seven i feel your pain - I am going through this very issue right now. We call them the "dirt police" and I hate them. In my county, we had to post a bond for erosion and sediment control. I have been in the house for 4 months - still don't have the bond back. But I think i am close to getting it back thanks to this forum. In order for us to get the CO - we had to have seed and straw down. That was done last fall - but we were coming off a horrible drought. Some of the grass took - but we had a lot of bald spots. The dirt police allowed us to occupy - but kept the bond until we met their standards (which they do not have written down anywhere - very frustrating). 3 weeks ago, i aerated and seeded with a fescue & perrenial rye mix. I also seeded with annual rye in places where we were having erosion "issues" as they saw it - minor runoff the way i saw it (I live on the side of a mountain - water has to run downhill). The annual rye pops up very quickly with just a little water. It is cheap seed - I bought 50 pounds at Lesco for 30 dollars. In all the spots where the dirt police were picking on, I put down quite a bit of the AR. It has filled in nicely and in a few weeks I will call the DP's back and hopefully that will be the end of them. The dirt police recommended that we use Kentucky 31 grass which they like for controlling erosion (the sell it at home depot). It grows very fast and is drought resistant. I opted to not use it since it is an unattractive grass, I would have to kill it before replanting, and I had some fescue grass growing already so I did not want a hodge podge. However, if you need a lawn fast and your dirt police won't accept all rye grass you might want to think about the Kentucky 31. Our dirt police told us that they will allow a mix of rye and other grasses but will flunk us if we only have rye growing. They know it will die (after all - they are the dirt police!) I recommend calling your local DP department and make sure that they will accept all rye grass. If yes, then go with the rye since it is cheap and fast. If not, think about the kentucky 31 as an alternative and only use the minimum required to get in. Then start over in the fall. For those who don't have to deal with dirt police, consider yourself lucky. It is a horrible feeling when all you want to do is move on and these gestapo have so much control over your life. It is added pressure when you need to create a lawn and you have limited funds and time to do so. Good luck.

No regrets what-so-ever. As it was, I was poised to buy the Sony Bravia but I felt that the picture was not as good. It actually looked blurry to me. Again, this is my own personal opinion. Additionally, the Bravia is more $$. Two of my other TV's are Sony Trinitrons and they have been very good to me. I'll make one more suggestion. A lot of times these big electronic chains will let last years model go a lot cheaper than the brand new model. Sometimes the only difference between this years and last years model is the contrast ratio. While it is true that the higher the contrast ratio the better your picture, sometimes the difference is something like 6000:1 vs. 7000:1. Again, I'll bet most people will be hard pressed to see the difference..especailly for a thousand dollars. Please remember, this is my own opinion. If you do go after a left over model, make sure it has all the features you were looking for in a brand new model. You have a tough decision to make. Will there be a gaming system, like Playstation, hooked up to the TV? Will there be anyone who will leave a static picture on the set for a really really long time? Will the set be kept in a room that is bright most of the time? If you answered yes to all these questions, then you'd be better off with a LCD. If not, then you'll be able to get a bigger screen for a lot less if you go with plasma. One other thing. How far away will you be viewing the TV from? Most people think thas getting a gigantic set and plopping themselves down three feet from the screen will give them a movie theater like experience..buzzzzzz, wrong. The only thing it will do is first give you a headache and then make you angry because the picture will look like a million little boxes. In any case, LCD's look less boxy close up. Again, see these things for yourself when you go looking. By the way, you're not a pest. ;-)

I think I would also be like you and need to paint while the house is empty. I think the suggestions above are good ones. Also look at Revere Pewter, a Ben. Moore color that is very popular. It's a warm grey and you can do a search and find it here. Also, a neighbor of mine just painted her living room and hall a color called Dune Drift in the Seaside Collection by Valspar paint, sold at Lowes. It's a very calming color that is a neutral greyed green. A great Ben. Moore color that a few friends used and I love (and wish I used it in hindsight) is called Bamboo Shoot #1529. The other colors on the same strip as this that are deeper in color are also beautiful (Ocean Pebbles). My daughter just painted her bedroom BM Coventry Grey,a beautiful grey (cooler grey with a trace of blue). She says she feels like she is living in Nantucket. Beautiful with white molding. I have seen photos of most of these colors on this site. I don't like how the colors show on My Perfect Color, so don't check them out there. Sorry, I don't know any specific colors by Behr, but they will match anything because the color formulas are in their computer.

hermustangs, if you'll read the "new to GW" thread below on this page (or if it's left this page by the time you read this, search for it) you'll find explicit instructions on how to post photos; very easy to do. I think you'll get many more responses if you include photos. I'm not good enough with colors personally to try to answer your questions without seeing the rooms. Good luck!