You could pull the permit under your own name, that'll relieve the contractor of any worries over an open permit in his name languishing while awaiting final inspections. As to doing your own demo, the concern there could be that if he blocks out his schedule to start the work and you don't have the demo complete, he'll be twiddling his thumbs waiting for you to finish. I'd recommend setting up an appointment with him for him to see the bathroom a couple of days before he is to start his portion of the work. If this is not your only bathroom, you could do the demo early, have everything broom clean, then he can come by a couple of days before he is to start to inspect your work. He can then give you an "everything's fine" or he might give you a couple of more tasks to do. It can also be an advantage to him as well, because the early visit will prevent any surprises when he shows up to start work. Budgets are not unlimited, I understand your position. But I also see his point, in that this project will sort of have his name on it, yet it's up to you to properly finish the detail work for a project that he started. Still, it's your house. It's your money. He can chose to work within the scope of work offered, or you can find someone else.

I absolutely love your kitchen but probably because it is very similar to ours. We have creamy shaker style cabinetry with some glass doors, midtone maple floors and the overhang of our peninsula is dark-stained maple - all the same elements as yours (except we have a granite counter - the very classic giallo ornamentale). Our kitchen has been finished since September and I am still playing with accessories and colours. I lived with it for awhile to figure our whether I wanted to stay in the neutral colours or whether I wanted to add some pops of colours. You do need to live with it and let it just happen and evolve. My Process then became: When I put some of my "play" dishes back into my glass cupboards (not the everyday ones) I noticed that blue was a common colour in my dishes and so I lived with those for a while and then I found some really cool orange/terra cotta plant containers at a local garden shop and they "spoke" to me so I brought those home and put ferns in them (they would actually look great in your space). The blues and oranges are really adding to my space. I will now wait a while but when I'm out and about I do keep my eyes open for little touches. I would wait before doing anything over your stove as you may find that you like the openness of the space depending on what else you do in the room. Don't forget that whatever you put there is going to get dirty and will need cleaning. What about a piece of metal artwork ? Just as an aside: I look at some of the beautiful kitchens that people have done with the fancy frou-frous and wonder if I should have done something like that and then when I see yours, which is so similar to ours, and I go -nope- ours is perfect for us. Again, I love the clean simple classic gorgeous lines of your kitchen and the accessories and accent colours will evolve.

It is interesting that you make that remark about the doors. When I mentioned the arch matched the house I was just drawing it to your attention. You were already aware of it. If I owned this house I would choose the rectangle windows, for a different reason than you have. I think they are trendy. I stay away from trendy when I can. In fact, the door itself seems trendy to me. There was a person here not long ago with a house like yours. For some reason the home owner want to replace or cover the arch over the door with a straight board and change the column to a post. About the birch tree. You need a certified arborist to examine the tree. If the tree can be saved he will tell you. I have had them come give me an opinion for free. Sometimes I would get an estimate too. Like you, I would prefer to not see trees removed. dI hope Yaardvark will share his thoughts about the tree/retaining wall. He is a Landscape Architect. One other thing. If you do not take Yaardvark's advice on the Japanese Maple then I recommend removing that corner bed.

Pseudo-tudor. They were building pseudo-colonial and ran out of money after they put in the brick. Thus the roof-shape, which is going in the pseudo-colonial direction, but with a generous helping of pseudo-English manor. The porch, however, is all-American. The door should follow on that theme and look bright, fresh, and gregarious (translate: "pop"). If it were me, I'd go all out hodge-podge: not white-out the tudor, not white-out the brick. Just freshen up the paint, clean out the trees right next to the house (but keep the huge ones in foreground and background 'cos they're worth a fortune towards the value of your house). Spend your money on making sure the upstairs window frames aren't rotted. You might want to be sure those branches aren't overhanging the chimney (where there might be a risk of fire). Make the side patio more enticing. Maybe nifty up the cement, barbecue and cafe table, or, if out West, a hot tub. Or is that your parking area? Heck, build a carport! If the brown grass is an unofficial pathway, make it official, looking like it's supposed to be there. Stepping stones?