Thanks for the welcoming messages! I think I'm in the right place. Angelclub, I recognized your name and remember your kitchen, too - one of my favorites. MeMo, a neighbor told me we were in Zone 4 - zoned a little cooler than the map would indicate because of strong lake winds, she said. Now that I've determined I'm in the right forum, I'll get pictures this weekend of the yard area I want to work on to post. There is a link to my current Photobucket pics that show the house and its setting in the Finished Kitchens Blog under "amck kitchen" if anyone cares to take a look. I'm so happy to be done with building, and am looking forward to trying my hand at gardening. I've been yearning to do this for years!

Oh when it rains it pours! After having a good hot day and only a 30% chance of rain forecasted, I though we would get a dry day under our belt. No such luck. This evening we got another storm, putting down another 8/10 tenths of rain. Dave, your advice is spot on, but when it rains this much and just about every single day, I canÂt even do what you suggest. I can do what Anney suggested. I have lots of 5 quart ice cream pails that I can cut the bottom out of and fill with planting mix. At this time it seems that may be my only viable option. Do you guys think I should forego putting my black plastic down? The positive thing about not putting the plastic down is; less walking around in the garden, therefore less compaction. The negatives are; soil not as warm, having to deal with weeds and isnÂt this next one ironic. Having the plastic down would keep the soil moist should the summer turn to be very dry. I guess after typing this out it seems that it would be best to put the black plastic down. I am including a picture of one of the ice cream buckets with the bottom cut out, to get some thoughts as to whether or not if they would do the job. Thanks for the input guys, I really appreciate it. David

Hi, for some reason I wound up here from the Kitchen forum so I hope you don't mind if I offer a couple of thoughts. We did this same reno 5 years ago by gutting a 3000 sq ft home down to studs and plywood and the reno was about the same cost as what you are looking at. We had a few meetings with the GC before signing and I did ask him if he thought he and his firm could work with me. It was important that they understood that I would be the main contact and decision maker and not my husband. To keep the job on schedule and running smoothly have everything, and I mean everything, chosen before the job starts. You've chosen tile for the bathroom, how do you want it to run, you've chosen hardwood for the floor - great but have you chosen type and stain, have you chosen the type of edge for the kitchen and bathroom counters. Have every decision made before you start. Our GC didn't give us a choice, all those decisions had to made before we started. Lighting was the only thing he give us some lee-way on.This may seem harsh but there are a lot of little decisions still to made as you go along and the fewer decisions you have during the process the less stress there will be for you both. Do your own research first, don't rely on the GC to educate you on your available choices (faucets, flooring, counter tops as in granite vs quartz) - that wastes his time and costs you money. Know your own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to choosing things and developing a cohesive style for your home. I have a poor sense of colour and needed help in choosing paint colours. They provided someone to help me with that so that colours flowed. We developed an e-mail communication system which helped us to stay in constant touch rather than rely on texting or phone. E-mails develop a paper trail that can be called upon in the event of misunderstandings. It also allows some space between the two parties if an issue arises that might cause some stress. We only had two change orders - one involved adding some extra windows and the other involved vaulting our family room ceiling which we discovered was a possibility when the ceiling was opened up. In our post and beam home it was a great added feature and we weren't surcharged for either change. We were 6 months from moving out of the house to moving back in and our GC was a gem to work with during our reno. We have since recommended him to others and he has gotten some work from those referrals. Good Luck and do have fun.

You have a valid point, Worthy. However, please allow me describe our site. Although it does appear to be a vast countryside, it's really a new very small waterfront development. We are 1 of 3 homes. Don't know when, but eventually we will have neighbors (hopefully nice neighbors ( : . So most of the views will be toward the river, which can be seen left side of the photo. If you look, you'll see blue in the background. The room behind those windows is my studio/work space. You are right, there are views to enjoy outside those windows, too. But there are so many other rooms to enjoys views from too. I appreciate your comments. Gave me more to think about. Thank you very much, Yvonne.