The coolers work awesome except some foams and caulks eat styrofoam so some testing needs to take place before you head into the attic. If you have to deal with codes and an inspector ask his opinion first. There are covers available that can be caulked in place and are treated so they won't burn and aren't quite as easy to find, are more of a pain to work with and to some are expensive if you have a dozen to do. One other option is a 'sealed' trim that goes on the inside. I think these are great if installed and caulked in place so they truly are sealed but then painting can be a challenge later. They come with a flakey stick on gasket which is still much better than a cheap trim but still is far from perfect without caulk. I have purchased the trims from Ebay much cheaper than home depot or lowes and I did use caulk and caulked the tiny slots in the top of the trim and at the ring to sheetrock contact area. Doing the rings inside the house still does not spare you from sealing the wires and pipes that enter into the attic which are huge leaks also. Most people blow off the recessed light sealing and they can be the largest hole into your attic and cause the most comfort/allergy issues. I have 14 and on an energy audit we tested the cfm or cubic feet per minute of air at each vent and register and also tested each recessed light on a day with light wind. I had an average leakage of 5 cfm from each light which doesn't seem like much until you do the math per hour and per day. 70cfm per minute for 14 lights 4,200 cfm per hour 100,800 cfm per day. I don't even remember the numbers when we fanned the doors but they went all over the place negative and positive which pulls nice clean air out of your attic and cellulose fibers or fiberglass fibers in for the owner to live in. I highly recommend paying someone to shoot your house inside and out with a thermal imaging camera before you jump in too far so you can develop a game plan. I also highly recommend a blower door test with the thermal camera and cfm testing ducts and such. I had less than 150cfm total of actual return air going through my registers on a 1200cfm system because I was sucking air out of the attic and basement for return air. I would have never known the severity of the issue without the test. Get the testing done and pay for it get photos of the results. I would pay for the testing and any other services I would wait on until you digest the information and figure the best way to attack the issues. I hope I get to read your findings and what approach you decide on. You are on track to keep money in your wallet and be more comfortable in the process.

I'd recommend using a mineral paint/lime paint product. It breathes, will not flake off (bonds to masonry because itself is mineral) and of course is zero-VOC and a 100% natural product. Since the brick is unpainted, you can escape the never-ending maintenance ordeals of any oil or acrylic paint application. Casey

natesgram, thanks, I've actually seen that link before, and it's what really pushed me towards painting. It really has a lot of helpful info too. As much as I would love to get new doors (shaker is my favorite!), I'm going with paint for now. The wallpaper...yes, I don't see what's wrong with it either. I took a really close up shot just to show the blue specks, but it really just looks like textured cream colored walls. I would like to know if the suggestions to remove it are because it's ugly/dated or more for resale purposes where painted walls are the preference for most buyers??? alabamanicole, now that I look at it some more, I agree the track lighting needs to go. It should be easy and inexpensive ($100-150?) to change it out. I love the look of bronze, but would it work with my ss appliances and ss cabinet pulls? Or should I get bronze pulls and faucet...CAN you have a bronze faucet and a stainless steel sink? Confusing! Also, thanks for your kitchen idea. The rest of my house is decorated with warm creams, reds, greens. I love organic stuff like wicker, stone, metal, and I love shaker style, country style, and arts-n-crafts style. I really like cream cabinets, but I already have enough cream with the counter, the tile, and the wall. The breakfast bar opens into the dining room, which is has cream furniture and red and green as the accent colors. The kitchen doesn't have to be matchy-matchy with the adjoining rooms, but it should flow colorwise. I'm going for a sleek, simple, yet casual and warm look with bluish/green cabinets. Below are kitchen looks that I love. Some won't work with my sleek cabinets, but it's just to everyone an idea of the look and feel that I hope to achieve... I love the color on this wall...if I ever take down my wallpaper! lol I love the warmth and casualness of cream cabinets. My dream kitchen...if I could start from scratch! :) Here, I love how the bottom cabinets are darker than the top cabs. Cute chandelier, and the island color is gorgeous! Ok, since I also LOVE the idea of two cabinet colors, what if I paint my top cabs cream and my bottom cabs blue/green? I really can't decide between my two colors below, and painting all the cabs either color will be too much cream in the room, or too much blue/green in the the room...no? I'm also open to sage green. If I go with using two colors, what if I paint the storage wall like the storage wall below (where the top and sides would be the blue/green color)?

Errant: gorgeous!!! I used a both caulking and wood putty depending on the type of joint/hole filling. I had recessed panels and at the point of recess needed caulking. Sometimes the paint will fill small gaps, but you really don't know how well until the caulking/filling phase is done. So it's just as easy to do it up front and be sure. I didn't caulk around the inside of the doors, but later I wished I had. Those paint gaps annoyed me even inside. I think I may have gone back over them afterwards. I had no shrinking or caulk issues at all in 4 years (then I moved). I think because the wood is 25 years old, it is very stable. Maybe with a lot of humidity, it may be an issue. Also be prepared that with white cabinets, they do show dirt easily. It amazed me to realize how dirty the wood cabinets were that I never saw. No hiding anything with white! I used BM Aura paint which was very durable and held up great to frequent wipe-ups. I also kept a small bottle of touchup paint handy. (Michaels: 2oz flip top plastic jars) Now BM has Aura Advance "cabinet" paint so either it's just a marketing change or presumably is even more durable for cabinets.