After three grueling days of moving, we are nestled in amongst our boxes. It already feels like home! Downsy, our fence panels are 3 ft. With the knee wall (top of retaining wall) and the space between that and the panel. I think we have a finished elevation of 42" or a little more. 4 feet will be just fine. john_wc, the short answer is yes, but it's a bit more involved than that. During my due diligence, I walked the lot with quite a few builders and landscape architects. By the time we were ready to do the site plan, I pretty much told the landscape architect where to put the house and the driveways. The rock wall out front was pure serendipity plus a little inspiration: boulder wall.

The ceilings are 9' but look only 8' because of the room length. I have been trying to talk DH into letting me paint the ceiling(our have it painted :)) a lighter shade of the wall color. This would make the ceiling seem higher. I also want to repaint the living room ceiling the same shade (to make it look higher) and the dining room dome the same because I think the green (from the walls) is too dark in the dome. Perhaps I can do all that when the fireplace is re-done. In this photo, you can see my dinging room ceiling, and a smidgen of the living room ceiling in the background (past the foyer.) Living room ceiling I am so sorry.... I realized that I have gotten off track from the original posting and practically taken over this thread. I guess your re-do has inspired me. :)

I've been reading for a long time, but will probably be doing my remodel in Jan/Feb along with you. :) I'll try to give you my opinion on your questions since I'm planning to do a black and white kitchen myself. 1. I think the angled cabinet in your inspiration kitchen is that way so as to not impede a walkway area. If you want a 24 inch wide utility cabinet, I'd put it in and then do shelves at the top for your cookbooks if that's what you want. In my opinion, a 9 inch cabinet wouldn't be worth the money...just wasted space. 2. I've seen quite a few drawer base cabinets with containers in them. I think they would work quite well for your non-traditional pantry items. I "think" it's remodelfla who showed pictures of her containers in a base cabinet drawer where she stores flour, sugar and the like. A similar arrangement would probably work very well for you. 3. You could do a couple of different things over your range to give you a different look. Glass doors on the cabinets over the range would add some oomph, or you may be able to get a custom cabinet door that allows display of something like a plate directly in/on the door. Or, you could do what I want to do above my sink..I'm installing a 42 inch tall cabinet with a shorter door. The bottom shelf of mine will give me a place for baskets to hold produce, but yours could act as a mantel type space if you like. 4. I'm reusing my double-bowl stainless steel sink since it's in excellent shape. I don't think that an undermount sink is worth the money in my extremely tight budget and I prefer two bowls rather than one. 5. I think your inspiration picture has either white or gray countertops. Basically, almost any color looks good with white cabinets (in my opinion). I'm planning on either chocolate brown or black counters if I can't afford my first choice, which is Uba Tuba granite. If you like a light brown color, I think it would look gorgeous. My best advice on choosing a quartz color is to take a color sample in when you choose the countertops and find one that's close to your sample. Good luck. I can't wait until we're both posting pics of our finished kitchens! :)

Bumblebeez--She bought it because IT WASN'T TOWELS. That was her whole point...she had been forbidden to buy towels. So she didn't. Granted--it was a juvenile reaction--but I totally understood her motivation. I dunno. It either strikes one as funny or it doesn't. I'm with everyone else--if I don't like a blog--I don't go back.