You are all too much-very good for a tired girl's ego! I so appreciate your feedback. I always hope to achieve that "accumulated over time" feeling, but it's very difficult on a low (make that NO) dollar budget. I am fortunate to have a husband who has a gift for being able to create whatever I draw out. He has been quite patient with my never ending projects. He actually tells our friends who visit not to stand in one place too long or "she'll either paint you or hang something on you!" I just scored an end table for my living room on CL for 10 dollars! I hope it actually looks like the description the seller gave me-the pic is blurry. I'll be picking it up Saturday. My neighbor just shook her head when I told her-she says nothing in my house "matches" and she doesn't quite understand how I do that. She has a beautifully "done" home and a decorator who places every accessory. I simply cannot afford that. I picked up 2 buffet lamps someone donated to our local thrift shop and I need to work on the finish and I want to monogram the shades-I'll post before and afters. I've always dreamed of living in a historicold house, but it's never been in the cards. My husband grew up in a turn of the century Victorian and I WISH I could get my hands on that. New construction is hard for me. The high ceilings sometimes make it difficult to achieve any intimacy and the open-ness of some of these homes makes it hard to transition. I also happen to love having a couple of more "elegant" spaces. I think society is losing by allowing some of the niceties of entertaining to disappear. Don't get me wrong-I'm a mom of 6 and 5 of them are boys. We live a casual, sometimes rather rambunctious lifestyle. But still, I love to share a nice dinner on a lovely table with friends and family. I think every house (heck, every ROOM) should have a reading corner and kids should always have something "pretty" to look at and surround them. Thank you all so much

Very pretty badgergal!

Thanks guys! Breezy: I cannot remember the paint color but my painter is still working in the basement so I'll ask him tomorrow. I wanted a warm grey for that room. Neutral but not a cold feeling. Enduring: the kids' bath is black slate. I love slate but did not want as much variation in size of the tiles as most multicolor slate tends to have lots of variation...easy to stub toes. Black slate does not and I loved the black/white theme so it is easy to change accessories as the kids grow up. The guest bath is slate but not black. It is actually mostly navy with some gold tones. Very interesting and again less variation in size. Still waters: we had the heating system reworked (boiler in basement so its radiant heat) so we adjusted some of the baseboard heaters and took that one out and kept the one on the back wall. Worked out well to add the extra storage.

Years ago, my ex-hubby and I had a neighbour who chained his dog outside year-round. His bowl of water was a block of ice, and little food. It broke my heart and I bought a bale of straw for him and we put it in his doghouse. There was nothing in his little doghouse for him to lay on or keep warm. He was so happy, jumping around in the straw. I asked the owner if I could take him for walks, and he let us a couple of times, then wouldn't anymore because we were being "too kind" to the dog. We didn't see the dog after a while, so I think he was killed. Just my thoughts though.