Hi @Tracy I used Sherwin Williams Pure White for my cabinets, and also used it on all of our trim, doors, and ceiling. The name 'pure white' is deceiving as the color is more of a soft/warm white versus a stark bright white, but it doesn't have a yellow tinge to it ... hopefully that makes sense? I must have watched a gazilion youtube vides comparing different tones of white before landing on 'pure white'! We used knotty alder wood for our stained lower cabinets. I LOVE white oak, but it was not in our budget as we also remodeled our primary bathroom, fireplace and outdoor area (I've attached a pic of our bathroom below - same color palette as the kitchen with agreeable grey on the wall and pure white for the trim and same stain as our kitchen cabinets). I showed our painter a sample of the post oak flooring and had him make up a few custom stain samples that would compliment it. We wanted to go with a more natural look, he ended up only adding a few drops of brown and white into a clear coat to land on the stain that we have. I wonder if you can ask your painter to try and do the same or go into a Sherwin Williams and see what they suggest. I wish it was a straight up answer for you ... unfortunately I don't know what color of brown or white he added to the clear coat or exactly how much of it. I hope this helps! There are so many stressful decisions.

Thanks again, everybody. Brickeyee, the silly think is, I *have* a caulking gun. I just don't have the inclination to do this. I'm thinking that if the main guy doesn't "get" what's wrong with it, then I may just say, "you have to 'make it right' by taking it OUT," and then I'll redo it. I'm running early tomorrow to buy tintable caulk at the paint store, and to try to find a really, really pale gray to tint it with. And andrelaplume2--you know what? I think my DH would have actually done a better job. oh, that thick coat in the corners of the tub? It's still squishy. We gave it about 30 hours to dry before we used the shower. And the shampoo bottle we set on the corner of the tub got pushed into the caulk and made a huge arc in the blob.

That makes sense. And I do get that ion bonding at exchange sites is just that, Exchangeable. Some here appear to believe those bonds are stronger than they are, or at least portray them as such, to further some viewpoint. I think the other aspect here is, nutrient beyond ce and ae site saturation - nutrient that resides in the soil solution, not bonded to exchange sites. It's readily leachable, but that's actually where it's available to the roots. Also, if I have it right, the roots still need organic acids available, to chelate the minerals for uptake. Since gritty mixes are engineered to hold much of the "soil solution" inside the components, the internal volume of DE looks to me, like an advantage in continuous low dose feeding applications. Probably just have to ensure some organic acid in the fertigation regime. I've never felt that low cec growing can't be managed. But if someone wants to actively adjust the cec in a fully inorganic setting, one tool could be a pH test of the DE runoff (before using it), to loosely guage what the cec is, for a given batch of calcined DE. I found what looks to be a practical relationship between cec and pH in DE and I think that can be exploited, with more data, which could come from folks testing their DE and posting the results here.

I have a builder contractor license, and we do house renovations in Virginia. But I am not an Architect, and not a building designer. I can turn an existing 100 year old home that is very compartmentalized into a modern functional open floor plan. But to design something from ground up, and fit 500 requirements from my family is the first time. So we are working with a local Architect, and I am not sure it is fair at this stage to criticize our Architect yet, since most of the details are not yet reflected on the plan. We are trying to work with the lot we have to accommodate the crazy thoughts we have in our heads. That being said... to answer some of the questions, and I do want to thank all of you for wonderful comments. and please keep them coming! - We do have two little kids, age 6 (girl) and 9. Hence the princess suite. She always wanted her own bathroom. - I will think some more on how to best utilize the first floor master bath/closet accessibility. - That is an issue for the closet and bath on the opposite sides of the master. I wanted to add the closet there to be a sound barrier between master bedroom and laundry. Do you recommend having the bedroom next to laundry, and then walk through a hallway and then to the bath? Did someone say no need for sitting room in master? - We like the idea of a loft on second floor, but I am not sure how practical it would be. - How do you feel having bedroom in the front of the home vs. on the back? I put both kids' bedrooms in the back thinking that would be more private for them.