Chellamaral, there was tile EVERYWHERE in this house and it only bled through in one area - a back bathroom. I think the grout was white, but I believe it was white all over the house . The tile that bled was the only original tile from 1958 left, so maybe that had something to do with it. To be honest, it didnt look that bad. One contractor was kind enough to tell me that if he stained the existing concrete, I would have ghosting every where. The current contractors said the same thing, hence the overlay. My friend just used the same contractor, and their existing floor was good enough to stain w/no overlay. I will ask the flooring guy why some floors are good tomorrow. I didnt get any pics of the bathroom, but here is an example I found online: Pip is doing well. He is a male parakeet. I already have two small (potty trained!) parrots, and wasnt looking for any more birds, but little Pip needs someone. His wings are cut (badly) and his nails are VERY long, but he seems tame. I have scoured the internet and no one has posted a lost ad in that area. My friend says that there are lots of foreclosures where she found him, and she thinks someone just let him go. How could someone let a bird that cant fly "loose?" It is bound to be eaten by a cat. I will probably get him a girlfriend and a bigger cage, once I move into the new house. There will actually be a bird room for my two birds. I love my birds, but had I known how much time/attn. they require, I would have thought twice before buying them. Below is my Rocky (post bath) and Zeek. I had an AC contractor look at the ducts. He said I have a HUGE underground duct with branches to the rooms, and moving the current ducts would be fine. The ducts are moved now and they have laid the first coats of overlay. Unfortunately, the scoring is still showing through and looks terrible! They are laying another coat tomorrow, but I am not confident it will disappear. I am not sure I am willing to pay 1k for the scoring, since the last one was wavy. I told him to cover it up and assume I am not scoring. kitchen: living room moved to bar: I love the reto renovation site! Thank you for the link. LOL@the 90's song posted on there. I will keep you guys updated! Thank you for your help. :)

This is my personal opinion. I'm no expert about this. I think if the house is a blank slate style-wise, you can take it in almost any direction you prefer. Although you need to have a vision for the entire home to make this work. You don't want to end up with a country kitchen, super-modern baths, and a Craftsman living room. I guess I would start by asking myself if the lines of the home are more horizontal or vertical. Again, my personal opinion, but I think horizontal lines lend themselves better to more sleek styles like modern, MCM, or whatever. Just something more streamlined. While horizontal lines lean more toward traditional, transitional, and country-ish/cottagey styles. What do YOU like? What do you envision for the rest of the home? I'm sure you'll get better, more concrete advice from others. And it may be helpful to post this question in the Home Decorating forum, too. And probably time to start finding inspiration photos.

Lilyfinch, to be honest I wing it as far as the lines of the beds. I use an edger shovel and eyeball it. I want to be outside right now cleaning up edges and getting rid of sod by the fence but I injured my ankle at crossfit yesterday and I am beyond annoyed with myself. I had tweaked it Monday but Tuesday it felt fine, yesterday I did a bunch of skaters and boom! My ankle told me it was very angry. Sigh. The weather was gorgeous yesterday in the mid seventies so I sat on the porch and daydreamed about the changes I want to make. I REALLY want to find the black and white anemone corms for sale but the only place I can find online that sells them to anyone has been sold out for months on end. I find the hardest part of gardening to be restraining myself. I ADORE formal English gardens which are so full of boxwoods and single varieties planted in multitudes but then I also want a cutting garden with all kinds of blue-based reds and purples and whites and pinks. The other side of the house by the AC unit has morning sun until noon and then afternoon shade, perfect for my hydrangea obsession. Unfortunately the ac units drain so much water that it floods the bed, I rigged up a hose to pipe it away into the grass but not until I realized how bad it was, AFTER my hydrangea all got terrible blackspot, which is pretty rare on a hydrangea. They are recovering slowly. The five hydrangea here in early April are blushing brides. The Japanese Maple was $5 from Lowe's, it had frost damage from a late frost after things had leafed out so I snatched it up because I adore coral barked Japanese Maples. I didn't take many pics of this area, I thought I had but I just checked and no such luck. Here is a close-up of one of the blushing bride's from June And now, they had been so full and covered in blooms but the added water just wrecked them. The rose on the left is about twenty years old, and don't tell anyone, but I kind of hate it. My old co-worker gave it to me because it wasn't happy in her yard, she wasn't sure what variety it is, some sort of David Austin. While it blooms regularly for me, the blooms don't smell like anything and they fall apart within a day, and they are only about an two-three inches wide or less. Meh.

The cabinet and tile totals are pretty darn low for the look and level that you appeared to want. Those are the Big Two that standout in the contract and the photos. I would have taken that as a Red Flag to research exactly what was being proposed for those. I would have expected the project to be a minimum of 50-75K more than what you paid, to get the look and quality that you assumed you would get here. If the tile is properly waterproofed in wet areas, and that is a HUGE IF, then I’d be inclined to have some of the worst in the non wet areas tweaked as best as their skill allows. And leave the wet areas alone. Maybe an epoxy grout colorant matched yo the background color in order to minimize the contrast. If the wet areas are not waterproofed correctly, that is a tearout and redo. That is unacceptable at any price point. But, I’d just settle for a credit for all of the tile work and hire someone else. It will not be nearly enough to pay for a redo from a true tile Pro though. That’s where that Red Flag on price will bite you, The cabinets are total TX backyard hobbyist junk and need to be gone. There is no salvaging that type of poor work, and improper finishing. I’d want a credit for all of the cabinet work in the house. It’s builder grade and finished with their feet. All flash and no substance. That credit will not be enough to get cabinets at the level that you wanted either. Pretty far from it. Another Red Flag. This is going to get ugly, because he is going to end up owing you more than you have left to pay him. And it will cost you another 50-100K to get things done to the level that you want. Or, you accept that the level you wanted isn’t reachable within your desired budget, and accept the level that your budget and contractor were able to give you.