birdly... makes total sense that you had to redo stuff if it were that one employee - you should have heard the subcontractors complain about that employees work :) The nice thing is Mark had them redo stuff without argument - a friends contractor fought him and tried to charge him on every little thing that he asked to be redone (and we are talking some obvious things) If you want I can let him know that my glowing review of his work was slightly tainted by a deck that took too long - he won't like that! Its sad that he was late for yours becuase both the person at international kitchens and the person I got the sink from commented on how hes on time. For me he was about 1 month late but given the circumstances that was not bad. Its surprising about the communication - he was great for me. It does sound like he was putting all his effort into my project - did you let him know that you were doing a kitchen and becuase he didn't handle the small project well he misses out on the bigger one? (FYI the contractor that was awful for my friend was Chermak construction - it was a 100k+ project and they tried to charge him when the electrician put in a 3 bank switch that only needed 2 switches so the electrician left a switch that did nothing - they told my friend that a "do nothing" switch was an "acceptable solution" - that was the worst example but there were tons of things like that). I am 95% sure Mark got the doors through PCS Millwork. They were WAY cheaper (talking less than 1/2) the cost of the equivalent doors through the lumber yard he normally uses. gwent, nightowl was asking about the dining lights - if you search (ctrl+f) the thread for "nightowl" and read those posts you should get all the details on the lights. For the pulls, believe it or not we got them at Loews. I went to all the fancy shops for a couple weeks stressing about hardware and finally stumbled on them at Loews of all places.

I would recommend waiting until the grading is done and the decking is in before you install the pool finish and fill it up. The main reason is if you finish and fill the pool and then do a bunch of grading work, you're going to have a miserable time trying to keep the pool clean and the chemicals balanced and you may even end up with a damaged finish. Get all the heavy work done and then they can do a proper cleaning of the pool before installing the finish and you'll have a lot less to worry about!

Umm, sojay, I just needed to clarify my previous post coz I re-read it in the course of re-inspecting your gorgeous xformation. When I spoke of necessity/shabbiness being the mom to invention, I actually meant that whereas most other remodels are inspired by the fact that the original is shoddy, shabby or otherwise dodgy, your original space was not any of those. That makes the vision you had that much more impressive. Upon reviewing my post it seemed even to myself like I was saying that your original was shabby and I was quite horrified - not only to have said such a thing but also because it would have been patently untrue. Anyhow, I was just showing off your work to some friends.

No, I don't think you should remove the sidewalk either. You're on a budget. I'm suggesting removing the brick and replacing it with stone with something like blue star creeper planted between them. One, you don't know what's under the brick, so if you wanted to plant, you'd need to dig it out, amend, raise it up as much as 12". Two, if you replace the brick with shrubs, it can be a little colorless and need regular pruning to keep it neat. I don't like wild shrubs at an entryway. You do need shrubs under your window and could use something large to anchor the corner. Someone in your area might suggest some attractive, well-behaved shrubs--I like box honeysuckles for shade but IDK if they grow in your area. Three, annuals alone wouldn't work because you'll have bare soil October until June or July--annuals need heat to take off here, especially in the shade. So that's my thinking--a pretty stone mini patio with some greenery between the stones, with pots for color that can be seen from the road. Another thing you could do is just take out some of the bricks along the edges and corners, and maybe a few in between, and plant groundcovers in the holes. Then proceed with pots.