Uponthehill, The granite is called "Terra Bianca" also known as "Fantasy Brown" I have seen stores call it a granite or a quartzite. In regards to that edge on the island it is “Ogee with a square edge” If you say Ogee here they do the Ogee with the rounded or bullnose edge. We wanted to have a square edge to match with cabinet door and detail. JSpan, Thanks for the compliment. Spent many hours on the kitchen and now hoping everything comes as I envisioned. Autumn, Thanks. Your board and batten looks great and glad you went ahead and did it. I think the molding and details like this add a lot of character and richness to the house. The board and batten actually goes perfectly with your doors  JDez, Thanks for the compliment. I am really not very confident in my selections so good to hear it is looking good. In regards to the email from someone I too got it. I think it is someone who has turned gardenweb to forward the post to their email and now they are on a holiday and have their auto reply turned on. I could be wrong though so better not open it. RobynStamps, Yes the granite is “Fantasy brown” or “terra Bianca” . It does have beige, brown, grey/blues in it. It has more browns then grey’s though. Here is the closeup I have now. I can get more tomorrow.

So the LR isn't 100% finished, but it's much closer, and next weekend is filling nail holes, sanding and painting the rest of the trim. In the spring we'll yank out all the cheesy builder grade baseboard (not what we spec'd, but not the hill we wanted to die on with the builder) and replace it with some cedar 2 x 6 boards we're going to rip down to 1" and then rout out some sort of decorative edge. The BM Pine Grove and White Marigold turned out well and the Aura paint is really nice, goes on well and dries very evenly. Our decorating style is, well, kinda funky/crazy my cousin calls it Mary Engerbart on acid, but since I don't really know who Mary Engerbart is, I can't comment. Any more progress to report? sandyponder Not sure if you can see the brass ibis on the mantel and duck on the hearth, they are recent junk shop find (yes, I love brass, but I also love chrome, wrought iron, ORB, BN, I'm a hardware ho): Doorway to the pool room (room formerly known as the DR) is done, the doorway into the kitchen not done yet (sigh): The wall o' original art, done by me, my DD, real artists or friends: Opening to kitchen (with the trim I need to finish): Facing the lake, very hard to photograph, the snow and ice are so bright white:

Beautiful photos, everyone! I was about 13 or 14 here, as usual the tallest of the cousins.

Hi! I'm a lurker here because y'all have such wonderful ideas. kittypawz-WOW! You live across from the Priddy Fountain? I went to junior high and part of high school in Highland Park and used to drive past that thing (before it was rebuilt) all the time. oceanna-Your siding pics are too funny. My last home had a huge picture window in the dining room that was 6' from the neighbor's house (all brick). I finally built a trellis on the outside to grow vines over the window and block the view :) Here's what I see outside my windows now..