVENT DEFENSE..... -Do dishes and clean the kitchen immediately after each meal (takes 10-15minutes) - you can relax after it's done and not have it as a negative thought eating you up the rest of the evening. Take another 5 minutes to sweep the floor so it doesn't get tracked all over the rest of the house. BTW - dish cloths and dish rags are ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL, as are dust cloths, brooms, vacuums, and any number of other cleaning items ;-). There are also not any gender-specific household chores. I think the best training my husband got was being a janitor at a number of businesses and schools while he went to college. The man can out-clean me any day of the week! -Eat together at the table, not all over the house at different times - (you won't have to take time to locate dirty dishes). -Put dirty clothes in a laundry basket/s (they will be all in one place when you need to start the laundry). We use 4 baskets located above the w/d on a shelf, and automatically separate clothes into whites, lights, darks, and kitchen towels. We air dry any wet items on a drying rack before tossing them into the laundry baskets to prevent that "sour" smell from wet items. -Do laundry on a regular schedule - and never run out of underwear! -Develop the do it NOW habit - don't just lay things down on the first convenient flat surface available intending to put it away later - put things away where they are supposed to go so you can easily find it later, hang coats/jackets in closets, shoes belong in your closet - not cluttering up the front entrance... We're not a shoes OFF family, which is a much debated issue on message boards ;-). Our flooring is designed to be walked on by us and by our guests/visitors (we have a rug outside and inside the front door to wipe shoes on). In fact, I'd rather visitors DIDN'T remove their shoes! My sister-in-law always went barefoot around the house and she always had warts on her feet, and her doctor told her it was because she was spreading the virus by going barefoot. - Go Figure - Keep your shoes on, please, we don't need your warts! So different strokes for different folks - but shoes don't belong at the front door entrance, whether you remove them there or not. -Get rid of/eliminate/prevent clutter - We don't take a daily newspaper or any magazine subscriptions, so that's a great way to save money, and we don't have a stack of them (usually left unread) to try to get-around-to. We had a friend who hated cleaning their bathroom. If they eliminated the 40 bottles of stuff lined up around the tub like a race track, it would make using AND cleaning the tub a breeze. The same went for the vanity that was completely covered with "stuff". Think of storage options to keep things clutter-free for easy cleaning - better yet, don't have "stuff" that causes clutter. -Deal with mail immediately - put "junk mail" into the recycling, put bills/correspondence in one place and take care of them a.s.a.p. -Tidy the public spaces of your home before retiring for the evening - takes 5 minutes - so it's turned a negative into a positive and a mess won't be greeting you the next morning. -Make beds each morning - it takes about 1-minute, and you'll have a positive space to retire to at night (btw - a 4-year old can make their own bed if you teach them how and don't make it complicated - and expect it to be done each day). -Identify problem areas, as already suggested. Most problems can be avoided or corrected with 5-minutes of regular attention that become good habits - and everyone participates in good habits. Reward good habits - everyone likes a little praise when it's deserved. If we keep the house clean this week, it won't take us as long to do the regular housework on Saturday, and we will have time to go out for an ice cream cone if we all do a good job all week! -Children should have a list of things they do just because they are part of a family. Pay them for things above and beyond their normal chores. Example: our kids got paid 25-cents per bag for leaves they raked (1980's prices :-), or helping with cleaning out the garage, or helping in the garden -- but taking their dishes from the table to the sink/dishwasher, helping do dishes, keeping their room clean, helping prepare a meal or setting the table, feeding/walking any pets, etc., was part of being a family - a good social skill and common courtesy. When our children were old enough, they planed and cooked one meal each week, and hubby did one on the weekend. We were all busy, so shared responsibilities made them a little lighter for all of us. -It's good manners to leave something in good or better condition than when you used it, so everyone has a positive experience. So if you splashed a few drops of water on the mirror, go ahead and wipe them off - rinse out the sink/tub/shower when you're done, or any number of other day-to-day things. If not you, then who? I AM my own housekeeper, so why would I want any more to do than is absolutely necessary? -It shouldn't take more than an hour to clean the entire house once a week, even less if you divide the tasks between 3 people, especially if you use "prevent defense" between cleaning days. Everyone in the household needs to be involved - they all dirty it, they can all help clean it AND keep it tidy. If they can mess something up, they have the skills to clean it up, especially once it's been defined as something they need to control and they have been instructed how to accomplish that task. The same motor skills that it takes to take toys out and play with them, remove a book from a shelf, take the blankets down to go to bed, can all be done in reverse. Unfortunately, that half of the equation is often ignored. When my son was going to college and living with different roommates, he often had to teach them these social skills about living as a "family", as well as how to do dishes, laundry, clean a toilet/bathroom, mop a floor, take out the trash, cook, and any number of other skills he'd been doing since he was a child. -If all else fails, get up 30-60 minutes earlier so you can take care of a portion of the list of things-to-do we all have to do, until you get a routine established. Your family will benefit from all you do, and all you teach THEM how to do. A friend with three children bemoaned the fact that she was a poor housekeeper because her mother was. I told her that was a lame excuse. After all, wasn't she in charge of her own activities, not her mother? Didn't she have the option to do the opposite? And if she didn't change the "poor housekeeper" model for the family, how did she ever expect her children to be good housekeepers? -Grainlady