The granite surround look is very trendy right now. If you don't like shiny, ask your designer about honed granite or unpolished stone. I would match the floor with whatever look you are doing on the surround, either slab or tile. You might like travertine or Jerusalem stone both are light neutrals. They have stove spray paint in black if you want to try that to cover the brass. You can order custom fit screens for a tight fit.

Well Rhonda, I bought a Pacific Energy Summit Insert in New Milford. It's been run for just about 24 hours so far. So far, I love it. It cranks out the heat, the glass has stayed perfectly clear, big cubic foot area, using outside combustion air, I like the decor, the thermostatically controlled, variable speed fan is nice, and otherwise just a great addition to our house. It's got a patent on "extended burn" technology. I have not much experience, so I don't know how good that is. I went to bed at 2 PM last night with a single unsplit 6" diameter log in the middle of the unit. I got up at 8 when the kids started yelling, threw a few pieces in and went back to bed. In another 10 minutes I hear the kids ew-ing and ah-ing as the flames cranked up. A few minutes later the fan kicks on and my wife sits bolt upright and asks, "are the kids playing with the insert?" It was the thermostat! Hilarious stuff. Anyway, when the sun went down today and the temp dropped to below 50, I cranked it up to see what she could do. What's amazing is that the heat reaches the whole house to some extent. The upstairs and the peripheral rooms stay about 5 degrees cooler than the room with the insert, and, set on a medium setting, the insert had no problem keeping its room at 80 and the rest of the house at 75. Anyway, it's going to be in the seventies this week, so I won't be burning for a week. Good luck, and, after a single day, I can say I highly recommend Pacific Energy (made in Canada, so you know they know fire).

It's more likely that glennsfc's second suggestion is the culprit. If the subfloor wasn't completely dry the moisture would cause the floor to grow from the bottom causing the cupping you see. As far as sanding too far, that's ridiculous. It looks like you have solid strip flooring. There is no "base". It's solid Oak top to bottom. Without more information I can't speculate why you had a finishing issue the second time and it's moot anyway. When the floor are was replaced, was the subfloor replaced also? Was any type of moisture barrier added between the wood floor and subfloor? In most cases I don't recommend it, but if the subfloor had a little residual moisture, it would keep that moisture from getting back in the wood. One last question. What "Bona" are you putting on the floor to get it shiny again? Bona cleaner is fine but DO NOT USE Bona Refresher or Bona Polish on a floor, unless it's on it's last legs. What you need now is an inspector with a moisture meter with pins long enough to got through the floor into the subfloor. Once the moisture levels are determined they should be able to shed some light on the problem.

Thank you. The cherrywood paint doesn’t work at all. the grasscloth is a little better but not by much. Let’s see what else Judy has to offer. I sure appreciate your graphic work.