If you love them both, go for using both... use one style for main rooms and other for bedrooms/bathrooms/closets. Who cares what the builder thinks. Don't forget to buy a few extras of each style for down the road if they start to break. With the lever styles, they tend to start to 'sag' after a while. (As compared to the knob styles which don't have an oppurtunity to 'sag'). Kids are especially tough on the levers.

it all depends on your components. some HT's have all the input connections onthe back, then out to the TV. some only have a single in/out to/from the tv and you tie all other things(VCR DVD player) to another input on the TV itself. my TV has 6 inputs on the back, my JVC HT has 8 audio/video inputs on it but none are HDMI. so i have everything going to my TV(HMDI 1,2,3, Video 1,2,3) and then a singel digital audio out of the TV to the HT so that no matter what i am watching i can hear it over the surround sound system. before i got my HD tv, everything wired first to teh JVC, then only a single RCA out to the video in of my old CRT tv. since the new stuff supports HDMi and my HT does not, i had to rewire everything.

Hi ya'll - HELP! when trying to use the CD player, or the radio, - the volume doesnÂt work. Speakers work fine when we "test" them  but even if turned up all the way when playing radio or CD's, canÂt hear it unless right next to it. It is my opinion that if the receiver was going, (1) the test of the speakers wouldnÂt work, or (2) the CD still would play fine  rather, would SOUND fine. Is this correct? Could it be that I just need to unhook everything (God help me) and reconnect? Could a wire be loose that we haven't located? A friend's 16 year old (who of course LOVES electronics) came over and fiddled with it - for about 2 hours - got it back working. Then all of sudden it just quit again (while he was still here).... HELP! And thanks in advance for any ideas. I have read the "manual" and got nothing out of it.

I agree with HappyDays that sooner or later, you get tired of the lack of continuity in one home that you love. We've only been married for 8 years, and DH retired the week before we married. He lived in MA all his life, I lived in south AL. (We'd been engaged 50 years before.) I found it exciting to learn how to garden with four seasons up there. And living in a cape was a delightful experience. But we lost the home we bought the year before we married, to Hurricane Katrina. We both grew tired of going back and forth with two dogs and two parrots, and he decided he'd rather be down south. He (and myself) are too old to shovel snow anyway. He is only now becoming acclimated to our summers. We too are both gardeners. The year before he sold his house in MA, I did not go up there, so he could prepare it for selling, even though the market was not over run with willing buyers. It was great that the buyer wanted the house furnished, down to the pictures on the walls, so we had no problem vacating the house. Other folks may enjoy retiring away from everyone they know, but not me. I know my DH is away from the people he knew from childhood, plus his professional contacts, his neighbors. It is something to consider as a major stress, almost like the death of a loved one. I think the Texas Gulf Coast has some great places to live. I'm quite familiar with many of the towns/cities on the coast, because I traveled to work in TX and LA coastal towns for 20 years before I retired. One of the saddest tales I know is the lady who as a widow moved from the Boston area to near Phoenix AZ about 20 years ago, and her friends now all dead, her property value near zilch, her finances in the toilet, she is in dire straits. She is 88. Thinking of her, I'd say to others do not cut your ties to people who know you. With my DH, in his case, we can afford to travel to visit his family. As long as you are physically able, do as you like However, I'd not just up and move to a strange place without "living" there for short periods of time at all different seasons. Getting old is not for sissies. If you are retired, you are or soon will be OLD. You'll need more than $$ to see you through to the end. I recently read a good book, WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS: CREATING COMMUNITY AS WE GROW OLDER by Beth Baker. Not a really GREAT book, but it had a lot of case histories of successful retirement communities, individual homes in most cases, all able to care for themselves but with an adjunct community for "assisted living." Someone wishing to explore options might find what it says interesting. Please note this is my first post on this forum. I did not know GWeb had it! Wow! I usually hang out on the Smaller Homes Forum or the Hosta Forum. It seems there are nice people asking interesting questions all over the place! I'm glad I noticed this topic featured on the Marquee at the side of the page. Hope you don't mind if I drop...