i lost my senior great dane girl 5 weeks ago to bone cancer. it was sudden and shocking and i still look for her. my remaining dane girl and eden were joined at the hip, pip took the loss very hard and had been grieving so much, it broke my heart. i contacted pip's breeder and one of her former co-owners and asked that they keep an eye out for any adults that any breeder friends might be considering a new home for (retired show dogs, etc.). the co-owner gave me the contact information for one of her people who had a dane boy she had been looking for just the right home for and the rest is history. meet "flighty foto my way", call name "frank". frank will be 4 years old on 5/31. he is a very sweet boy and he and pippin hit it off immediately at our meet 'n' greet friday. they do zoomies numerous times a day, sleep curled up together and are just a perfect pair. pippin is so much happier and that makes me happier. even though i miss eden terribly, i am beginning to heal now that pip is feeling better. frank is a bit on the thin side because he lived the last 4 weeks with a female dane who was going through a heat cycle and when that's going on, intact males ignore food, do a lot of pacing and fretting and routinely lose weight. he's eating like a horse so i'm confident he will gain and be back to his normal weight soon. i'm giving him a few weeks to settle in and then i'll make an appointment to have him neutered.

y does it seem like such a sin of children have their own bathrooms if the person can afford ? There is a constant refrain when plans are presented with 'get rid of those separate bathrooms and make the kids share one' Is that the only way kids learn to share? That's some heavy-handed wording, but I'd say it's a mistake to over-bath because none of us -- no matter how much money is in our bank accounts -- is entitled to use up an excessive amount of the world's resources just because we feel like it. You could take this argument to extremes and say that most families could survive in something around 1000 square feet, but that's an extreme argument. If you live in an average American 3 bedroom/2 bath with indoor plumbing, insulation, and a non-leaking roof, you're probably living better than about 98% of the humans who've ever inhabited this planet -- do we need to go above and beyond that very-comfortable-average-for-today? Can the Earth afford for us to push beyond that very-comfortable-average-for-today? Wow! A jack and jill bathroom because someone doen't want to walk into a corridor. That's truly a first-world problem. You're not wrong to say it's a first-world problem, but a bathroom connected to your bedroom IS a nicety -- you can enter the bathroom in any state of dress (or undress). I personally never had a master bath IN my bedroom until I was married at 24 ... that and having washer/dryer of my very own seemed like such incredible luxuries ... and they still do. We recently replaced our leaky master shower, and I did not enjoy leaving my bedroom /walking down the hall to use the kids' shower ... it's a perfectly good shower, and I have no complaints about it, but I very much missed the convenience of walking out of my shower /into my closet with just a towel around my wet hair. However, layout out bathrooms so that they're private doesn't have to increase the overall number of bathrooms. Drove me nuts having to clean 4 bathrooms in the previous house. This is the #1 reason I advocate moderation in bathrooms. No one likes cleaning them (even people who are paid to clean them), and it's a constant chore ... and if we're talking about excessive baths, it's a pointless chore. One of the things that excites me most about my new house plans: Instead of a powder room for our guests, we're attaching a powder room to our master bath. One toilet downstairs /one toilet upstairs ... moderation in cleaning. While the OP said she doesn't care how others spend their money, some other posters apparently get pretty bent out of shape over the thought of private bathrooms. "Bent out of shape" is simply not true. It's a discussion of ideas. 1 outhouse had 2 seats - and 2 would sit there together! Sounds like summer camp.

First, cabinet costs increase every year by about 3%. So the person who had a really nice kitchen installed 12 years ago will be surprised to learn that to replace that kitchen with exactly the same product will likely cost $17,000 today. But I would bet that kitchen doesn't have a single blind corner turn-out or some other nice features that many homes need today. How high are your ceilings? Big cost driver. Homes with 8 foot ceilings are cheaper to do than 9 foot or 10 foot ceilings. Those are major cost drivers. Paint versus stain adds about 10% to cost--add a glaze and you just added another 15% to the paint. Do you have any unique architectural features you want. Those can add up quickly. How many bathrooms do you have. And laundry rooms and bookcases--they all add up. I see nothing wrong with IKEA if you want or need cheap and thin. Oh, and made in China. Most IKEA cabinets are made there. Possibly they use child labor or prison labor, who knows. But best bet is to assume it is 6% to 12% of new home construction, all dependent on the above factors and more. More complex jobs will have a higher percent and less complex jobs will be a lower percent. Track builders regularly do their cabinets at 4% of total job cost, but they are usually very cheaply done, not of plywood, not 3/4" thick and usually underscale for the spaces. Happens often. Those home buyers are my customers 5 to 10 years out as their cabinets discolor and become a bit worn. So dear lady, for your $12000 cabinet job, I would like to put them next to a high quality job and watch your face. There is a difference. But there is nothing wrong with a modest approach from a good cabinetry group--they can make it look like a million dollars and give you a real warranty, unlike the guys doing these things in their garage. You get what you pay for in a very competitive industry and there is no rule of thumb, just a wide range.

Some reports say that adding 1/2 bath will increase the value of the home by 10% but if you ask me I think it's all BS. If that was the case everyone would be turning closets into a 1/2 bathroom. If you think you will get more use out of the closet, get rid of the bathroom... If you like run and cap the plumbing and if you going to sell the house, and you think you will get 30-40k more turn the closet back into a bathroom. :-)