We have lived in our 1913 Foursquare for over 7 years now. I have definately had a love/hate relationship. When people ask, what are you doing this weekend, I just want to smack them. What do you think? WORKING ON THE HOUSE. It's ALWAYS something. There's also the question, why don't you just hire someone? Sure, we could hire someone to remodel the kitchen. But what about the roof? and the siding? and the deck? and the bathroom? and the floors, walls, attic, basement, on and on and on. If you hire someone to repair everything, then you've put way more money into the house then you'll EVER get back. It gets overwhelming at times. I seriously don't know what I'd do with my free time if I didn't have this house to work on. I really resented it until one day, a few years ago my kids told me I could never sell it. That they loved this house and one day I would have to sell it to them. I was shocked. THIS house? The one we slave over and that is constantly in chaos? The same house that tells you it's NOT okay to invite your friends over, until the deck is rebuilt, b/c it's too dangerous for guests. THIS HOUSE? And that made me really rethink it. The house is huge. The house has 8inch tall baseboards and working pocket doors. The house has 2 acres of wooded yard and allows them to do what they like in the yard. This house isn't so new that they have to worry about denting the floor. But it's much nicer than the smaller ranches that some of their friends live in. The basement was remodeled for the three boys and their friends. They have sleepovers there (with extra insulation, so I can't hear them!). If they want to change their room, or we need to add something, we just knocked down a wall, or build it in. Can you really do that in a new house? This house has sucked us dry, financially and emotionally. But it also has made us rely on ourselves even more. We find out how to fix things and we teach our kids that you do NOT have to be dependant on others to get things done. In the end, it has been worth it. And with at least another 2 years (hahahahaha, isn't that funny) worth of work on the house, we will continue on. What also made me feel better was watching my friends and family with their NEW houses. I have already see two people who built houses within the last 7 years need to replace ALL of the windows in those houses. Really. Also the furnaces. One friend needed to replace the exterior doors in his 5 year old house, built in an expensive neighborhood. PLUS, the siding. Just b/c it is new doesn't mean it's done right. Watch 'Holmes on Homes' on HGTV. BIG eye opener. Sometimes, you forget how your house looks nice. I find that it's good to take pictures and look at them on the computer. When you're walking into your living room every day for a month and only see the floors that need refinished, you miss the antique fireplace mantel you bought and installed and the stone tile you added. The walls you redid and the built ins. When I take a picture and look at it, I see the beauty of the ROOM, not the damage to the floor. Also, it's good to compare the new pictures to the old ones. Were there really hearts on the country blue wallpaper? hahahaha Lastly, dealing with the PO's previous mistakes are always What were they thinking? Just when we thought we got all of them corrected, we take down the deck to find they didn't use flashing on the ledger board. Sigh. I always worry that once I remove every last trace of the 80's, it will be time to remove every last trace of this decade. :) Sorry to go on and on, but I just found this forum and I'm glad there are people here that are just like me. Working on their old home, loving it and hating it. I wonder if everyone has lists for every room, if by the time you get to that list for a room you change your mind, if you have more than 4 projects going on at a time and if you think you'll be done by the time your youngest time graduates high school. If your idea of a great Sunday afternoon is going to Menards/Home Depot/Lowes and shopping. If the guy from the local wine/coffee shop knows your name very well (coffee in the morning/wine at the end of the day)and his first question is what are you working on now? If your friends/family come to you first when they get bids from their contractors, to see what the materials would cost vs labor, because why in the world would they put in a new door by themselves, let alone go on the hunt across the internet and two states to find the perfect 100 year old door for their house, then build it into the opening? Is this a disease?

Of course it is a hostess' obligation to try to make her guests comfortable and tolerate any variations they cause to the normal day to day routine of the house. This should not be too onerous for the hostess - because it is also incumbent upon the houseguests to do their best to make sure that they are pleasant, as little trouble as possible, and hopefully even do small things to show their appreciation for the hostess, if they can. Where I used to live, when my brother would come to visit he'd sleep on my sleeper sofa in the living room. As hostess, and one who got up earlier than him, I'd try to keep quiet so that he could sleep. In such a small place generally that meant I'd have to leave and run errands! When I'd return from errands, as guest, my brother would have sleeper sofa made back up and his personal belongings reasonably tidied up. Having or being a houseguest can be a bit stressful but so long as both parties try to think of what they can do to make it easier for the other person generally all goes fairly well. But, the problem here is that it sounds like the adult skids are not doing their part to follow any etiquette, and if only one party is expected to behave well (DannieB, by being expected to be an accommodating hostess) without any reciprocal attempts by the skids to be good guests, it is natural that she'd begin to feel put-upon and used. She's the hostess - she's not a maid, and she's being taken advantage of (letting their dog on someone's furniture?! Really?!) What if you're at work, and periodically someone runs over to doughnut shop across the street to get breakfast? A colleague might ask if you'd mind getting them a doughnut too, and offers to pay you. You, of course, say yes to the request and no to the offer of payment - it's a doughnut, for heaven's sake! And normally one doesn't quibble over who owes pocket change to whom. Fine - but what happens when ten months later you realize that you are always buying doughnuts for this one person? That person has never reciprocated? Yes, it's just a doughnut - but ten months worth of daily doughnuts start to add up, and no one likes to feel used. Most people are going to not say anything, not cause a scene - but just start quietly slipping out for doughnuts so the colleague doesn't know beforehand, and thus can't ask for another freebie at someone else's expense. DannieB has been putting up with this for twenty years. Her husband won't say anything, the "kids" can't be bothered, she can't tell the kids to go stay at a hotel - there are only two options left for her (well, three if you count divorce and/or murdering the skids, but they're both a bit extreme, LOL!). One is to keep putting up with this, and I'm unaware of any rule of etiquette which says that anyone is obligated to repeatedly put themselves into a position in which they know that they will be taken advantage of, anymore than doughnut person is required to keep announcing intentions to get doughnuts and thus cornered by good manners into buying them, or two, to remove herself from this equation by going to a hotel herself.

Allison, I was responding to the posts that were saying something about finally a picture of a kitchen worth $1M. At that point you really do have to differentiate between good neighborhood urban or lakefront horse property and new suburb new construction no location value. The what do you get for the price is an interesting question across the board, but the "million dollar worthy kitchen" needs context. I suppose it's different here than in other places. The properties have a lot valuation/structure valuation, so it's normal for us to think that way. The structure value isn't cost of build or insurance or anything, just the difference between what the lot would assess for if it were cleared and what someone would pay for the place as is. You can even do that in Igloo's case. Every house has features and detractions, all of which are subjective, but a value can be put on it because someone did buy it. Where there aren't good comps it's harder to value the lot, but because most features of the lot are intrinsic (though things like views and services do change) the lot prices are calculable to a good enough extent. For our purposes, just "lakefront, view, 2 acres, CT" or "new suburb, quarter acre, flat, IN" or "city, near transport and universities, lot under 10K s.f., Boston" is enough, with the frontage, to give context whether you're looking at a vacation/retirement house, a big new family home, or a town home.

Thanks, ladies! I concur. Shades, floating frames......there is a gap between the frame and art. How to: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-build-a-diy-custom-floating-frame-for-artwork-apartment-therapy-tutorials-204745