Dear SusanB Thank you very much for your inquiry. I do not want to confuse this establishment issue and perhaps I was not very clear. The straw mulch you will here people refer to is used when you establish grass from seed, not sprigs or sod. I use the word straw because I do not want anyone to use alfalfa hay as their mulch source. I hope this helps clear up any confusion. Again, thanks for the question and let me know if you have more. Respectfully Trey Rogers The Yard Doctor

If you decide you aren’t going to have the desk against a wall, put a floor outlet in now so that you don’t have cables running across the floor. I did a floor plan with my desk and rug then figured out where I would need sockets.

This forum invites active participation by all, making it possible for anyone to flag inappropriate comments for moderator review and determination. It's a good thing designed to maintain a respectful, inclusive community where everyone is welcome to share their homes. Needlessly biting, judgmental comments made upon viewing a few photos is just wrong. Meanness ain't cool, y'all.

My husband and I ran into a similar problem when we had our big addition/remodel. What my husband did was contacted both the bank and the appraisal company and showed them our building plans and asked that they base the appraisal on the prospective build out. The bank worked with us. The residential lending officers actually visited our home on three separate occasions to ensure that we were in fact upgrading the home to the level we proposed we would, understandably they needed to ensure their money was going where it should be. So about midway through the project they increased our construction loan by 25,000, and 3/4 into the project they gave us the final 40,000 they agreed to lend us. This was still about 25,000 shy of our desired amount. In addition to our discussion with the bank, we sat with the contractor and asked where we could cut some corners. He offered us the opportunity to do some “homework” throughout the project which included cleaning up the work site at the end of the day ourselves and preparing the area for the following day, drilling holes in the framing to save a ton of time that we would normally pay the electricians 125 per hour to do, and the biggest savings was painting the house ourselves. You may not have the time or desire to do this much hands on but I gotta day not only did we save enough to complete the project, but we came in under budget enough to furnish a few of the rooms. Best of Luck!