I've been out of town, so just getting back to this... Scanmike, thank you so much for the compliment! BUT, if I can do it, you can too, I'm sure! Thank you Work in progress and Cooperbailey as well. I think drinking in all the gorgeous rooms I see on this forum helped tremendously! Trailrunner, I don't think Target had these in 120" lengths, but I'd think you might want lined drapes if you want to block the sun. I just wanted softening of the room, so I didn't care about them being lined. There is a company I've seen advertised that sells 120" lined silk drapes for $64.99/panel with free shipping (link below) -- still not cheap, but for real silk, I think that's a steal! They have other 120" drapes as well. (Insert no affiliation disclaimer here!) I hope that helps! Thank you all again! It means a lot to get such nice comments from all of you! Here is a link that might be useful: Curtainworks 120 inch silk drapes

Ive been in the game for a long long time and will gladly break down your thread for you based on my observations of the industry and the men who conduct this type of business within it, and the buyers like yourself who make the purchases from guys like these. Quote" We have a guy that has been in the pool business for 35 years and used to own his a pool company but now he is retired "Quote If this is the case, why isn't he still in the business? My very long term competitors have enjoyed family business which was passed on to their children. Quote" and has no licence but he said he would take on our project for a small fee $ 5000.00. "Quote This would scare me because the guy isn't in any particular legitimate business. Quote" He know everyone in the business he would have us do it as O/B. "Quote I seriously doubt he knows everyone in the industry, and those he does, who provide service, will certainly give him a kicker on the tab. Of course he'll have you do it as an owner/builder, that's what suits him best. Quote" We are worried about our risked involved. Quote I'm certain that he isn't worried about the risk involved because he has none whatsoever. Quote" We got bids for a new pool, bbq, hardscape, firepit and landscaping. Well all the pool company's came in 25,000 higher then O/B. "quote This may well be possible. I'm curious, how many of his finished backyards with an equal amount of work have you actually seen, and more importantly, how many of these buyers did you get to engage in an intimate conversation in his absence to discuss the process. Quote" What do you think? "Quote I think that you'll find that the only difference in price between owner/builder and consultant is minimal. Subs will always charge an owner/builder more than a legitimate pool construction contractor. If they're interacting with an ex-industry insider they'll charge you more than they'd do the work for another builder for. The only difference is that they'll be giving him a cut of the ticket. He and they both know the actual value of services rendered. His take goes above it. If you go owner/builder, do it on your own. Don't pay the subs higher prices and him too. Our areas pool consultants are builders who couldn't make it as a legitimate business in the pool construction business. They were washouts from the game and chose the only opportunity left available to them. It's very simple formula. Pass all the risk off to the buyer and have him pay more for service than a builder who builds many pools a year would pay. This way you can easily double your 5000 take. If there's is a problem it's really no sweat because he isn't the contractor of record. Your name is on the building permit and your the contrctor of record now. If there's a problem your completely resonsible. Quote" But the savings is great! "Quote Is it really? See ya Kelly

"you can't hide the oak grain and pits with paint!" He is correct. Put paste wood filler WILL fill the oak pores and allow a smooth finish. Once you get to bare wood you apply paste wood filler (Pore-o-pac by Behlans is one) is than applied to the wood and allowed to start to set before rubbing most of it off with burlap across the grain. If you are going to paint use natural or a light color filler. After the filler finishes drying you get to sand once again with fine grit to remove any excess filler on the surface. If you remove to much filler (or it shrinks excessively from being thinned to much) you may even need a second coat of filler. You can make ANY wood smooth as glass if you want to work at it. The prominent pores in oak furniture are a 'style' that omits paste wood filler. There are also finish styles that use contrasting or colored filler to emphasize the pores while leaving a smoother surface.

We have a similar problem and have no real foyer and certainly no mudroom (it's an old Cape Cod that was expanded but somehow managed to lose all its hallways.) The challenge for me is creating storage that is effective and attractive for 3 different types of items: coats, shoes, and backpacks. My oldest just started middle school and we learned the hard way that at this stage, backpacks cannot be hung from hooks on dry wall. Our solution is similar to yours: we have a long console table with a lower shelf. Shoes go in big old galvanized buckets from Smith & Hawken at Target; 2 kids' backpacks fit neatly next to the buckets. Kid hoodies/windbreakers are hung on hooks on a wall adjacent to the front door; there's also a hanging 3-file thingy for papers that need to go to/from school. We also have a small front closet that houses heavy coats and boots in winter and pool towels/goggles/etc in summer. It's not the best system, but it's reasonably functional at this point. I like the Ikea shoe cabinets, and toy with the idea of getting one every so often. But they are mostly too bulky for my space, and I'm not sure my kids would actually use them properly. We tried a bunch of other options for shoes and the basket/bucket thing seems to involve the least amount of effort so actually tends to get utilized more frequently. We also tried shoe benches etc, but found that no one ever sat down on the bench to put on their shoes!