Hello again friends. I continue to be amazed by your kindness and concern. Paulines and Elizabeth10029 - if you are back in here reading, yes by all means please feel free to save these posts. ALL OF YOU have my permission (and gratitude) to keep or share what I have written. I am humbled by the thought that my words have meant so much. There are so many more stories here that need to be told. The political firestorms have been whipped up to a frenzy over the past few weeks. I am sure many of you have heard on the national news the statements our mayor, Ray Nagin, made this week during his MLK celebratory speech about making the city of New Orleans "chocolate". Well, of course, the whole city is now in an uproar. I really think he is suffering from "Katrina fatigue". This mayor was very, very well liked by the most of the city - all different races. Now, he has become a symbol of division. And this comes at a time, when we must really pull together and present a rational, unified front. I am embarrassed and concerned about the damage he has done - the whole world is watching us. And I think the image he put forth is so misleading. While to the outside world it appears that there is a huge racial divide - in reality, New Orleans incorporates her diversity far better than many other cities. One of my dearest friends of 30+ years is african american - and she has spent the past few months living in my home. Our families vacation together every year. My other best friends are indonesian, hispanic, and greek - I am the "token wasp!" I have wonderful friends from as far away as Syria and VietNam. And I am not uncommon. Most New Orleanians work with, laugh and play with, cry and mourn with the many diverse people here. The problem arises when poverty and crime are added to the equation. I have no answers, only more questions. As do the other good people (of all races) who live here. We shake our heads in dismay and write letters to the editor! We are in dire need of effective leadership - and it is sadly lacking. The initial rebuilding plans for the city were just released and are being evaluated now. There is just no way possible to make everyone happy. We have to choose safety over everything else. Some people are simply not going to be allowed to rebuild their neighborhoods. It is so sad, tragic. But it would be insane to allow these people to live in harms way - even if they really WANT to! Desperate times make for desperate decisions, and some people just cannot believe or trust that the engineers and experts are telling the truth about where to rebuild or not. The next few months are going to be critical ones - will the city of New Orleans succeed in creating a plan for rebuilding better and stronger and wiser than before? Or will history repeat itself? Can we get congress to give us Netherlands-quality category 5 hurricane levees? Are we valued? President Bush visited last week and commented that "this is looking like the New ORleans I remember". Well, that was voted as the most ridiculous statement of last week. He saw the French Quarter (which did not flood at all) and the Garden District (which did not flood at all). It's just unbelievable. Only 30% of New Orleans has lights. That's right. It is pitch black at night. And cold. No heat, no lights, no phones. My friend's neighborhood - about half a mile from me - still has no working phone lines. Not one single person I know, who lived in the areas of New Orleans that flooded, has been able to move back into their house. People in Jefferson Parish (suburb of New Orleans, where I live) are able to rebuild now and some have been able to move back. It is absolutely still a disaster zone. And it will remain so until the city institutes a viable rebuilding plan - which appears to be months away yet. I am leaving tomorrow to visit DD back in Michigan for a week. It will be wonderful to get away from the daily bombardment of Katrina news. Of course, she calls almost daily (and usually right after the 6pm news) and at the top of her list is "Mom, why don't you sell your house and move up here?" Honestly, I do think about it. But, I have decided to give it one year here and if we cannot see a light at the end of the tunnel by then...well, I will have to make some very hard decisions. Meanwhile, I will play with precious grandson, enjoy the clean beautiful snow of Michigan, and my beautiful DD, and leave the troubles of New Orleans behind for a while.

they don't do plain old gray screens anymore? do you have a pic of what it looks like w/the black or the white screens? also, remove those shutters. they don't work at all on the large window, and are useless on the smaller window.

palimsest I am for sure not going to do wainscoting. I really like where you showed what that would look like with the side wall papered and the fixture wall painted. The side walls wouldn't be too hard to do and I really do think it would look good. If I do the side walls in the paper and paint the fixture wall black then What is your opinion on my oil rubbed bronze towel bar, light sconces and tp holder? leave them, paint them(what color?) or replace them(what color?)

Thank you @L Thomas. I Will get a sample @patricia here’s my kitchen before I moved in and some inspiration photos. The dishwasher and refrigerator will be paneled. Stove is stainless with a hidden ductless vent