I second looking for student art exhibits. We have a very good fine arts program at our university and I've gotten some nice pottery and other beautiful things inexpensively when they have their end-of-semester projects available for sale. One of the faculty even sells his work at this student show for way less than he could get in a gallery. Also, if your city/town has some sort of gallery crawl, you may want to check that out. I would imagine somewhere in ATL this happens. Not everything is hugely priced at those, if you go to a smaller gallery. Now that spring is coming, there will be a lot of outdoor sidewalk art festivals. That's another great place to get nice things for a good deal.

Yes, I probably won't cut my own soapstone counters, especially not when spouse is threatening to make me finish the bamboo doors. I like the wild rice and think it could work. Thanks again for pointing that one out to me. It is busier than the mesa, but from the full slab pictures I've been able to find I think not too much so. I ordered a sample and also of raven. Some colors like cemento which I thought I would love (forget manufacturer sorry) look purple in here because of all the yellow I suppose. Re granite, though I love the look and idea of stone counters, granite is often too busy. There is an IKEA sale right now and am planning to take advantage of it. Will have to order this week or next.

@bellburgmaggie houses in our neighborhood go for around $150/sf, but are typically Victorians that need a lot of work, or have been stripped of everything historic inside. Our house is different in that is has a lot of historic detail and we have renovated a ton and fixed major systems. That might effect our pricing in our favor some, but unfortunately, spending that much on this room for so little square footage wouldn’t be recouped. I think we will live with the room as is and then keep our eyes out for new property.

I shopped around a lot. Finally got the best price from Be$tlaminate They are a physical store. So you are not dealing with an online only entity. They gave me the best prices, shipped in two separate shipments as the two different kind of floorings each became available. Finally, when I reported damaged boxes, without a hassle gave me the offer of sending replacements. Highly recommended.