Thanks, all. So, DH is the painter ... (how does one put an emoticon that denotes chagrin??) He is the most careful, conscientious person I know when it comes to doing things right. I'd have to go check out our vast store of half-used paint cans to see exactly what we used, but I believe we used Kilz as a primer (not oil) and probably Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams latex -- 2 coats, about a week apart -- as the paint. I would have felt very bad if we had to call the tile guy on this, actually, because this job (the tile, most particularly the shower pan that he had to do twice) was probably the biggest tiling headache he's had in a long time. Nice guy, truly. But I have to be careful not to let nice people take advantage of me sometimes so I needed a sanity check. Appreciate the advice. And thanks for the nice compliments. We are so psyched about our room!

We had the standard formal layout for years. So when we needed to move to be closer to family we bought a good size house to reno for a forever home. We lived in it as is for almost 3 years. So glad because I really love what we decided to do. Our dining room was/is still formalish. It however faces the back one wall with windows looks out to the pool area another wall looks out to backyard and foothills. (Sits on 5 acres) we do have a neighbors house thats on the slope behind but so landscaped cant see. We took down the wall between entry and formal greatroom and the wall betweek kitchen and formal great room. That particular wall had to have a beam so we put 4 columns in two on each end then the beam runs to the diningroom wall. We wrapped the engineered beam with quartersawn red oak. Looks great we think! Between the columns I found someone to custom make a buffet that on the kitchen side has drawers, open shelves and bin openings for fruits/veggies or whatever. Its 31 inches wide by 123 inches long. So our kitchen has a 10 x 5 island that sits on 6 legs. Almost like a giant table... The dining room I made a point to always use for dinner nightly. Breakfast on the weekends. When everyone is home it is really used more than the kitchen island. Homework and parties the island gets used a ton. We have a sun porch off the kitchen also and a family room that most never go in unless family. We used the buffet as a food station because it can be accessed on either side. With plugs on the columns so if we need to use warmers etc. The back side has just enough over hang when we host Thanksgiving we use it for seating and use the island as a huge buffet. I had a plug installed on the floor under the island on one end. That way if we ever changed island Id have electrical access. Things i wanted were not done in '17 so I compromised. Had a wood piece made for the island that over hangs on the sides and we can slide it anywhere I want. 3 pieces looks like a big charcuiterie board. Our kitchen closer toward the entry i had a builtin china hutch. So the view from our front door you can see the kitchen dining and great room with a switchback satircase off to side of the entry. We are now wanting to start a second phase of reno... 4 years later. Now had a meant to be baby lolol... at the beginning of Covid. He needs a room and our now college kids need their "own space" when they come home on breaks. Plus double as inlaw space. I think we tried to blend casual and formal. I will say the kitchen yes is open but we keep it tidy and after gatherings people gradually help clean. I have to push them away... but no matter what home we've had the kitchen is where everyone gravitated. At least in this house we managed to open it up but the spaces are more defined than just one huge room you do have to walk into/through openings. I say do what works for your family. Im over the "resale" factor. When anyone has come they all have said if you sell call me first. Even the contractors who worked on it before. So must have done something right. We are not show people we tend to keep to ourselves so home reflects us not worried about keeping up. If anyrhing builders could think outside the box a bit more. Track neighborhoods are so boring arg spice them up and put more floor plans in and rotate that you can't look at the elevation of the homes and see the ones that have the same floor plans. Its maddening and most women hate that! Not fun walking into your neighbors house seeing your home boo. Been there done that. Yada yada on cost id pay more not to look like my neighbors back then! Esp having my dining room on the front so all the neighbors can see us eating. Our view ...the street. Yep we knew when our friends were coming and going. Curtain yep thats not a view. My two cents worth ... lolol

Ah! But Christine!! If one is using one's range hood (not OTR) as one is supposed to be when any cooking takes place, you will NOT have any grease, oil, etc on one's textured walls. In my area, EVERYTHING is textured. Orange peel is what it's called around here. I've always had it and didnt have to scrub down my textured walls or ceilings anywhere except the soffit right above my crappy old all-in-one range/OTR combo unit in the old kitchen because the hood part was crappy and only covered part of the front burners. Hate OTRs. Semi-gloss paint on orange peel wasn't tough to scrub. In my new kitchen, no icky walls or scrubbing necessary after 14 months. My range hood is doing its job. In the hall bath where none of the three ceiling fans we've tried has been able to handle the steam and condensation of even a semi-regular hot shower, ceiling and walls must be scrubbed down regularly. Interesting that texture or the lack thereof is regional. Houses in my region were all built with orange peel and popcorn ceilings. One of the projects we tackled first after purchase was scrapping all the ceilings in the house. That stuff is nasty, both to live with and to remove.

The worst in housekeeping would be my Mom's house. Mom had a stroke about 10 years before she passed. She spent those years in a wheel chair, paralyzed on the left side. The man that lived with her insisted that he would care for her all the days of her life. No problem with me and my siblings. Jim was 20 years younger than Mom and we knew that he had cared well for his sister and Mother during their long standing health issues. All was well for about 8 years. Jim had a tendency to clutter and not do as much real cleaning as we would have liked, but Mom was happy, always laughing and Jim did keep her clean comfortable and well fed. My2 siblings and I, each from 100 to 400 miles away, made it a point to go in and clean, etc as often as possible and give Jim a little relief. About 2 years before Mom's passing, Jim got weird and a little hostile towards us. The clutter became worse. If we threw anything out (spoiled food, egg cartons, general trash, the next time we were at the house, the trash would all been taken back in. Jim would not accept any help and refused to let anyone into the house when we contacted VNA and the Area on Aging Services for an investigation. Mom was still happy and told us to leave Jim alone...she was ok with him. If we went to see Mom, Jim was nowhere in sight. Mom, who really was of sound mind insisted that we not interfere. So we did our best to honor her wishes. She was hospitalized for about 3 weeks before she died. When we went to the house to claim some of her personal belongings after the funeral we couldn't believe the conditions there. I have never seen worse, and I felt ashamed of the conditions that our Mom was living in...but that is what she wanted. We had signed the house over to Jim several years earlier, because we felt he had certainly earned it. He passed 3 years ago, all alone. We had tried to be part of his life after Mom died, but he would have nothing to do with us. The house and contents in deplorable condition inside and out were auctioned off. Of course a distant relative of Jim's came out of the woodwork on his passing to make a claim on the estate..and some $40,000 in cash. Fine with us...that relative would have to do the cleaning up, not us.