Smallfern SO SORRY I mis named you in the above post. I had to really laugh as I watched smallfern,she is a beautiful tiny thing talk to one of the MGs who is a VERY tall man. I was at the back of the tent. She kept asking about goldenpond or tanya and he was getting more and more confused ,rubbing his chin and finally pointing in my direction like we were both from outer space. When I figured out what was going on I shouted" IM goldenpond!"and when running up to greet her THAT really blew his mind like we were in some secret society! Hubby had taken the camera and left with our grandson or I would have gotten a shot of her too.

Hi, TigerDunes, Thank you for your response. I'm thrilled to see that we shouldn't be expecting a minimum of $10,000 to $15,000!!! I posted at close to 1:30 a.m. Pacific Time, and I just got home from work about 7:30 p.m. so I'm just now getting online, after 8:00 p.m. Yes, we're sort of thinking we'd replace the furnace only, keeping the outside AC condenser. We're not at all opposed to replacing the AC condenser, but it hasn't given us problems, so if it would be a huge increase in cost to replace it, we'd skip that, at least on this go-round. If it's not a huge increase in cost, we'd replace it along with the furnace. Yes, we'd want a unit that's tax credit qualified. I have no idea what size and efficiency we're replacing. I looked for the booklet/paperwork on it before I came upstairs, but I can't find it. Used to keep all of those things in a drawer in the kitchen, but I discovered tonight that my husband repurposed that drawer for wine accessories... and he cannot remember where he put all of the booklets/paperwork, although he states he didn't throw the stuff away. I do know that the existing units (furnace and AC) have been sufficient to keep the house nice and warm in the winter and nice and chilled in the summer. There are just the two of us living here, and we both work full time, Monday through Friday. The set-back thermostat is completely programmed, both for summer and winter. The appropriate unit is programmed to come on approximately 30 minutes before I get up (takes me longer to get ready in the morning than it takes my Hubs), to warm/cool the house as necessary, and then it goes off (well, maintains a colder-in-the-winter or warmer-in-the-summer temperature) about 30 minutes before we leave for work, until about 30 minutes before we get home when it comes on again to again make the interior comfortable. Then it will cycle on/off as necessary throughout the evening until about 11:30 p.m. when it again shuts off and only comes on if it gets way too cold (winter) or way too warm (summer) overnight. On weekends it's programmed to not come on until about 90 minutes later than during the week, and will maintain the "morning temperature" throughout the day and evening and then shut off at 11:30 p.m. As for "normal winter temperatures" here... gosh... OK, I just Googled "normal winter temperatures for Sacramento, California," and one of the results had this to say: "Sacramento, CA climate is warm during summer when temperatures tend to be in the 70's and cool during winter when temperatures tend to be in the 50's. The warmest month of the year is July with an average maximum temperature of 93.80 degrees Fahrenheit, while the coldest month of the year is December with an average minimum temperature of 40.40 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperature variations between night and day tend to be relatively big during summer with a difference that can reach 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and fairly limited during winter with an average difference of 16 degrees Fahrenheit. The annual average precipitation at Sacramento is 19.87 Inches. Winter months tend to be wetter than summer months. The wettest month of the year is January with an average rainfall of 4.18 Inches." Another site said this: "The climate for Sacramento is Mediterranean with mild winters and dry summers. There is usually low humidity in the area. Light rainfall usually falls between December and February. Sacramento average annual rainfall is 17.18 inches per year The average winter temperature is 53.5 degrees F. The average spring temperature is 64.0 degrees F. The average summer temperature is 88.0 degrees F. The average fall temperature is 72 degrees F." It can, and does, get above 100 degrees in July and/or August. Every winter we probably have one or two nights where it gets down to the low 30-degree range. But as long as the house is somewhere in the low to mid 70-degree range in the winter, and no more than mid 80-degree range in the summer, we'd be happy. Does any of that help?

LRy511, since you posted a picture of your beautiful backsplash with the smaller cabinet over the sink and glass shelf, I did a search for your kitchen. Your title picture I had printed since I love the running bond pattern you used which I have decided I am using also. I LOVE your soft white cabinets (love their style, color and hardware), your granite, your beautiful backsplash over your range, your sink set up, your faucet, your 20X 20 beautiful tiles, the way you got the beam out of the way, your wheat-back chairs (I have the same one but mine I think are in a honey maple color now), all the light you have in the kitchen with that bay window and all the ceiling lights, your wall color, the drawer storage, the pantry pull out drawers and your doggie! Thanks again for sharing. You did an amazing renovation that is beautiful as well as more functional.

Your tile is very pretty and looks great! Isn't it nice to be confident enough in your previous choices to make a current one easier? I think we've all learned a thing or two here :-) Handy Guy and I picked a color for a recent bathroom makeover in the store......on the basis of liking a single chip color! We boldly purchased a couple of gallons, he painted, and the color was perfect. No color angst, no fifteen expensive quarts of slightly differing hues of the same color.....it was like waking up and finding a unicorn in your backyard. Of course, this is an interior bathroom, no window, and I use CFL lightbulbs in all fixtures so the light in the paint store gave a pretty accurate depiction of that the,paint would look like in the room. Still, I was slightly shocked at how easy it was.