Loving everyone's updates and photos! It's especially fun getting progress updates from those who broke ground around the same time we did in September. To the rest of you, yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I promise! Sorry I don't post much. Our wood floors are in, most of the painting is done, cabinets and built ins are installed, all but one bathroom tiled. Next up is stair risers and treads, banisters, closet organizers and extra shelving, light fixtures, railing on our veranda and finishes to the front portico. Quartz countertops will be delivered in a couple weeks. I can't believe we're still on schedule for moving in by Memorial Day with all the weather setbacks we had this winter. The flurry of activity on finish details at our house is exciting and is definitely worth the necessary headaches and aggravation along the way. Michelle, we have a vacation home at Crystal Mountain, and I agree that the architectural style around the village is fabulous - so charming. We are building a custom home south of you along the lakeshore (with shed dormers and other Craftsman details... a la Crystal Mountain) with roughly 2800sf on main floor, 1000sf on second level and a fully finished walk out lower level for around $100sf not including lot, and I feel we chose quality materials. I certainly don't feel we skimped. My number may sound low per sf since I'm including the lower level in the calculation. Our goal was to downsize since we'll be empty nesters soon, but ... ummm that didn't happen. We expect lots of visitors during the summer months since, and we wanted to have room for them and all our future grandkiddos, who get their own bunk room on the second floor.

"Overall, the valve (tube)is still an almost mystical thing, but in all honesty, modern amplifiers using transistors or MOSFETs are so vastly superior in terms of fidelity, efficiency and reliability, that I really don't see what all the fuss is about. Having said this, I was using a valve preamplifier on my own system until recently." --from Rod Elliot---I recommend his site on all questions related to audio. There is no doubt that valves do have some very nice characteristics, and for guitar amplifiers there are few guitarists who would argue otherwise. Guitarists love the sound of soft clipping that tubes make, rather than the harsher sound of over-driven MOSFETS or transistors. A soft overload behavior means that a valve amp does not sound as harsh as a transistor amp when it is overdriven - which is great for guitar, but a hi-fi should never be overdriven anyway, so the point is moot. The problems that befall valves are many, and include Fragile - The glass envelopes are very thin, and are easily broken. Limited Life - Even if a valve is operated well within its ratings, it still has a finite life. The main causes of valve failure are cathode emission degradation (happening all the time), and gas, when small amounts of air "break" the full vacuum. Microphonics - All valves tend to be slightly microphonic, which is to say that they act as a microphone. This can cause additional colouration to the signal if the sound from speakers vibrates the amplifier. High Voltage - Having to ensure that the 600V DC typical of a high power amp does not "flash over" valve bases is a constant headache, and ensuring that these voltages are kept well away from small fingers is mandatory. High voltage capacitors are also more expensive than lower voltage ones. Heaters - Valve cathodes must be operated at the correct temperature so they emit electrons properly, and "boil off" contaminants. If the heater voltage is too low, the cathode will become poisoned, and the valve is useless. The heater power used is all wasted, in that none of it is turned into sound. Output Transformers - The output transformer for a valve amp is expensive, bulky and heavy. It introduces its own distortion components, which are difficult (or impossible) to eliminate completely. Heat - All valve amps run hot. The valve will not work unless it is hot, and the heat causes problems for other components, shortening their life. The heat is all wasted energy. Damping - Valve amplifiers nearly all have a low damping factor, caused by a relatively high output impedance. Speakers must be very well damped indeed to work well with any valve amp, or the bass will become poorly defined, and crossover networks (which rely on a very low amp impedance) may not work as well as intended. On the positive side, valve amplifiers have a "warm" sound, partly because of the low order harmonic distortion introduced and because of the much higher impedance level compared to solid state. A good valve amp will also have a very wide bandwidth, and will have an easy job driving loads that cause solid-state equipment to have severe heartburn (or just blow up on the spot). But then again, how many people own 2 ohm speakers. Personally, I would never buy a speaker that is so poorly designed that it required a special amplifier. At low listeneing levels, valve equipment has vanishingly small distortion levels, and when all is said and done, there is something nice about little glass tubes, with little lights inside, making your music. But watt for watt, dollar for dollar, and if accuracy of incoming signal is of your highest importance, buying tubes are definitely not the way to go. Robert Carver has built solid state amps (with a so-called niceness and warmth switch) that tube-heads couldn't tell the difference from. But if you get you your stereo info from expensive retailers, true-believers, and Stereophile-type magazines rather than acoustic and electrical engineers you are likely to be led down the path of subjectivism, rather than objectivism. The repair rate and replacement rate of tubes is so far greater than solid state devices it is ridiculous. Unless you live in very cold weather and need the extra heat--go solid state:-) We all know that heat is the enemy of electronics. That is why heat sinks and fans exist. Krell, Meridian, Levinson, are all solid state and they are generally considered to be the Rolls Royce of the industry. In the age of DSP's and amplifier impedance output adjustment it makes almost no sense for tube amps for the average audiophile and every listener. But if you love the look of glowing tubes and don't have kids with prying hands, go ahead and buy one. Greg

I like to think that what we're doing "references" our home's age and style, but we're definitely not purists. As I type, my butler's pantry oak window frame is being painted white. Gasp! Our house's kitchen was originally about 15x9. It had a free standing farmhouse sink, a large stove, and possibly a hutch-like cabinet on one wall. There was a single light, probably hanging over a work table in the middle of the room. There was a pass-through pantry connecting the kitchen to the dining room, and a second butler's pantry behind the porch, and both pantries had a couple of built-ins. The "laundry room" was a three-basin soapstone sink in the basement and a clothes line in the backyard. I have thought a lot about what it would be like to be the "woman of the house" in 1910 and making due with what was available. I am convinced that Mrs. Original Homeowner would think I was crazy if I tried to recreate anything much like that first set-up with so many great new options available. Still, we tried to pick materials and finishes that were in use in homes at the time - wood (painted and stained), marble, soapstone, slate, subway tile. We had our cabinets built to look similar to the originals, and we are using the blueprints to replicate one of two missing china cabinets in the dining room. We are installing push-button switches and some period-appropriate lighting, and we repurposed a sewing room as our new pantry (which is right behind and very similar to the original pantry). In short, we have a grand old house that had a tiny, dismal, minimally functional kitchen. I like to think that if our house had a choice, it would pick the one it's getting! ;)

jkom, You seem the to be the only one with an understanding of the structural bracing necessary in an earthquake territory. The earthquake issue poses very real and expensive challenges in updating old houses. Do folks in other parts of the country not worry about crumbly concrete? I have only lived in the Pacific NW. It is actually quite common to see old houses lifted up on jacks and have the foundation re-poured and the house set on a new foundation. Our GC told us that it costs 50K-100K to do that. Since that is quite commonly done, my DH's proposal is to rotate the house at the same time if physically possible! In a $1mil house, it is a doable proposition. We live in a remodeled 1950s house right now. We took off all old lap-sheathing under the old siding, placed structural plywood sheathing with bracing everywhere. We had to get engineer's sign off prior to starting the project... We bolted framing to the foundation in the basement before finishing the basement. Our current house has been 'earthquake retrofitted'. It cost A LOT of money without really increasing the value of the house. When you go to sell the house, most people (young buyers or people from elsewhere in the country) don't realize what it takes to do that. We have friends in the SF bay area, CA that bought a house with the idea of total remodel. When they started to rip out things, they discovered that the foundation was damaged beyond repair and the previous owners covered it up to sell it. They actually demolished the house, then rebuilt on the lot. They sued the original owners... Our friends ultimately won the case. I think our friends with really deep pockets may have ended up paying more money in legal fees than what they got out of the settlement because they were MAD about the fraud. These things happen, buying things that are beyond what one had anticipated. I am putting a big padding number to not be surprised, hence my $500K to $750K number to update structurally to not have a total loss.... Anyhow, old houses with structural issues in an earthquake territory is a sad thing. There was an amazing old house on a steep hill in my neighborhood with really a stunning view. WAY WAY better than the one we are considering. The house was used as the Italian Consulate in its heyday. It even had a ballroom. Due to structural issues, the person who bought the house ended up donating the property to the city and the house was demolished, and the lot subsequently became a park. I think the tax break they got from the donation was easier to swallow than what it could have cost to restore. One of the due diligence we need to do is to see if we can get a reasonable earthquake insurance on this property. Many old houses in Seattle cannot get ANY earthquake insurance unless you do the extensive earthquake retrofit. For those folks not familiar with earthquake premiums, you buy separate earthquake policies in addition to the regular home owners insurance. The premium is usually equal to the regular home owners insurance. The deductible is generally 20K or more on an earthquake insurance. We have multiple rentals and we carry earthquake insurance on all of them. It costs several thousand $s every year for that! After what happened in Japan and Katrina, we are unsure if the earthquake insurance will actually be helpful if the city was a TOTAL disaster to the point where bridges fell down, tall buildings tumbled. But alas, we play by the rule and hope that the insurance companies also play by the rule.