The tile is so neutral, you can go with almost any color. The lighter colors will seem brighter in the dark space. I would find an inspiration piece and go with the colors from that...it can be an outfit you like, a plate, a pic of a room you like, a poster you'd like to hang on the wall...anything. So long as it's something you'd like to look at. Then go with it. My laundry room was inspired by a kitchen I saw on a house tour where the owner had white cabinetry and painted the little bit of wall space in heather. It was luscious, and i loved it so much that the color stuck with me....so now I have a heather colored laundry room...crazy to some, but I love it. And what the heck....it's a laundry room...why not liven it up.

Thanks for that Jalcon Have seen this post before I think with a lot of these Situations the Choice of to Prune or not to Prune is in the hands of the Tree owner whether Purist ~ None Purist or Experimentalist I myself with this Tree have decided to remove the bottom 2 Branches before the Tree becomes too Branch Wound Envisaging what the Tree would look like with just a single Curved Trunk I would consider this the best Option,(In My Opinion as a Comparitive Beginner to many on the Gardenweb) Best wishes Stephen,Cheshire,UK

Thanks everyone! Jillius I love the closet pantry! Thank you for taking the time for additional options. I have thought long and hard about the layout and different options. Here is where we are after speaking with my hubby: 1) We would like to keep the sink where it is and have a nice focal point with the wall hood. We are doing a similar panel treatment to our fireplace and will carry this design into kitchen. This area will be bumped out a bit. We want to keep the sink view. It's the only real view we have of our side yard, rose garden (when they are alive and blooming), pool with the sound of trickling water and a place to see the kids if they are swimming out back. We have plantation shutters and sectional in living room so no unobtructed view like we have in the kitchen. Also, the back wall away from anything else is ideal spot to cook for us. We don't want gaps in the wall cabinets to add more windows on the back wall next to cooktop. We have 9 ft ceilings and the space isn't as closed in and dark as it appears in the pictures I snapped at night with my phone. We do not want a bulky fridge in the path near our patio door. Need some free space just to maneuver in and out of patio door from pool. Don't want to move the patio door either. 2) expansion: we would love a larger island. Seating is not necessary. If we were to expand, we would rather take out the buffet in dining room. We need to see if there will be structural limitations. The expansion into the side yard will cramp up the pool area too much. We would rather take the 19" from the dining room buffet assuming it won't obstruct flow of dining table. 3) we are willing to give up the desk area and see if we could move things down and open up the entry to dining room by the corner side. This option would leave us having to go around the family room when we come in from pool to shower. Ideally, I'd like to add a shower in the yard so this will only be a short term inconvenience. If we can't move the opening, we would like to see what else to use that space for. I would love some sort of nook seating. Would have to see what creative solutions we can come up with. Ann I would love to see pics of your pantry! Pantry: we love the closet pantry idea. Where and how to fit it in will depend on overall layout we choose. 4) without moving sink, we are exploring prep sink options. Ideally need a small garbage, soap and place to hang towel for this to work. 5) cabinets and storage is where we need to be careful to have adequate storage so we aren't tripping over each other. Right now our dishes are stored in the large drawer under cooktop because that's the only place they fit (cabinets have middle bar). It's a pain and we need to make sure our cabinet design solves all our storage and flow issues if we are keeping the u shape with island. 6) we find this plan really interesting except for the sink location. I wonder if a corner sink with a small end cabinet can work with this layout. Basically an l shape with a corner sink. I guess a g shape I think I have addressed everything that has been presented. Thank you all for your time and thoughts on this. We need to do some more research and see what options we have construction wise! And then weigh whether it's worth the cost.

Well, I’m not a boomer (I’m GenX) but I can guarantee you that there was not that level of casual sex in the late eighties, early nineties when I was in college. Obviously people had sex, but at least among my friends and sorority sisters...it was pretty taboo to have random sex outside the context of some sort of relationship. I am sure there were girls that did, but they were outliers. Maybe they were happy & liberated & doing what they wanted...but the few girls who I was aware of that did this were girls with self-esteem issues. They were treated badly, and it was sad. I really hope you are correct, Robo, and the article is being sensational. I also hope that it isn’t that bad where we live in the SE.