btw, I highly recommend using deckpaint grey as the color of your grout and be sure it has latex in it if there is any chance of floor flex.

See Stubborn Hubby topic.Anyway, when it comes to the opinion of your family, regarding anything - investing, your girlfriend or the color of your sweater, use this: I stop and think - Ok they are going to give me advises, but who's living MY life?

My daughter bought a house in which the master bedroom was Harley Davidson colors.

Be very careful as who you try to HELP...We ran into this once, and I hate to say this, but it was a colored couple, and they know how to be the victims...They were losing thier house, but it wasn't thier fault, I mean, hey they had not payed thier morgage in 6 months, nice car out front, nice furniture in the house, you know the story.

Pick a grout color that matches the granite, and tell your tile installer to lay the tiles as close together as possible.

It'll probably still have some taste/color.

I like the idea of giving a furniture allowance, but personally I would shy away from picking it out myself for the same reason that you go with neutral colors in a house.

. :)It struck me that owning and thus controlling three of three physically conjoined properties—not merely "close together" properties, but wall-sharing—might present some benefits (similar to owning all of one color in Monopoly, though I'm sure that's too simplistic of an example).

Painted every place with the same color paint, used the same brand faucets, etc. and tried to standardize as much as I could.

What are the biggest factors in a vibrant REI?