I may not be tuned to the lingo here, though. We can stay online here, so anyone else can chime in with other tips or methods :) Are you saying he wants to see an image of you on a white background? So then using one of the selection tools, you could outline yourself and then hit copy/paste. Then you have an object of yourself separate from the rest of the photo (background). Select on the background area and use some of the color functions or the exposure and light functions to change it to white. You'll likely need to select the pic of yourself and use the tool for blurring edges to soften the transition between yourself and the background. Do a soft shadow on that object, too, for a little depth : ) Make any sense yet?

I find Adobe products in general are very difficult to use...not intuitive at all. I'm a nurse...16 years in ICU using all sorts of monitors and equipment, so I don't consider myself a total dummy. I have been involved in Telephone Nursing for the past 16 years and have learned many programs to manage patient care and also to manage employees and projects. Everything I have learned has been in the office setting by osmosis or taught myself. I'm not an expert by any means, but I can catch on to programs and even write technical curriculum as needed...but Adobe...YIKES...it makes me crazy. I just had to learn a new program out of the Adobe Premier Pro CS3 over the last 2 days within a couple of hours. I built myself a guide with screenshots, but need to practice some more. Maybe after I get better with this video adaption program I will be able to use more elements in Photoshop...but I am a total hack in that program. I wish I had someone at home to show me how to use all these programs...I would be sooooo happy. But I can CROP damitall!!! LOL

she is having the exposed foundation covereed in stone Probably already knows not to do anything with paint color until the stone is done. After the stone is up, she might have a dozen new color directions to chase. :D Exterior isn't like interior. Interior you do not have to have every last stitch in place to fit a room with color. As long as the basics, permanent elements are in place you can work color. Exterior isn't near as malleable because Mr. Sunshine is so darn intense and direct outside. Get the foundation covered in stone and then take another look. I'm thinking, with the stone in place, she should consider going light and neutral on the body or commit big and go with a dark, punchy color scheme with some drama. Safe midtones could add up to just a mediore color outcome for that house. A really cute house, btw.

ck_squared-I *think* that you have to make that call before you install the hood - or at least it's much simpler if you do. We will be taking it up to it so not behind it. I think you CAN do it afterward but more work involved. You can google it with + gardebweb and somebody did a whole thread on how they did it. I can't remember now it was quite a while ago that I was browsing. linelle-oh yes, spaghetti for sure. Most of my splatter comes from breakfast - eggs, pancakes, sausage. But surely the red stuff needs to be considered. Thanks for the reminder! Thanks may_flowers, annettacm and mags. It's such a sliver in between the cabinets and the trim I am tempted to just leave it out. I think we are going to hire this job out verses our usual DIY thought so maybe I'll just leave that to the professional and not sweat it!