Well, in my area of VA, the costs for installing tile, stone, or stamped concrete are not going to be wildly out of line with one another. However, the costs of using real stone vs. something like tile can vary greatly. For example, we are using a flagstone for our front porch and front walk...there were stones for $150/ton and there were stones for $500/ton. I love natural stone. That would always be my first choice, but I'm concerned that with your stone fireplace it could potentially be a little over the top. If the stone fireplace is to be the focal point of the space (and it really should be), I do think a dyed concrete would look nice. Personally, I don't think that mixing natural stone and stamped concrete is a good look. Honestly, I really think that this is just a matter of personal preference. Which do you like more? They're all fine.

Weissman, that's hysterical. I know someone who pretty much said that! Agreed that you can't anticipate what buyers want. Even buyers can't. They say they only want a perfect kitchen, but then they buy the house that's too small, has bad flow, a tatty kitchen that was impossible when it was new. Why? Because there's a great tree. Now, you can buy a full grown great tree for a few grand, planted. That's a lot cheaper than the remodelling that the house requires, but people fall in love with the oddest things. People are also turned off by the oddest things. If they want your house, the stove isn't going to deter them, no matter what, but if the thought of radiant electric turns them off right away, and if there are a lot of similar houses to yours for sale in your area, it could take longer for you to find your buyer--you don't want to have people turn off to your new kitchen. That's why the sign. Also, put water in the pretty pot with a cinnamon stick and a drop or two of vanilla. Let the agent bring it to a boil lickety split, and make nice aromas, while demonstrating how responsive it is as she lowers it to simmer again. :) In the MLS, list "induction" for heaven's sake! Or "cook's favorite appliances". A little salesmanship on the agent's part is worth thousands of dollars and a quick sale. And you can tell your S-i-L I said so!

Oh let me share....lol :) I love sharing something when it can benefit someone. We were lucky to be able to do our tv install as we tore out the old fireplace to put in a new one. Not everyone has this ability so one needs to get creative. We installed an HDMI cable to the tv. It is the only wire that goes to the tv. This then plugs into the receiver that all the other junk plugs into. So if you have your cabinet of junk in the room with the tv you only have to hide one wire. To hide the one cable you can do several things. Baseboards and crownmolding hide wires nicely. You would have to install a plate behind the tv which has a connector on it. The hdmi cable would go from tv to the connector on the plate. Then another cable would go behind that, up inside the wall, along the ceiling hidden by crown molding, then down the wall to another plate that sits in front of your media cabinet. The cable would run from the lower wall plate to the receiver inside. If you do not have crown molding but do have baseboards you can do the same process but you will have to be a little more creative. I actually ran my wire from the crown molding down to the floor by cutting a tiny hole in the drywall in the corner of the room. I crammed the wire in the crack and filled it with caulk. I had to do this because the wall had a window on it and the framing did not allow me to bring the wire down through the wall frame. HDMI wire can be really expensive. But there are websites that sell at tremendous savings. We got a $50 pc of cable for $6. With all the savings we took this install to another level. We ran the cable around the baseboards and into the adjoing room where we have an office. The media cabinet is in there. We used one of those radio remotes (infared or whatever you call it, it was less than $100) and now have no media in our family room. With simple programing we now hit one button to watch tv, listen to the radio or watch a movie on dvd player. The one button tells each necessary device to turn on depending on what we are doing. No need to turn on the tv, the dvd player, etc. Just click dvd on the remote and it is ready to go. Many folks put the system in a nearby closet also. This install would have cost us a lot of money if we hired out, but doing it ourselves with a little bit of research on what can be done and where to buy the stuff reasonably is what made this possible. You do not need to hire a pro every time. Another good thing to remember is that the viewing distance for tvs is really important. Too high and too close will make you miserable. Really sit in your room with the black paper on the wall before you do this.

You couldn't give me a ventless fireplace. We have a second house with one. They deplete the oxygen in the house and when operation they emit lots of water (probably not an issue in AZ) carbon dioxide and other small amounts of combustion by products. while I don’t normally suffer allergies there are three things that cause a slight asthmatic like symptoms in me: dogs, mold and ventless fireplaces. These units all have oxygen sensors which is a primitive electomechanical device which is supposed to shut down the heater when the O2 level drops to low. When not operating properly they can like any combustion device emit carbon monoxide. When we rented the property we had to disconnect it beacauss local codes prohibit these in rental properties. I believe most building codes near me prohibit new installs in any property .