hello spikedoll, thanks for the compliment. the price was valid for 2010 and in the two years since, I believe prices of labour, materials and many other stuff relating to renovation had escalated. about reasonable-ness, we pretty much went with the ID/contractor that understood us the most and we could afford the budget for. there was certainly quite a lot of hacking. besides the obvious: masterbed room wall becoming a glass wall which required certification by professional engineer, wall around the entrance to kitchen and stair rails, there was also the less obvious: the utility room is actually "bigger" because we moved the wall towards the kitchen, thereby shortening the kitchen which we thought was too big for us. our home, in it's pre-furnishing and pre-decorating state is pretty simple. it's quite really plain with while walls, wood veneers and cement screed. a bit of accents here and there. i guess it all boils down to picking furniture you really like that works for the design as well, accessorising with bits of art/decorative pieces you like, installing lights that don't become too obtrusive..... i think increasingly, home-owners are spending more and more on renovation cost. as long as they are spending within their means and happy with the results, that's good. and although it's counter-intuitive, it can actually cost alot to look "simple".