'Let me know when someone designs a mower that's perfect in every situation, and I'll buy three of them!' It doesn't have to be perfect, just not aggravating most of the time. I concur 100% with the original poster - it was like he was talking about my yard and my mower. Personal Pace, Easy-Stride and Sensa-Speed all can be nightmarish in certain situations. Plus, the big point for me was you can't turn it off. Once I discovered 'Variable Speed' which is simply PP with manual bail control, I knew I had found the 'drive of my life', to coin a phrase. PP can be great under some conditions, but I don't know how many times I got enraged with mine. I came close several times to throwing it out in the street and shooting it until it caught fire. It's not about 'not liking new things', being 'set in one's ways' or not 'giving it enough time'. It's simply that PP is a marvelous drive system except under certain conditions. If you do not encounter those conditions where you mow, you may really like it. Even if you do have some of the problems, many people just aren't that bothered by them - others are.

Basically, a 'mud job' is just putting a thin veneer of compound over wallboard..it can also be called a 'skim coat'. It is basically joint compound, rarely it is plaster. Yes the guy has referrals, but what were the projects? Were they sensitive work on old houses to yield something which is like what might have been the original appearance, or were they gut jobs and remodels with no respect for the original house? From what you've said of him, I suspect the latter. Ripping out and replacing work with newer materials often yields an inferior result and costs more money than a decent job--he is pushing for the fastest methods to do the work, like someone who is primarily a 'flipper' of houses, not a true professional. Despite your saying he isn't profiting somewhere with his subcontractors or materials, I don't believe it for a second...he is going to make money somewhere, otherwise he wouldn't be doing the job. Based on the information provided as to his recommendations for the work to be done, he IS suggesting things which aren't needed. With a baby on the way, and new home owners, he is seeing a prime opportunity to make some fast money. Did you get estimates from other contractors and painters? That is an absolute MUST for any project. I know I'm sounding negative to you, but it is just common sense--I used to be a trusting person, but being burned one time too many changed that--and since a house is your biggest investment, you don't want to take ANY chances with such a big ticket expense. With a new addition to the family coming, you absolutely MUST save where you can, unless you have deep pockets, which you say you don't. Just a queston of curiosity: who put the idea in your head that the walls lead paint was a danger which had to be addressed by a complete removal? Paint chips are eliminated with vacuuming, unless you let them accumulate for weeks...and painted trim is going to be more likely to give them especially at corners...but again, the solution is to make sure the paint is sound and has a firmly adhered new layer.

Before painting anything or adding color anywhere I would pick my color pallet. Figure out everything in the house that has to stay. (Not changing the flooring/countertops/ tile in bathrooms . . .) Figure out what you are bringing into the home that you love and will not change for a long time. Look at everything you own, art, clothing, jewlery, makeup, bed linens . What are the colors that you love? Everyone has a few favorites. You want your home to reflect your personality. Are you a jeans and tshirt gal or a pearls and lace kind of girl? Do you love bright, bold colors, or pastels or deep sultry colors? Which colors? Now examine your home. When are you going to use each room and how will you use it? What kind of energy do you want to experience in that room. Do you throw formal cocktail parties or football bbqs or simple family gatherings? Do you like to relax in the tub at the end of a long day or grab a quick shower to wake you up in the morning. Do you want a sultry sexy bedroom or a relaxing retreat? Now you can put all the pieces together. Lay out the colors that have to stay, lay out the colors that you want to stay. Lay then out in the order that you will see each room. If you can see your dining room from the kitchen you want these next to each other and the colors you pick will need to work together, but the colors you pick for the master bath don't have to work well with the kitchen, but need to work with the master bedroom, which has to work with the hall, witch has to work with the stairs, which have to work with the living room, which has to work with the dining room which we already established, has to work with the kitchen. Add the colors that you love. If you pick purple and lime for the kitchen you will want to bring those colors into the dining room, but maybe just a touch of the lime and more concentrated on the purple, then the livingroom needs to have purple, but doesn't have to have lime, and you may decide to introduce some red. Move from room to room, bringing colors that you love into the pallet, sometimes in a deep or bright version and other times in softer forms, making sure that the shades and versions of the colors make you feel the way you need to feel in each room. My colors are teal, purple and burgundy and my foyer happens to have red/purple/green slate flooring. I am using those 3 colors with taupe as my neutral throughout the main part of my home. Teal walls in my guest bedroom, guest bath and master bath and a deep smokey purple in my bedroom. I have a lot of the deep reds in my upholstry and art and things. I also happen to love lime green, but it won't work with teal, so I am continuing the taupe and purple into the basement where I will be doing a deep purple taupe and lime green accents. Basement will mainly be used as a game room, and it will be a place to hang some of the art that I have from a trip to Costa Rica that is brighter and greener than the decor I have elsewhere. I really think that every woman should feel like a 10 in every room of her home. The colors that make you feel wonderful about yourself and about life should surround you.

Sure, that's patchable. It just requires patience. I've patched a couple of old-house plaster-wall bathrooms. Mine had more cracks, and not as much damage to the finish coat, but I still think it can be fixed. Ideally you'd have a good plasterer do the work for you, but that may be expensive, if you can even find one. I'm not an expert, but I don't think a complete gut is necessary. Plaster bathrooms existed for decades before bath fans became common. They generally handled moisture OK, though maybe not to the extent you've created it. Now that vent fans are easily available at the hardware stores, I suggest that you install one, so this doesn't happen again.