I mentioned the borders to dh this morning and he likes the idea. Each of the long sides is about 14'. The shot side is about 10'. The other short side is there the 'bridge' is. I'll look at it tonight with dh and see what we can work out. As far as the layout of the living room. As the furniture is now. Looking at the back of the chairs, you are stading by the dining table and behind you, the kitchen. That opening is about 10' wide. Still looking at the back of the chairs, next to the chairs is the couch. And in front of it is the fireplace and the stairs that lead to the upstairs. The couch is about 12 feet long. I would love if it could put the couch where you could see the back, but it is just too big. We did every arrangement we could think of when we first got it so that we wouldn't have to close off the door way (the blank wall that is now behind the couch). Just to give you a little background of the house. When you stand looking at the back of the chairs, you are standing where the carport used to be. We added about 40' to the end of the house about 6 years ago, doing most of the work ourselves. So that is why the layouts ended up a little strange. The now TV area used to be the dining room and kitchen.

Perhaps you will get a pleasant surprise on Friday when the mason provides an estimate. $3k seems awfully high. Usually a chimney rebuild means from the roof line up; that's where years of exposure to the weather causes problems. These problems, however, are nearly always due to deterioration of the mortar, not the bricks (assuming that's what you have)themselves. Sometimes repointing the bricks is all that is needed; other times the chimney is dismantled to just below the roof line,and the bricks are cleaned and reused. In either case, a relatively small portion of the chimney is involved. It would be very, very unusual for a chimney to have suffered damage inside the house. A steep roof with a high chimney necessitating a good deal of scaffolding would, of course, increase labor costs a good deal. If they are available in your area, there are systems for lining and strenghthening chimneys with a poured in place liner. Supaflu (www.supaflu.com) is one such system with which I have been personally very satisfied. A safe, usable chimney is a very real asset in any house. It may be cheaper in the short term to simply abandon the chimney, but I would guess you'll be losing a good deal more than $3k in resale value by doing so.

We swapped the rugs, Gold went to the living room and my DH is happy. He likes it better there and so do I. The color looks less orangey. And the size is good for that room. The silver rug looks 'OK' in the DR but is really a bit too blue for the DR and the fabric I've had for windows. It will be perfect upstairs in my snore room however when I get to that project so both are keepers and will work fine as place holders. Busybee3 - I would keep the table at the round 54" as I only do larger 10+ sit downs a few times a year. I guess I really think of the DR divided into two sections a 6 X 16 hallway and a 10 X 16; as that side is where the table lives, and the light fixture is placed accordingly. I do not want to center the table to the room as that would be trickly for walking to the kitchen. What I consider the hall is really part of the room and will have the buffet placed there. The other walls will have a china cab and server. For now I will have the silver rug placed where the large gold rug is in the first picture, but I will try with out a runner for awhile. Not ideal but will get us by to move in - While I keep my eyes peeled for the perfect rug.

Don't read any further if you are squeamish. Just in case anyone would be up to the task, which I am not... I used to have a friend who made her own pet food. She would go to the butcher and buy raw whole rabbits and frozen mice. Brought those home and sent intact, through her hand cranked meat grinder. She would place each day's meal size portion in containers and add some cooked rice and small portions of cooked veggies, stir, then freeze. She would not cook the meat portion of the pet food. I could not do this as I am squeamish. But she said it was one way to be certain her pets had wholesome food and no more of these finicky problems we seem to deal with. Before our cat retired, she was a busy huntress in the backyard and sometimes in the house. She would eat the rodents whole with no issues. Now she's a much older senior and only does this if a rodent actually comes up to her while she is napping outside and all she has to do is put her paw on the rodent then eat it. In nature, this is how cats ate for centuries. I have other friends who, like the poster upthread, cook several lbs of chicken thighs, then adds cooked rice and some veggies and makes her pet's food for the week. She does supplement with some dry kibble. Just an FYI if anyone got this far.