Holly, You did it just like the pros: Kept the "old" kitchen photos unlit and dark, so the well-lit "new" kitchen photos would look even brighter, warmer, and more welcoming!

That was not planned, truly. As I recall, it was bright daylight when I took the first photos, so I didn't think to turn the lights on. (There's a sliding glass door to the deck by the table that you don't see.) The "after" photos were taken in early morning, before it was very light, and so I had to turn the lights on. And the kitchen light before was that old ceiling fan, and I hated that light - so harsh, so I didn't turn it on unless I had to. After we put in recessed lighting with a dimmer, the quality of light in the kitchen changed a lot.

Holly, Every lumber yard, home improvement center and flooring store has items often referred to as "dogs". These are items that were ordered and not picked up. There is nothing wrong with these items. Either the sales person ordered the wrong thing or the customers did not pick up the items. There are also discontinued products from the supplier. These range from items with poor sales (still good quality), manufactures closing shop or suppliers distributing another company’s material. Most commissioned sales people don’t point the merchandise out unless they are the ones who made the mistake and it’s been taken out of their commission check. Often, you have to ask about close out merchandise. Commissions are based of percentages. There are two downsides: 1) It’s not returnable. Order as much as you need. 2) Once it’s gone, it’s gone. Get as much as you need and allow for mistakes when putting down your flooring. Between 3% and 5%. Make sure the price is sweet. It sounds like you are not in a hurry. Wait until you find something exactly what you like at a price that's in your favor. Be firm on what you can afford. Wood flooring is a permanent piece of furniture. It’s not a value if you are not happy with it. If you are not exactly sure if you will like it, once it’s down, you will be living with it. With wood flooring, one thing to ask about when purchasing value priced stock items is how many “shorts” are in the box?? Every box has little cut off pieces. Some manufactures box up mostly little pieces, don’t mention it on the boxes and sell it as an economy line. If you like bunches of little pieces, its kewl. Most people like long boards in the mix. DW works in lumber yard that handles flooring. When you’re ready, I can ask what manufactures are having close outs or sales and you may be able to find the same brand in your area. E mail me at smpankowski at hotmail dot com.

That info is good, Steve, and I love wood flooring, but I plan to put ceramic tile in my kitchen (and bathroom, eventually). Since our kitchen has a pretty good expanse of floor (20 x 9), I hope to put the larger tiles in, something natural and stone-like. Do your suggestions also apply to ceramic tile floors? Erika - I was looking at cabinets last weekend and I agree that cherry is lovely. Now I'm going to look up bamboo flooring, and see what that looks like. ETA - Okay, I just read this at a flooring site under the heading "Care for Bamboo Floor:" Bamboo flooring needs to be kept free of dust, dirt and grit. Even the tiniest particles of dirt can cause minute scratches on its surface. Er, ...that rules it out at my house right there....

That info is good, Steve, and I love wood flooring, but I plan to put ceramic tile in my kitchen (and bathroom, eventually). Since our kitchen has a pretty good expanse of floor (20 x 9), I hope to put the larger tiles in, something natural and stone-like. Do your suggestions also apply to ceramic tile floors?

Yes and no. .....A lawyery answer . A number of sales people will suggest buy 10% more than you need to cover mistakes. That's fine if items are returnable. If you buy an excess of non returnable material...You may not get the best value for your dollar. If you get just enough discontinued material to cover your area, when a mistake is made...You may not be able to get more. I don't have a background in tiles except handling them. They break. Check with the sales person about returning broken tiles. Resist the temptation to transport them flat. I've handled..maybe four years and have a good track record with transporting tiles. Shift the box in a clockwise/counter clockwise motion to hear if the entire box is obviously damaged. When shipping them, I'd put a box on edge, tape it to the next box on edge, then tape it to the next and so on. Clear packing tape makes the box look more re-sellable than enything else, if you have to return it. Take your time. Rent or buy the right tools. When puzzled, ask the kids for ideas. If you make a few mistakes in cuts, some home improvement centers will make the cut for you at a charge. The company I'm with now has a number of doors and windows that have piled up over the years. Ugh. We have a very nice cherry door where we ordered the wrong panels. Now we have an 8'x8' that may be here a while. Tuesday I loaded two 9'x9' doors onto a truck whose box is 8'8" high. The doors are 1/2 a ton each. When I got to the job site, the customer had only ordered 1. So, if any of you need a 9'x9' bedroom door, let me know.