Absolutely can I relate to this topic. I live in a 70's split-foyer, split-entry, bi-level, whatever you want to call it. In looking for information on how to update or decorate these houses, etc, I have found entire threads devoted only to people's intense dislike of these homes. The thing is, by buying this house, I got in a celebrated school district (I have no kids but I enjoy living in an area where if the kids graffiti your garage, the graffiti is spelled correctly), with an acre of land, with a creek in the backyard. It is about 2000sf, and into that amount was squished 5 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a family room, and a laundry room. The bedrooms are TINY. Which I know people hate nowadays. What we've done, is, instead of adding on, we have tried to reconfigure. We turned one of the bedrooms into a dressing room, and turned our master closet, the windowless half bath and the windowless full bath (these were miniscule, as anyone familair with these houses knows) into one big walkthrough bathroom. Our master bedroom is still small, but we don't need dressers since we have a nice big dressing room adjoined now. We replaced the nasty hollowcore doors with frosted glass doors, which helps add light, and makes rooms feel a bit more spacious. We are updating the kitchen and adding more windows, plus putting in a banquette for dining. We added more closet space to the bedrooms on the garden level (sounds much nicer to say that than basement level). We are switching the huge laundry room and teeny full bath so that the bathroom is the big room and the laundry is smaller. Which also enabled us to seperate our family room into an area where we could view the fireplace, and another where we could watch TV by the walkout doors. These are all changes for our enjoyment. I have no idea if we will recoup any money when we sell, especially since we took out a bedroom and lost a half bath. Nothing can really be done about the outside. I mean, it's a split entry...Me and DH call these "house volcanoes, like the earth is trying to push a house out and hasn't quite made it yet. LOL I am loving our house now, because it's where I live with my darling genius of a husband and I have a huge yard to garden in and to let my three precious dogs run around. I know many people think my home style is ugly, that it's generally despised and realtors hate selling them because nobody wants to look at them...but I live in a wonderful area surrounded by homes that are worth much more than mine. I get to enjoy the very same benefits they do, but I pay A LOT less for the privelege of this excellent area, all I have to do is live in a house voclano:-) Joanna

Glad to hear some good news for your project Sara! You’ve waited a long time. As a former licensed contractor, and now a full time real estate investor, I have been on both sides of this arena. I can remember interviewing a finish carpenter who told me how skilled he was trimming ornate staircases, stacked crown molding, etc. When I brought him over to a compound miter and asked him to install a simple piece of crown, he spent 15 minutes adjusting the saw, made three wrong cuts, complained about the molding and finally said its been a while and maybe he “forgot a few things”. Unbelievable. When I hear ridiculous excuses from these guys, I know right away what they are all about. Many of them are just day laborers calling themselves “pros”. They would rather complain about the distance they have to walk to a house than swing a hammer and earn an honest day’s pay. So, it’s got to be hard to deal with these types as a homeowner. Many of these self proclaimed contractors overstate their skills beyond the pale of mere exaggeration to downright lying. They are also the same ones who complain about everything: its too hot to work, too cold, they left their tool bag at home, etc.… Any excuse to stay home and drink. Its sad but true. Some of them have spent more time in prison than on a jobsite. So be sure you do a background check before you let anyone in your home to do work because there does seem to be a correlation between the amount of complaining and the incarceration rate of some of these guys. Anyone who doesn’t have the professionalism to return a call or, worse yet, not show up for a client meeting should be called out on it using the array of review sites I mentioned previously. Now after writing all that, its only fair to say that not all contractors are like this. You seem to have found a very decent electrician who is assisting you with a new GC. I wish you all the best with your addition and I hope it is completed soon and on budget.

kachme7, we have sat down at length with the Sherwin Williams color fan deck and have determined that a very close match to Conestoga's Crystal White is Sherwin Williams SW7002 (Downy White). Ben Moore or other suppliers may have some close matches too, but we have not sat down with their color palette yet. Downy White SW7002 seemed to be almost spot on in most lighting we looked at. Now, it bears mentioning that these are what we (cabinetjoint.com, not Conestoga) determined were close matches. Conestoga will not guarantee their material matches Downy White in any way. I would think it would be very dangerous to put Conestoga finished product on cabinet boxes done with SW's finish as the chemistry (and therefore the aging process) will be very different and you may end up with very different looks after a few months/years as Latex/oil based paints from Sherwin Williams will age and mellow in very different ways than Conestoga's Catalyzed Conversion Varnish. I would suggest perhaps refacing the boxes with Conestoga finished veneers or refacing molding OR buy all your product unfinished and then finish it all yourself to ensure a good match among all the components. Also remember that Conestoga is laying their coatings down with a sprayer whereas you may be considering brush applied materials to use on your boxes? Brush applied finishes will change the sheen and texture vs spray applied and therefore the color can be thrown off, so putting Conestoga finished doors on your home-finished boxes may result in a very different look, even if the colors of the materials are almost spot on. Just some things to be mindful of! Let me know if we can help in any way.

Faron - I start my Stihl on the floor by sliding my foot through the handle to help keep it steady. However I'm unable to start our generator - the pull cord is too high up and I can't get enough torque - I'd need a stepladder. My profession was dominated by women and I can readily say that I never faced discrimination at work. Of course like most women I've encountered my share of men making crude comments and insinuations and as a young woman was never taken seriously when I took my car in for repair. And there were a few alarming situations where I seriously worried about my safety. When DD was growing up I tried to set an example for her, I felt it was important for her to see me as a capable woman. I wanted her to be strong and independent . When she graduated from college we went to buy her first car. I had already locked in the price online and brought a copy of the sales agreement. However the salesman kept saying that certain items were omitted and he wanted to re-write the agreement and came back with a higher price. I walked out of the dealership. DD was crushed because she thought she wasn't going to get her car. The salesman came running after us and we did get the car - at the original price. It's a story she vividly remembers. However she is now working in a male dominated job and is facing discrimination, ridicule and even career sabotage. There is no HR department, she has to take these issues to her boss - who frequently says that she's whining and then later approaches her when she's alone and rubs her back and says he's sorry. The only other females at her work place are doing clerical or administrative work and are off premises. She's the only woman working on the job with 6 to 8 men. It has become a toxic work environment and she has consulted with an attorney as to how to proceed. I'm proud of her for taking the initiative to get legal advice but she's so disillusioned and stressed that she's also looking for another job.