willet, lol, you may confuse me with rhome any time! That is quite a compliment for me! I do hope the SS works out for you if that's what you want. For us, aside from the layout, this was the biggest and most difficult decision. Keep us updated! I meant to mention earlier, the marble.com site has much more than just marble. It's a great place to see all kinds of stone and has an extensive gallery. doraville, somehow I missed your laminate suggestion. I will have to keep that in mind when we redo our bathrooms, though I am hoping our remnant of Impala will at least fit our master. want2bsure, I couldn't for the life of me figure out BB, though I looked at all the previous posts. (I wouldn't be surprised if I missed something obvious, but wondered if you meant SS.) The main two colors I see are dark gray, almost black, and a slightly lighter gray. If you've only seen Impala online, there are some pics that show it as looking browner, but I think that's the light. There are flecks and patches but those are silvery rather than coppery. I think they show up better being leathered than polished. Leathered Polished Also because of the lighting, I'm not sure what is the primary tone, but there is no red or brown at all. However, it's about the same in tone as an oiled SS (but more a gray than a blue or green tone). With my warm red oak floors, I think it's a good color. I was skeptical about ordering a walnut colored butcherblock (oh, duh... there's the BB, nevermind!) to go with the dark gray tone of the Impala, but I did it anyway and I think it will be fine. Look at Marron Cohiba (also called Antique Brown) and Imperial Brown. They are slightly warmer but don't read all brown. In fact, the MC reads more gray than brown to me but has some beautiful grains that change colors depending on the light. jrueter has a beautiful kitchen using this stone for her counters. I'm sorry I don't have a link but if you search as suggested above or on GW, I'm sure you will find it. If not, I'll pull up a link later. Stick with the plywood as long as you can stand it to give yourself some time!

I already know what I'm dealing with in my builder. Unfortunately my banker basically refused to allow me to fire him months and months ago when I first became fully aware that he really knew less about building a house than I do. Banker was concerned that if I fired him we would wind up in litigation and the house would never get finished. Since then I've been trying to make sure things get done right but then he pulls another stupid trick (like this one) that it never occurred to me to warn him against doing before he could do it. Question now is: Will the windows all need to be removed so the sill plates can be cleaned out? That would probably involve removing and replacing all the Hardie trim around the windows which as already been painted. Anyone know if it might be possible to reach in with something like a dental tool and break up and remove all that polyseal?

Woody, you need to get rid of the chipmunks. They are a carrier of deer ticks, possibly more so than deer. Where there's two or three, there's so many more behind them. Gosh, they breed like crazy! We've gotten at least 75 this year, and that's only when we see about six at any one time. They just keep coming! NH is one of the worst states for Lyme, so it's pretty serious here. We have a son with a genetic disorder, so we have gone so far as to spray each year for ticks and mosquitoes. I'm not a fan of chemicals, but we can't take any risks. I've watched my garden over these years and still see all sorts of bees, including honeybees, butterflies, dragonflies, etc. No ticks or mosquitoes though. I actually had a therapist tell me that some in the naturopath community up here think spraying is a good idea, even though it is chemical, compared to the risks of so many tick and mosquito borne diseases that are out there. We also have Triple E...deaths associated with it in NH. My mom recently met with a company that sprays for ticks, and they have issues with chiggers (seriously, that would be grounds for me to move! LOL!) and they have been applying a natural spray mainly consisting of garlic. They have seen a great reduction of ticks. Whenever I've worked in their garden I would have multiple ticks on me throughout the day, and many times find them on me on the plane ride home! Yikes! So for them to say they haven't had any ticks on them since this garlic treatment started makes me think it must really work. Seems to keep deer away too. Our spray regimen does as well because there are aromatic oils in it. If you check with a local pest company they might have organic sprays that might be worth looking into. Over the course of a season it is quite expensive though. But, if you don't pull ticks off you regularly after working in the garden, maybe you don't really have a major tick problem? We started spraying when every time I came out of multiple areas of the garden I'd have four or five ticks crawling on me. And I wasn't even working in tall grasses or woods. I guess the good thing about Lyme is that you have a bit of a warning with the bullseye, so there is time to get meds before running into real trouble. Deer ticks are tiny so tick checks are so important. Although, I have such a head of hair (I suppose much like your dog, only blonde!), I don't think I'd ever be able to find any ticks on my head........ Good luck with whatever you decide to do. T2D (Susan)

AWM: You're so lucky that you have a high tolerance for messes; I'm just the opposite. But, it sounds like this will be less messy than I was expecting. Thank you! Funky: I took your advise and called our Anderson Windows design consultant and he told me basically the same thing, "Don't worry. We'll take care of anything you forget to do or can't handle." And, they do bring their own drop cloths. To my defense, I call the local company as soon as they opened this morning, and left a message with their secretary(?), but no one returned my call. Maddielee: that sounds good to me! And, thanks for the coffee and cookie idea. I'll do that. OP: I've been worried about dust and dirt, as I still remember the daily dust when our kitchen was being redone. I'm glad to hear that it will most likely be a lot easier! Debbie B: I'll try to take some After pics, although I'm not sure that there will be much difference in how they look overall. Carlsbad, eh? No offense to your brother, but that town needs to get some better hotels and restaurants. Still, the caverns are incredible. Thank you all so much for the info and for the reassurances that this will be easier than I'd anticipated! It sounds like the Anderson Window installers will pretty much take care of everything, and in a very professional but laid-back manner. I seriously feel so much better now.