Well, I did have a great day! Can't do pictures yet because the batteries on MY camera died because somebody else used it. Can anyone relate to that? Oh, please say you can... Anybody?... :) Becky, The product you are using sounds great. My problem was that folks around here use grout for bathrooms and kitchens and such and when I mention mosiacs 99% react as though I'm talking about aliens. I don't live in a small town, but Halifax still has a ways to go in being able to provide the hobby, craft, and art community with quality goods. We finally got a Home Depot about 5 years ago, and a Michael's just opened last November. As much as the local stores don't like these big guns coming in, it spins a bit more competition into the equation which is sometimes badly needed. I like the fact that I can come on this forum and search or pose a question about what junkers are using, then make a judgement and go get it, and look forward to your input to my queries in the future! I chose Mapei because Slow recommended it and if you look at her albums, you'll see experience and craftwomanship which is truly amazing. The lady has got to know what she is doing and talking about, eh? LOL!! Sal & Nicethyme, Naughty, naughty girls!! Ah, well, one can always dream... but naked grouting??? EEEWWWWWW!

Hi Zoe.... yes, I thought of having that closet accessed through the pantry BUT you'd lose that 2ft [?] of shelving area that's already IN the pantry. And if you leave the closet as a separate closet...then down-the-road you'll still have a closet as an option. In our design process I've got my tape-measure out measuring all the appliances etc. I've learned that on paper a design layout LOOKS like it should be enough space but then it fills up so fast you think '....how could I have misjudged this..??!!" I want my pantry/storage to have a counter with deeper, open shelving above & below the counter that can house all my 'gadgets' ie; Vitamix, food processor, Seal-a-meal... etc. I want to be able to just walk up and take off shelf. I hate to dig into cabinets to dig those out. With the counter in the pantry I'll have to option to USE the appliance right there also. I cook a lot and when everything's left out on counter it really does end up looking so cluttered..although truthfully I'm NOT one of those that HAS to have everything hidden. We LIVE in our house. I looked at your laundry room and thought that the wall with the bench could have more storage options. If you used a pocket / sliding door on the hallway side of the LR you could have some deeper storage come out a 24-30" -- Mop/broom closet etc. The plan doesn't indicate dimensions but do you think there could be room for a small, portable table in the LR..??.. Fold clothes, drop things off as you walk in. That's what I have in our current house. My husband had handyman make one for me out of some beautiful wood. Just looks better than a plastic folding table. Looks like there's room next to the sink to have that 'cat door' installed. I think that's a GREAT idea. Isn't this FUN?!

I recently had a similar situation. I have been doing a lot of work on my house to get it ready to sell. I have been working with a carpenter (I adore) for almost a year. He has acted as a GC for some things I needed done. He would bring in someone he worked with but I would pay them separately. He recommended a painter who came and gave me an estimate to paint my entire house inside. I agreed and he brought in two workers. They worked for approx 2 weeks. My carpenter came back and didn't like the work they did. He called the head painter on the phone and began screaming at him telling him to get over to my house. Long story short, the painters never came back. I couldn't reach them, never heard from them and lost approx $3,000.00 in the process. My carpenter explained that some of the work was poorly done, no primer was used when it should have been, nails weren't hammered in, picture hooks and outlet covers weren't removed. I was upset that I lost money and painters. He (the carpenter) said he'd finish the painting at no cost to me except the paint. He was right, the work was poor. I noticed some things but not all. I work during the day and was not present to supervise. I still am not sure if I am happy he spoke or if he should have left them alone. Either way, I lost money.

Thanks for that, Jasdip! I somehow figured that out right around the time I posted here last nite. I posted it over on my usual RMG forum so the folks over there can reclaim their "real" names too! But I also agree with Brandon about the graphics! And without the “subject” at the top of each reply, it’s difficult, at best, to quickly scroll down a thread and see the “individual” replies—they all just kind of “blend together!” (And in the past I used to sometimes have several threads open at the same time in different windows, and now, without the subject by each reply, the only way for me to figure out which thread I’m looking at is to scroll all the way up to the top of the window to look at the subject.) And ditto on the fact that you can no longer tell which threads you’ve already read! The “subject” used to “change color” after you had clicked on a thread, so you could easily “check in” and see if there had been any NEW posts since the last time you looked! Now you need to either click on the top thread and actually take the time to look at the last reply, or, I guess, you need to try to remember which thread was on top and “how many hours ago” the most recent post was! Say what? There’s no way I’m gonna remember “how many hours ago” the last post was—and, in any event, that CHANGES! It used to give the actual time (EST) when someone posted or replied, and that I could remember. More importantly, it gave the “number of replies” by each post, and that was fairly easy to remember for the most recent post, but since the “subject” changed color, you really didn’t even need to try to remember that—unless you had deleted your cookies! I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s just a lot harder to work with now—and takes a lot longer to try to see what you want to see. That, and a lot of other things, especially the fact that some old, long posts, that had a LOT of good info, are suddenly truncated, and all that good (and it took people a lot of time and effort to post it) info is now just GONE! I have a lot of good friends on GW, and I REALLY want it to go on—forever, but the more difficult and time consuming it becomes to use, I suspect more and more people will slowly disappear. That would be sad! Skybird