Summerfield- I showed my husband the plan and he thinks it's wonderful! He thinks the wood storage idea is great and also likes the pergola. He can't believe how much it looks like the farmhouse, but so much better! LOL Is it okay if we make just a few changes? (I tried to show it on the plan.) His only concern is that the furniture is too close to the fireplace...which I told him, is the way I drew it :) Could we move the sectional down a bit, towards the entry? It could be a little shorter on the end seat, just enough to put your feet up, when sitting there. It would also be great to move down the TV console and the chair and ottoman. It's a big fireplace, and even with a screen, the furniture has to be at least 3' away. The good news...I have room to put the window seat next to the fireplace! There doesn't have to be a lot of room in front of it...since it's mostly for visiting nieces and nephews to use. That's why I took out the chair in front of the shelves and put the floor pillows...that's their toy area. I have a lot of Fisher Price and coloring books we keep on hand for the little ones. In the kitchen, I made the island just a little shorter, which let me move the chair and put a plant in the corner window. I also added a plant table under the window, with the window box and plants on either side. I really want a place to have some star jasmine and some smaller plants and that's a nice south corner. Thank you SO much for all your help! We really appreciate it and it's so amazing that you've brought our little farmhouse to life. Thanks again :)

I have an interesting take on this subject as my husband and I did alot of research and just bought an sony wega lcd (widescreen and HD ready) We DO NOT have cable or satalite. Now most people think that we would be crazy to get a HD tv without the cable and just use air however the Air channels come in BETTER! we are even using the same stupid bunny ears for reception that we used on our old tv. Not only that we were so surprised that we can get 18 channels now, compared to the five we had before. WXXI has about 3 HD air channels and we get a local weather channel!!! My husband loves it. The HD air broadcasts are much better looking on the tv than the non-hd. Our tv doesn't stretch the images though however I understand that not all tv's have the same scaling so it is important to research this first. Our DVD's look awesome too and the sound it much better than our old tv. Although it was expensive I am really enjoying it. We saved up for a while and did alot of research first and I feel we made a really good choice. I was really impressed with the new plasma and lcd technology. We chose lcd because it has a much lower power consumption than plasma and is not prone to burn in like plasma (although this isn't so much a problem anymore) The sony has a usb port (awesome!!!!) so I can hook my camara up to it and view videos and pics. Also you can hook a computer up to it and use it as a computer screen. This is great for my husband who likes to work on it. Our previous tv was 26 inches and now we have a 40 inch widescreen. It is a big jump however and although i was worried about the channels coming in poorly they come in much better and look better! We really only use our tv for DVD's (hence us deciding on this specific tv). We stopped going to the movies long ago because they play commercials (which make us SO mad). We decided we would save our money and then buy a nice tv so we can enjoy our movies at home commerical free! I think the most important thing to do is think about what your tv will be used for most often and then do research to figure out what kind of tv will be good for you. If you are playing video games alot then you really need a tv that is different than if you are watching dvd's only. -renee

I've been waiting for a quiet morning with a cup of coffee to soak in your reveal. WOW!!! I keep getting up to show my husband another set of before & after pictures. There are so many things to comment on. The new exterior is beautiful. The entry area & staircase redesign sets the stage for the rest of this truly lovely transformation. I love, love, love the kitchen table area with the windows, french doors & window seat. When I saw the 3-D pics with the peninsula, I had to go back & locate the peninsula. It blends in perfectly with the eating area. Absolutely love the Costa Esmeralda. I can just imagine you posting your marble tiles with the countertop & asking for advice with many of us saying "too busy & don't do the framed insert above the stove." It's perfect & it's stunning. I love the colors of the glass tiles with the Costa Esmeralda. Big Congratulations! I'm looking forward to the outside pictures & pics of the fireplace built-ins. Step stool storage - genius!

Elizabeth, my comments were based on my experiences. Not too many years ago, I offered an old CRT large screen TV we'd decommissioned to the salvadoreño who does work in and around our house. He chuckled and said in half Spanish and half English that his extended family had pooled their money to buy a big screen TV at Costco for the men to watch futbol and for the evening shows for the women in the family. My last visit to the cable store was to return a settop TV box (after I'd switched to DISH). The people in front of me in line were modestly dressed Spanish speaking women who paid their bills in cash, using mostly singles and also coin change. When people are spending extended time at the counter because of the need to count and recount cash, it's not hard to see what's going on. As you said, you and most others pay these bills with autopay or another online means. Those who are illiterate, or who don't have the credentials to get a bank account, pay bills in cash. And such people are typically hard working folks of very modest means. That was what I saw.