Wow, qute a lot more responses here. Thank you so much. Judy. I think the fence measures approx 7' due to the fact that it mainly sits on a raised bed. That fence is not too long and because it was dividing two areas of the garden, we needed it to be quite decorative. But our main deer fence, you cannot see. This goes through all the evergreen trees and is approx 7 or 8 feet also. Sorry I cannot remember the size, but I have included a link below. We had it installed about four years ago and I have to say, it changed my life. We are right on a deer path with population getting larger and larger. By the time we installed the fence, our rose devistation was heart breaking, despite all my egg spraying every five days. I was ready to give up. It got so bad that many roses actually died because of the constant chewing and general weekening. So with the deer fence, we moved surviving roses to the back, and are developing this now, and adding more and more and hopefully MORE roses. :) Anyhow, deer are now welcome in the front and all the rest of the garden. They live here. But our front yard, is not as nice any more. They are eating many things they never ate before, including geraniums. So we have to rethink the whole thing and come up with a different kind of garden. I have substituted dahlias for the geraniums and I do not like them nearly as much. But I have to come up with something that works, because I will not chase the deer away anymore, we love them now, heehee! I am introducing a lot more peonies which are lovely. Hence I do not even think I have taken a picture of our front this year -just ain't the same. Pauline Here is a link that might be useful: Deer Fence

We've had a house wren building her nest for the last week so decided to close the hole. I feel better knowing that you have boxes close together. I'll look up info on Tree Swallows and other cavity nesters with regard to the location as well as what other birds will be happy with a bluebird house. This box is at the very end of our yard next to a berm and not as easy to monitor (from our house) as is our original Bluebird house. I thought by closing up the hole, for right now at least, they could use it as a perch. Thank you for the ideas. Both sound promising and our hard work may pay off as well.

I think you do need a light there, both for the light and asthetics, but it shouldn't pull attention away from the chandelier, it should just look like it belongs in the space. Personally, I think it needs more than a can light. Here are a few ideas, you'll have to copy the links in order to see the lights! :) Either something like this with a slight drop: http://www.lampsplus.com/products/14-inch-wide-white-shade-semi-flush-ceiling-light__00884.html http://www.lampsplus.com/products/deluxe-collection-18-inch-wide-ceiling-light-fixture__23267.html Or a flushmount light: http://www.lampsplus.com/products/jonathan-adler-parker-15-and-one-quarter-inch-wide-nickel-ceiling-light__h0679.html http://www.lampsplus.com/products/energy-efficient-white-fabric-10-and-one-quarter-inch-wide-ceiling-light__01421.html http://www.lampsplus.com/products/possini-chrome-and-crystal-strands-flushmount-ceiling-light__96536.html

Thanks again everyone! I was sort of underwhelmed finishing this one; partly because the "thrill" of remodeling isn't as great the 2nd time around, and partly because it didn't feel like a "new" kitchen because the cabinets and floors were basically the same. You all are helping remind me that it is a new space. And don't get me wrong, it's not that I think the kitchen doesn't look fancy, as but that's only b/c I put a few "bling" items in to make it look fancier than it is. The sparkly chandeliers, sink, and wood hood and backsplash (hopefully) draw the eye away from the older cabinets and older floors. Igloo, I think you could still pull off a farm sink. You'd LOVE it! Celticmoon, I thought the same thing about the FKB! What do you do when you have 2 kitchens listed under your name? (Aside from getting a therapist, that is.) Chiefneil, I can see where it looks like the stacked crown is thicker over the sink, but it's the way the carpenter made the hood. It's constructed as sort of a box, then the box indents down to the arched part. The way the crown is sitting on the upper part of the box makes it look like it's really thick crown. And the hutch height was designed solely as the "clutter zone". I learned a good lesson from the last kitchen; the busiest corner in the kitchen will quickly become the "drop zone" for daily mail, keys, cell phones, etc. I raised the height so that there would be no chance of that corner meshing with the cooking part of the kitchen. Socalthreems, I LOVE the actual stone. DH was super nervous about using dark counters, as we had light granite in the last house, and it never looked dirty. He was afraid it would show everything. But there's so much white, gold, etc, that it doesn't show any dirt at all. I don't see fingerprints or smudges either. I really really like the stone. Nellie820, I'd LOVE to see your plans! Now that I'm done here, I need to find something else to channel my energies into! amck, I hope you like the range as much as I do. I LOVE it! muscat, the floors are so weird. I really like them, but a lot of people don't. I wanted the kitchen to be a "refined rustic with a nod to the traditional". I just don't think any other flooring would give me the same look. rmlanza, I found the sink at a local builder's supply warehouse. Since I'd wanted a copper farm sink, and knew their price tag, I was shocked to see the prices they had on their granite farm sinks! I normally hem and haw about such purchases, but I bought it on the spot. It ended up being the star of the kitchen! caminnc, I think all together it was around 2-3 months. We started before we lived here, and were trying to get it all done before we moved out of the old house. That didn't happen, but we at least got the major stuff done. We were simultaneously selling our other house, and had LOADS of projects we were finishing over there as well. For about a 2 month period, we were working non-stop. Ugh. Don't EVER want to do that again. And thanks all, for the kind words about the backsplash. I'm surprised at the responses about it, and I was surprised that I picked such a simple color/design (esp. after my last backsplash!) I only recently realized why I kept gravitating toward plain white. The upper cabinets are *so* close to the countertop. My tile guy said the normal height b/w counters and upper cabs is around 18". My height is only 14.25 inches. My coffee pot barely fits! Somehow I think that I kept wanting white to help visually extend the cabinetry, so that it didn't look choppy. Claybabe, I loved my last house, until my kids started getting bigger. We really outgrew it. And I mean it when I say I *hated* cooking toward the last year we lived there. 'Course I'll probably say the same thing here, when the kids start leaving home in a few years! LOL!