So plaster on day 8 (04.06.12) Awesome. They came by and started work immediately to avoid rain on their parade (my parade actually). They got through the first coat and then second perfecting and smoothing the shape and finishing off the coat and it started raining lightly on and off, but these guys were prepared. They set up a tarp and continued under the rain and finished it off. It soon looked beautiful and the walls were white and clean. Then it started raining really hard, but it was okay since they were doing their acid wash and stuff and off they went. Then they set up hose and let it sit and said to just watch it and it should be done in about 20 hours or so. To my surprise, indeed it filled up overnight and finished at 4:45 am. Wow. Sooner then expected. Good water pressure I guess. My pool looks GREAT. Filled to an ugly green but after Bob, my PM, came the next morning and cleaned up and started the pumps; Voila - THERE WAS MY DREAM POOL. A couple hours later another guy (maintenance) passed by and cleaned up my leaves and checked my pool out as well and we were good to jump in. Yeayyyyy. What a difference. FINALLY GOT MY POOL. Now all that's left is my sod, my lights and decor and my pool is nothing but enjoy and relax. LOVE it. Spitters (sprinklers), umbrella and the sunshelf make all the difference of a look. My turtles look awesome creeping into the pool on the steps and as for my dolphins..... they look nice but you barely see them because of the returns running and movement in the water. I guess they are also too light in color. So my suggestions for those going with mosaics; go with dark, bright, strong, colors. And big if they will be in deeper then 4 feet. But it looks great and doesn't beat the deal. As for the water temp, it is colddddddd as can be, but hoping that it will warm up, otherwise I will for sure have to get some kind of heating set up. Thinking of solar panels, so it's absolutley free after initial cost. I truly want to swim most year round, especially here in South Florida. Also my standard 100w light will have to go, after seeing what a beautiful pool I have and how awesome it looks, the light just needs more wow. I now want the LED light changing thing. My Xmas gift list will have to come earlier. Maybe mothers day idea. ??? :) Thank you to my saviors at Cliffs Pools. No messing around or delays. True and followed everything. Wow. Finally I made a right choice. I remember starting this post and doubtful with who I should choose. And not trusting anyone after my horrible experience. I am sooooo happy I am writing a happy story and ending it full of joy and good stuff and not what I was used to at the beginning. THANK YOU GOD. Plaster work. Sunny as can be and to me it looked beautiful. They knew in the forecast to expect rain so they prepped up with a tarp. Raining as they finish acid wash. My beautiful turtle mosaics. View from side of my dolphins and turtles. Fill up. Check out the color. Wow. Greeeeeeeeeennnnn. OMG, I think that is a frog on the right side swimming. Already visiting. I need to buy the Froglog asap. PM shows up to check the pool and put in chemicals and start my pumps off. Yeayyyy. Soon after chemicals are in. My pool starts turning blue. Ahhhhhhh, niceeee. Cleaning up, checking levels and picking my neighbors leaves from the bottom of the pool, and soon we get the okay to go swimming. Hope you enjoyed and got some pointers and ideas. As I did with those others who did the same for me. And if in South Florida and want to do your pool, you now know who you can trust and who is out of business.

Ohhhh, I love every one of them! I spent a lot of time yesterday checking them all out and, sadly, they aren't going to work for me no matter how much I love them. They're either more than I want to spend, too pricey to have shipped here to New Mexico or to Oklahoma, already sold or for pick up only. So, moved on to Plan B: Compromise. I headed back out to other shops in my area this morning and found a compromise headboard for only $30. It's wicker instead of wood. While it's feminine, it doesn't have the beautiful detailing that the above headboards have. I bought it because it's clean and in great shape, the tall height will work really well with Emily's PBT bedding and many pillows . . . and I can spray paint it black for just a few dollars more. I'd found this inspiration pic, which gave me the idea that her many pillows might look best up against a taller, plainer, black headboard. Here's that pic: Here's her PBT(Pottery Barn Teen) comforter and sheet set, although DD now has a black netted bedskirt with hers: And here's my $30 bargain headboard, now waiting to be painted: It's propped up against her new (old) slant front desk, that will also be painted this Summer while she's home here. Oakley: last month she actually bought a dresser, nightstand and mirror at a consignment shop near the university. But she's not been able to find a decent desk or headboard she liked. I'm personally not crazy about the color of them or the minimal storage area of the dresser, but she loves them and it's her life and her room. Pics below: Being that she's inherited my decorating obsession (LOL), she already has a number of lamps and artwork for the walls, which also lean towards Tropical. Her new 32" tall mirror which she'll also be painting black: And her PBT curtains in Pool, will work well in her new place: I'll post After pics, but not until everything has been painted, transported to her new place in Norman and set up . . . which will be in late-July. In the mean time, thank you all for your time, efforts and ideas. I really appreciate it! Lynn

I should also mention - the sunrisebakery version of them is not exactly like the original. It's tasty but the cake is more like angelfood cake and the filling is softer. If you really want something close to the original ones you'll probably have to make them yourself.

I concur that finding dealers and showrooms is very difficult for the upper tier vinyl windows. I could not find a decent okna dealer here in MN and had to use google to find local sunrise dealers. When i contacted Sunrise, they gave me one dealer. I then replied saying these are who I found, can you just give me a list of all the dealers in your area, and he replied that one of my listed dealers was highly regarded. I was taken aback and told him that I dont understand your logic here. Dont you want to sell your windows? You’re making it difficult for would be customers to get access to your products. I’d like to look ay all of your area dealers to get some quotes and get a feel for their workmanship before I commit to anything. He never did provide me with a list of dealers. Fortunately, I liked one of the dealers and his price... but they make it more difficult than it needs to be. Best of luck. Use Google to your advantage. I looked at every high rated window dealer in my area, scoured their sites, called, or emailed to see if they were a dealer for the windows I wanted.