Thanks for your gracious comments, Holiday-ers! candy...yup, I'm hooked on "teapots" now, too (not "teakettles," as I said)...love the 'Enablers R Us' group here! Marylee & Frou & PM...my Mom has to be smilin' down on me about dressin' Babydoll!(& she does have cute toes & fingers...even tho they feel like plastic. I've enjoyed decorating w/her so much since coming to this Forum...will pass on to DH shelf compliments. The ceramic baby chicks I got after Spring sale at a local specialty consignment shop. punk...I bought that column (table post or whatever) for $10 at another CShop ...it was stained that color & my Mother Hen is wood from HLobby...had her for a few yrs now & seemed a perfect match! There is a nail sticking in the column for candles. jane & pat & nana...those brown bunnies called to me...I bought them over 2 or 3 yrs at another specialty CS...I leave them out for summer usually, too. Ever since I've seen party-music's wonderful hand-made baskets I am on the outlook for them! LOL...hope to see some more BOP pics...SMILING is good! Thanks again, everyone! Jeanne S. ... now need some more motivation & energy...you all help with that! LOL! I got another of those "columns" or whatever you call them for $10 (which is a steal around this area, anyway) & DH & I did this project last yr with it...painted it white:

Not much I can add, Jeanne. Your home and decorating is always so warm and inviting. I've loved it, inside and out for many years now....just wish I could see it for real. But thank goodness you share it here with us. Someone finally told the Phoenix Gods its Nov I think...tomorrow and this past weekend has been pushing 90, but they said its dropping 30 degrees this weekend!! Yay. (I think Kirk is sending some his weather this way, minus the snow of course. Just a nice cold front coming down from WA.) It might actually FEEL like Nov around here. hugs, Karen

I think the stools need to be painted either the wall color or black. The white is too stark, as was mentioned. Or, pick an accent color that you want to use in window treatments in the DR area, and paint the stools in that color to make the whole space seem cohesive. I wouldn't probably do drapery panels. I would add painted casing around the windows to match the doorways, and make the window sill feel connected to something. Then I would likely do some kind of decorative fabric valances in a rich print that brings in the wall color, some of the brown/black of the furniture, and whatever accent color is a spark for you. A tall, full plant in the corner between the windows. Paint the inside of your niche in the accent color, too, and see if you can get a piece of granite that matches your counters to use as a bottom ledge for the niche. Your home is charming!

Davidro1.... You are correct in that the LR/DR black granite tiles are set on the diagonal. The foyer terrazzo tiles are set 'square' to the front door. The kitchen entryway from the foyer is flanked by louvered double doors which I plan to remove along with the door trim. I plan to open up the entryway to the ceiling. The current transition is awful as I think it sits up too high and when I hit it with my foot (which I tend to do a lot), it is reminder that I don't like it. I plan to make the transition flush with both floors. As I mentioned in my original post, I was going to use a strip (two+ inches wide) of AB granite to serve as a visual transition in the Foyer/Kitchen entryway. Since I am now going to use a terrazzo tile, I don't think I need to repeat this transition in the other entryway. The Breakfast space (which is contiguous to the task area) is closed off by a swinging door (that is never used). I plan to remove this also and open up to the ceiling. The sliding glass doors (as shown in my mockups) open up to a balcony which is no longer a functioning space. We moved the doors outward bringing the space indoors gaining almost five feet. The remaining balcony 'space' is about 18 inches deep....just enough space for a few small pots of herbs. I went to three granite/tile places today looking at terrazzo tile. My one positive accomplishment....I think I am going with an 18" square, rectified tile. I had thought to use a 12" size but after adjusting my thinking and visual perspective, I think the larger tile will work - unless someone is willing to tell me otherwise and explain the supporting design principle. The color will be a lighter, less busy pattern similar to ArizonaTiles 'Torreon Stone' My design vision doesn't see to be too far off from yours. I have tentatively selected maple with stain/wash/glaze/whatever to create this sort of look. I realize I might have to change my wood species to achieve it.: The granite selection seems to be a moving target right now. I had originally selected Imperial White which is a very tight, fine grained 'granite' (and I use that term with much chagrin). It was the closest granite that I could find that had a somewhat even look of engineered quartz. I wanted a stone that was not very busy and fairly even in color which EQ provided - but I didn't like the looks of after five years of use. After thinking that this stone 'was the one', I learned via the world-wide-web that this material is actually an Orthogneiss which means it needs lots and lots (did I say lots?) of pampering. After finding this out I've done two things....1) lots of reading about sealers and 2) started looking at Bianco Romano...which I'm not really keen on the garnet accents but at least they are fairly small on the slabs that I'm considering. Imperial White not-granite slab (picture color is not accurate, only posting to show the look): Backsplash, I don't know if you saw my comment on another posting, but I credit your Clippings of reminding me that I had a solid glass backsplash in my Inspiration folder. My only conundrum is whether to paint the back ala Palimpsest or frost it and place it over a painted wall. The drawback with the frosted-over-the-painted-wall version, is if I ever want to change the kitchen paint, then this one portion will present a challenge...which I have a whole other thought tangent regarding paint colors. *sigh* There are other small design elements that I plan to add which I won't bother you with in this post unless you express an interest. Thanks for taking the time to read this and for taking the time to reply to my post! Pepper