I was talking advice regarding forward planning. Quite likely some tax preparers, and even more so, accountants, could show most of us ways that we could arrange our personal financial affairs to reduce our tax load in future years ... at least, with regard to the rules governing the income tax system, at present. In addition, I've suggested that every senior should have a home-based business, to allow some nice deductions. I think that that works in the U.S. as well as Canada - get the tax book explaining how to do tax on a small business. Preferably as a consultant rather than peddling goods, with all of the purchase of stuff, ship, store, loss, ship, losing payment hassles so involved. If you can do it on the internet ... ... all that you have to do is keyboard ... then press "Send". And if your ideas are useful to a number of people ... perhaps you could press "Send" once ... ... and have the message go to 50 addresses, all at once: no stationery cost. And 50 fee-payers. Plus if some don't get around to paying ... they don't have goods in hand that cost you money to purchase, ship, store, ship. No postage cost - and your internet connection would be (partially) deductible. Same for computer. Canadians need to be careful, for if they claim certain aspects of their home-based business, e.g mortgage interest and possibly some other less apparently house-related items, they may jeopardize that precious exemption from income tax liability on capital gain on sale of their home that was owner-occupied throughout (i.e., it was partly used for business, so part of the capital gain exemption might be disallowed). For example, just today on Yahoo Canada, regarding personal finance and retirement, one planner with 35 years' experience suggested that he'd suggested to quite a few seniors that, in order to make their RRIF (personal tax-deferred retirement plan) payout deductible, they could make a major loan for investment, using their house as collateral, agreeing with the lender to pay (deductible) interest at the amount of their annual RRIF payout. That is, if their RRIF's annual payout were $6,250.00 and they made a loan of $100,000.00 at 6.25%, the RRIF payout would become tax-free, offset by the deductible interest on the investment loan. He said that he has not had any couple take up that suggestion, everyone being afraid to stick their neck(s) out. Investing in solid, quality stocks, they would likely earn a substantial amount of dividend income ... which, if it were paid by Canadian corporations, would be taxed at a low rate. And could be used to pay a good deal of the interest cost on the loan, thus making a portion of the RRIF payment available for other uses. Maybe have certificates issued, at probably $35.00 - 50.00 each, as extra collateral in case the value of the house goes below the collateral limit and the bank makes a margin call - I have never received one, but always have extra asset available - I don't like a hassle. My bank told me yesterday that my interest rate on Line of Credit loan used for investment would now be at prime, i.e. 5.25% - it was 6.25%, a couple of months ago. I said that, at the earlier rate, I could borrow for almost no net cost. So at the 5.25% rate, I would be ahead on the game, even if I made no capital gain. And I think that the rate of inflation is somewhat higher, lately, which would help all the more! That makes more sense to me than borrowing some of the value of the house ... and spending the money on consumption. I think that some tough days are coming when we'll be glad for every dollar of asset and income that we possess. Good wishes for skillful money management, everyone. Including tax-avoidance plans (but not evasions: jail bait). ole joyful

Hello everyone. I'm looking for a color consultant to assist me with 1) identifying the "right" colors for my home (meaning the hue, depth, intensity will evoke certain emotions) 2) ensure that they flow from one room to the next and 3) are current. I've worked with a few decorators but have not been satisfied with their knowledge of color. @Barbara Jacobs or @funcolors or @Amy Woolf or any of the pros on this group, might you be able to recommend someone? I'm in the Northern Virginia area. I prefer in-person consultation. Thank you in advance for any guidance you can provide. Best. Maryam

Wow, tons of great ideas and different ways to go with this. I really appreciate you all brain storming this with me and your ideas. Please keep them coming! I think a long narrow table could work, but I think it would kind of make the space feel kind of tight. I'm a just touch claustrophobic, so if the space is tight, I'm apt not to use it. I know you're thinking well a booth can be a little 'squished' too, honestly I'd sit on chair side and leave the booth to the kids if we went that way. *LOL* Les, I really like the idea of a drop leaf table for the space, dropping one side and pushing against the short sink wall unless we needed the extra seating. I wonder how hard it would be to find a 8', possibly 9' long drop leaf type of harvest table like that. The island sounds great, especially from a serving point of view, but this will be our primary eating area so I'd like to have the option of a table I think. I like the small upper windows idea too, I'm going to bring that up with my DH. See what we did was flip flop part of the downstairs area to make the space work better for us. The kitchen and formal dining room were on the other side of the house. The thing is the dining room in this old house was built too tight to really comfortably accommodate more than a few people .. can you tell I don't like to feel crowded. *LOL* So it really wasn't a good use of space, the kitchen had too many door and window issues to have a good flow. Now on this side, this back eating area was chopped into two cramped rooms. One being a dark bathroom, the other just kind of a no mans land of wasted space back entry area .. this opened to the deck which made no sense. Where the kitchen we are building is, was dark bedroom, since that side of the house is North facing. So it made sense to open this area all to one space, put in the doors leading to the deck to let in natural light and make this a brighter, more useable space. The eating area is not ideal, but neither was the other arraignment and it was in the interior of the house, so cramped *and* dark. At least over here you can open the doors, people can be on the deck, people can be inside and you have an illusion of space. Now next on the hit list is taking the old kitchen and dining area and reworking that space into a master suite. At that point we actually have three rooms to open up. An old library that we'll be using for our sitting, office area, there is a double sided fireplace in the middle of that room and the dining room, so by opening on both sides of that it will open the spaces to each other, yet leave them intact as a different space. The dining area and part of the kitchen becomes a nice sized master bedroom, what's left of the kitchen our bathroom.

You've gotten some excellent advice, including the adding 30-50% to the cost. LOL. I would have no problem living in the rental unit during reno. In my first home, my ex and I did all the work ourselves. I'm very handy and so was he so it worked out well. I painted, wallpapered, laid floor tile, helped him hang cabinets, etc. We hired out the plumbing when he decided he could take out a kitchen in the master bedroom the previous owners had put in, and wound up not being able to shut the water off. (Don't ask. lol) In our second home, we did all the demo work and then hired out for the major work of rebuilding walls, etc. I then painted, tiled the backsplash, etc. In our condo we just sold, I decided I don't have the time, patience, or the back anymore to do all that. LOL. I'm too old.