Personal property taxes are just awful!! When we lived in our old house we had a trailer house attached. It wasn't the prettiest but it gave us bedrooms and a bathroom for a cheap price. We had a little wooden porch that came with the trailer at the back door and Glen had moved in some old pieces of sidewalk for the bottom of the stairs. When the tax people came by they measured that piece of sidewalk and we were going to be taxed on it. Glen argued with them about it being old but it didn't matter so he told them "consider it gone" because I'll be moving it away. We were also taxed MORE because we had skirted the trailer. You'd think that they would want it to look nice and that we shouldn't have been taxed on that.

We just received something in the mail about the trailer house. They were wanting info about it. Glen called this morning and said that it had been flooded and wasn't in any shape to be taxed. He talked his way out of it this time.

I am putting down laminate flooring at the end of next month, pending approval from the condo board. They had better approve it because I bought it all already! Last Thursday night, Scott and I went out just to see what kind of budget we'd need to redo the flooring, and we ran across this absolutely GORGEOUS laminate on sale for only $0.97/square foot. So I jumped on that and bought enough for my whole place! The color is called Boston Cherry, and it's quite a dark stain but it looks great with all of my colors!
My parents have a lot of leftover tile from the cabin so I am taking that from them because it's just enough to redo my kitchen and bathroom! I am also hoping to buy kitchen cabinets, so I will hold off on that flooring until I get new cabinets installed.
I'm trying to get as much done as possible before February, because the Canadian government has introduced a Home Renovation Tax Credit, so for any renovations I do before February, I will get some money back :) It was introduced to stimulate the economy and I know a lot of people are taking advantage of it.

Here is a picture I took of one plank of laminate I took home to show my parents :) It seems a lot lighter in the picture from the flash.

Lindsey that flooring looks almost identical to mine in the foyer and dining room. Really pretty. I got mine for 1.19 sq. ft. which was a good buy, you got a very good price on yours. I'm having new carpet laid in the living room Thursday, I couldn't go with wood because we bought our laminate at a discount store and they no longer have the color to match the two adjoining rooms. But the carpet is pretty, it's shag which I think is neat because it used to be popular in the 70's, now it back in style, I chose "speckled oak", the sample looked really good with the wood and our furniture.

Paula, I was just in a brand new house and they had new shag carpet on the stairs and throughout the basement and it was SO comfortable to walk on!

Shag carpet.... wow...I had that in our family room when we first built the house...in the 70's. I would love wood flooring, but I'm just worried about how cold it will make the house feel. It would look so nice in here and with the dogs....would be wonderful.

Hey Janet... can you believe the shag carpet is back in style? I didn't know until my son put it in his new house recently. It is awesome and it is so soft to walk on like Lindsey said. Our wood floors really don't make the house seem colder.. but I always have socks on:o

I don't think it makes it feel cold either. You can have nice area rugs down, and if it's too cold wear socks or comfy slippers :) I really like it in the summer when it's hot outside and the floor feels cooler on the feet.

Lindsay, I love your new flooring!!!

I like it too and I think that it will look really nice in your apartment!!

Janet, the wood flooring is nice with the doggies... but...if yours go outside when it rains. There are still the puppy paw prints all over the wood floor to clean up. I guess the plus to them is that you can just mop it up, unlike carpet that can start stinking over time.

You are all such busy homemakers. I love reading about your projects and accomplishments. My vote is always for wood floors.

I haven't seen shag carpet in years, but my OCD personality didn't care for it. I couldn't stand it when the shags were crushed down and not standing fluffed up. Of course, the furniture indentions drive me crazy on flat carpet.

I've put all my projects on hold until the kids move out. I have such a long list that I expect it will take a couple of seasons to do!

Paula, I did my kitchen cabinets like yours, only opposite. The cabinet doors are white with color behind. We've been in this house 3 years and I've redone the whole thing, lol! Mike and I have downsized twice. I don't understand why people buy huge houses after their kids leave home... I wanted smaller and easier. As long as I have a couple of extra bedrooms for my kids when they visit, I'm happy:)

Do they still sell plastic rakes with shag carpet, lol?!?!?!

Oh Betsi, you're so funny! I'll have to ask the carpet installers about the rake:D They're here now laying the carpet, I think I'm really going to like it. I'll post a pic of it later.
I know what you mean about a big house. My hubby built this one when his daughters were small. Now they are in their 30's and have their own homes, and we have a 3000 sq ft house:eek: I feel like you do... enough room for the two of us and couple of bedrooms for the kids when they visit. I would love to have a one story house. Hopefully this one will sell and if it doesn't, I'm doing everything in the colors that I like.

LOL...I'm the opposite when it comes to size. I would like a larger house. I grew up in a two bedroom home with 6 people. Of course Mom and Dad had their room, but us 4 kids shared the other. It was a very small room, maybe 10 X 10. Everything was crowded in there and I grew up really not liking holidays. Mom insisted everyone come to our house (and they did) for the holidays and it was so crowded and most were miserable but didn't want to upset Mom.

So...I wanted bigger...and I still do, even though it's a nice size 3 bedroom home. Trouble is....I keep getting stuff. I want to get rid of so much stuff, but just don't know if I'll regret getting rid of it and end up buying it again.

If I could just win enough money to fix it the way I want it I'd be satisfied...at least with the house.