Door Knobs and Drawer Pulls and Hinges, Oh My!

An update on this week's adventures in moving preparations.... -Why is cabinet hardware so expensive? And why can't door hinges for cabinets be universal? Because changing out hinges is such a huge hassle (as we learned when Mark refinished the vanity in the master bathroom), we decided to leave the hinges as they are in the kitchen and just replace the cabinet door knobs and drawer pulls with something in some sort of antique bronze or hammered bronze or something that would go with the old looking hinges. It has been a real effort to find something that would work. Mark finally found something that will do. No what I would use if we were staying here, but at this point in time it's the best we can find. Cabinet hardware is SO expensive. It's crazy to pay that much for a cabinet door knob. -And speaking of door knobs, I wanted to change out all of our door knobs throughout the house to brushed nickel or satin nickel but the price for that was crazy, too -- $400 if we had purchased everything through eBay. At this point in time, with the discouraging price forecast for our honme, I'm just not able to spend $400 on door knobs. And, of course, switching out the door knobs would have meant also switching out the hinges.... -The dining room is now painted and looks like a generic dining room. We had a beautiful cranberry color on the bottom half of the walls. It is now gone. The girls' bathroom is now painted -- no more aqua blue. Now it's the same tan color the rest of the house will be. It looks so strange and impersonal to me. I am looking for a new light fixture for their bathroom. -Mark re-popcorned the ceiling in the master bathroom yesterday and he did a great job. It's nice being married to a handyman!! -We met with the realtor again and she has done a downward adjustment on what she thinks we can quickly sell the house for. We will be lucky to break even. I need to get in touch with the government relocation program office to ask more questions about closing costs and things like that. If it turns out that we're going to lose money if we sell, we will probably just try to rent the house for a while instead. *Sigh* -My husband is now unemployed. STRESS! We are hoping to hear very soon from one of the several school districts he has applied to. We know we are supposed to make this move and so I am trying hard to hold onto my faith and to hope and not get discouraged, but it is hard at times. The tears have flowed on more than one occasion. But we will press forward and hope and pray for the best. -I really need a trip to the beach but won't be able to do that until the house is on the market. I'm so in need of some beach time!