Renovator8- Thanks for your input, it is greatly appreciated. Garage Stairs to the basement: We've talked about this in the past & the DH has these very high on his "must have" list. We had this before and he utilized them frequently. They lead into a "shoppe" area and he frequently went from outside, to garage, to basement with dirty workboots, etc. I actually like your idea for the stairs. I believe at first our idea was the turn provided a seperation from the "piano area" and the foyer. However, I see that it really does not and see the benefits. I also believe traffic from the family room will better enter the stairs if straight. I must admit I have also pictured boys acrobatically swinging over towards the family room rather than make the turn of the stairs and come back around. I know you are not a fan of wider isalnds, but I was hoping to widen that one some (used to a 48"+ width island). I was worried about it feeling too tight between that walk way when we had a lot going on in there. Saving for a new piano:) Lavender Lass- We will be looking at the layout upstairs. We were going to put 3 boys in one room, if this one happened to be a girl. 3 boys to a room is not a bad idea, but with the age/spacing of our boys it seems best to do two in each room. Thanks for all the input and ideas...We have a lot more to think about!

OK, The pavers are done, and salt is in the pool. I am putting stone to match the house on all of the retaining walls myself in the next few weeks, then I will cap them off with bricks that match the house. Finish grading and clean up is tomorrow. I then have plenty of planters (4) to landscape too. Overall A&S was fine to work with. Like I was told in the beginning, their on site management could be better. Sometimes it seems they would rather have the subs do something wrong, and then fix it later, than to just keep a project manager at the site more often. But, they did respond quickly to all of my requests and changes. And I am a picky person when it comes to projects like these. Anyhow, I appreciate all of the ideas, suggestions, and comments from you guys and gals. Here are some photos. I will post others after the stone is on the walls and the landscaping is in. (BTW, the pavers are Dublin's Potomac 3 peice, and the water is very dirty from all of the paver dust... it actually is a much crisper blue than is appearing here)

That makes sense the water is going to the sewer drain and not a sewer line! I'm surprised the concrete is the expensive part--- maybe you're in a difficult location where it would be hard to get the concrete there? In our case the expensive part is the sheer overwhelming physical labor of it all. The contractor came back today and I had done some digging above the old coal on the outside as well as inside it (in the basement) and had an unpleasant surprise (are there any pleasant surprises with this house?). Apparently, like everything else with this house, they cob-jobbed the coal chute closed by throwing bricks into it and pouring a thin slab on top. I don't know what caused the avalanche of dirt (and insulation) on the bottom inside the basement, but I do know that there is no concrete floor under it like there is in the rest of the basement! We assumed it was concrete and that the dirt avalanche could just be shoveled out. Course not. We had a lot of rain a few days ago and as I shoveled up some dirt inside the basement, expecting to see a concrete floor, instead it was just more dirt and a growing pool of water. The contractor thinks there is water coming up from the ground as well as through the wall. So that changed our plan a bit since they're going to have to excavate down outside the house to the basement floor level, pour a footer, build a cinderblock wall to properly seal off the stupid coal chute, and then do some waterproofing inside (clean out dirt, install drain in floor into sump pump which is fortunately only about a foot away, pour clean gravel on top, cover with encapsulating material). On the exterior he thinks it should just be graded away with dirt and with a hardscape/mulch/rocks/something, no plantings. The total is now up to $8500. I'm a little shocked that it's that inexpensive, for all the work they'd be doing (pouring a footer sounds like it would be exorbitantly expensive, right?). He also isn't going to be doing the concrete on the other side of the deck (under the kitchen window) since he thinks the water on that side is also coming up from the ground (sheesh) and it wouldn't do much good. So they're just going to grade the ground there with dirt. I asked him about a door at the bottom of the stairs and he said he could put up some of that encapsulating material and have it hang down over the opening, which would be better than nothing since an actual door isn't feasible. It sounds like you did more than your due diligence with getting bids and planning, so I really hope it works out for you! It's got to help somewhat, at least, if not get rid of the water 100%. If your water table is high (like it is here, apparently) then the french drains won't be 100%, but you'd probably know that by now. My husband is still digesting all this information, but if all goes well we'll be having it done early September probably. Good luck with everything!!

--Get a good shop vac. --Buy two or three fluorescent colored tape measures and write your name on each one. --Buy a couple extra brooms and dust pans. Get plenty of blue tape, duct tape, adhesive tape. Get a couple sharpie pens and couple fattie markers and put your name on all of them or tape spoons to the ends of them. --Decide where you're going to store the old flattened cardboard boxes so they're handy when you need them. --Decide where the various kinds of waste will go--wood, plastic wraps, sawdust, etc. --Make notes of where you stored stuff--where did that turkey platter go? In what crevice will you be stuffing the rubber boots or the Easter baskets? (If you know which of the boxes in the mound in my basement contains Christmas stuff, let me know.) If you buy stuff in anticipation of its installation, decide what thoughtful place it's going to be in temporarily and tell others! (How silly--I have a wonderful vintage lighting fixture which might be right there in the jumble of boxes, but which box? And meanwhile, I had to waste a precious afternoon just to buy a $60 standby piece because the electrical inspector was coming! I'll probably be living with it for years.) ____ Be sure you have truly finished the decision making. Don't put off things because there is a birthday party and a school project and you're stressed at work. The kitchen timetable can't wait for you to have a good day. Allocate time to think clearly--put it in the calendar if necessary, whether it's go-to things like visiting a showroom or the HD, or a conversation with spouse, or a second look at Aunt Jane's fabulous XYZ, or a final, really thoughtful look at all the plans, specs, etc. Be sure you have made sensible final decisions as to siting of electrical switches, lighting fixtures, electric plugs. THINK! This part of the work is very very hard to undo once it's buried inside walls and the guy with the talent and the license has left the premises. Think through the 3-way switches, the overlarge banks of switches, the actuality of when you will want to turn something off or on. You can't say later, "oh, by the way, let's just change X." Electrical stuff is more lasting and important to your daily life in a kitchen than a paint color or the size of the soffet or the placing of the sink sprayer but you probably spent less time planning it.