I AM SPEECHLESS!!!!! Ditto everything everything everyone else said! I am in awe. I am a left brained design clod, but I do recognize genius. I am stuggling to dwsign 5 bathrooms and a kitchen with only two weeks to prepare for our newly constructed home in Irvine. Our two bedroom filled with mold was torn down to the concrete slab and has gone up faster than I expected. Any tips, help, suggestions, this peon will fall to her knees. I really know nothing about gardenweb protocol as I just joined and you are my first message. I am overwhelmed and don't want to go to a tile design showroom where I get the most recent 'in' Tuscan look ir white carrera marble design. How do you come you with such great ideas. I have sat in Barnes and NOble and looked through magazines...lthe saddest part is I'm married to a contractor and his design sense is more outdated than mine! We both just stared at yours and said...ooohhh.......aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!

yes, many call tyvek or air barrier the "dry in" stage. As soon as that is done, windows (you are correct, tyvek and then windows, with taping and flashing around the windows) and roofing done (shingles, metal, whatever you chose) they can work on the inside with other RI (wiring, plumbing, hvac, etc). However they should not insulate or drywall, as moisture can still get in. I also do not agree with waiting until spring for brick. Contractors around here (Iowa) put up brick all year. It just costs more in the winter, something he most likely does not want to pay for...(providing brick shelter and temp. heat)

>>A local "green" cabinet builder cites: "particleboard will deteriorate when exposed to water, it is more susceptible we use to dents and tends to sag when carrying weight long-term. As a result, she says, cabinets made with particleboard won't hold up as well to the wear-and-tear commonly experienced by kitchen cabinetry, and may have to be replaced sooner". I beg to differ with this statement. As I and others have pointed out before, it is the QUALITY of each and every material used in cabinet construction (or any carpentry) that matters. No manufacturer I know of uses particleboard for kitchen cabinets without applying a veneer of some sort. It may be wood, or laminate, or melamine - and what matters is the quality level of that veneer. Not all veneers are the same in quality and durability, any more than flooring materials are, or even plywood for that matter. I have Kraftmaid frameless cabs bought in 1989 and thoroughly and totally tested in a hard-usage environment - I love to cook and I don't baby anything I own. I bang pots around, slam and lean on cab doors with all my 200-plus pounds...basically giving them no mercy. I adore these cabs, with high-density particleboard cores, laminate exterior and high-quality melamine interior. I put dishes away soaking wet without a qualm. Everything cleans with a green scrubbie and a spritz of Windex. We had a six month-long slow leak in the sink cab and there was no substrate damage at all, just a very slight bubble to the melamine interior. One of my Lazy Susan base cabs had a loosening hinge on the bi-fold door. I'd always thought particleboard couldn't be redrilled - wrong! My handyman filled it with quick-setting epoxy, redrilled the hole, and it's been fine ever since (going on over 4 yrs now). No shelves have bowed - I have lots of experience with particleboard, since we own thousands of books and every single one of our 24 full-height 36" wide bookcases are made of the stuff, either veneered or just painted. Some of the bookcases are thirty-five years old and have been moved six times now (and also gone through two earthquakes). They are also loaded with art books weighing up to 85 lbs per shelf and can handle it without bowing - the trick with particleboard is to not exceed 32" in width without center support. High-density particleboard, when properly veneered or painted, is just as durable as 3/4" plywood. But it IS heavier, definitely not as easy to shove around or move by yourself. We have bathroom cabs made of 1/2" plywood billed as "all wood" - the stuff is flimsy, wobbly and hideous. I'll take high-quality particleboard with a good veneer any day, and know that it will last many decades without any more need for care than an "all wood" cabinet does. And please, I don't believe the inference that particleboard falls apart in water but plywood does not. I've watched plenty of interior plywood scraps disintegrate in the sun and rain - they simply delaminate, and turn into thin crispy layers that can be broken apart with your fingers. Oh, and my painted particleboard cabs? They are painted with latex paint, and I scrub fingerprints and dirt off with a wet sponge - no problems. Only marine-grade plywood can withstand water, and no company, big or small, makes cabs out of that stuff! This is the reason, BTW, that all flooring mfgs now require this stuff to be used as subflooring or you will void your warranty (something DIYers need to be aware of); they know regular plywood does not stand up to water and thus changed their warranty language to specifically exclude it.

plllog-- don't worry about overstepping-- any advice is good advice. I am coming into this only knowing how to rip down wallpaper and paint (which will come in handy), but that is a pretty short list of remodeling skills considering the undertaking at hand! I appreciate the question about the cooktop-- I was considering a down draft (I realize they are not as efficient as a hood, but a hood isn't an option). The floor joists are exposed underneath in the basement, so I am not sure what is technically involved with running the downdraft vent, but I don't think it will be too hard. (I hope.) I also agree with the short wall-- I have been thinking about it, and I agree that it would be a good idea to extend out the wall a couple feet there so that the countertops and cabinets have a logical end point and it is closer to what it originally looked like. I will wait on the trim until I find something that matches. Thank you ajpl and pickles--I am excited to look at the subfloors. This was something I didn't even think was a possiblity. (p.s. I really liked your kitchen, pickles) As for the vinyl tile removal-- I read that if it is done with the floor wet and you pop off the tiles with a tool that has a huge scraper attached to a long handle (not sure what this tool is called), that you can minimize and asbestos in the air-- then double bag and find a suitable landfill. Some people have told me to just install a wood floor over the vinyl tiles, but I don't know what that does to the baseboard trim. I read that the companies that do this charge an arm and a leg because of the repeated- exposure insurance they buy for their employees. Anyone have thoughts on this? Cleo, I have thought a lot about cork, and it one time was going to go with it, but I have read that it is a little fragile (needs to be sealed a lot and often?)and prone to fading. Also, it seemed like every pattern I liked was pretty expensive. Also, alittle OT, but if soapstone is too expensive, does anyone know anything about stained concrete countertops? Thank again, everyone :)