Oh nice! EXTREMELY helpful information, Fotis! And what beautiful plants!! Gives (soon-to-be) my little Skylands something to aspire to! :) Thanks bunches for sharing and taking the time to teach me! I feel better already after seeing the pic of your soil! Haha! I'll do that soil test and report back! LOL Ken - despite my desires to do otherwise, depending on what the little dudes look like when they arrive, I may have to do just that! Although... it's supposed to be nice this coming weekend - in the 50s! Yay!! Ok - my latest worry - mulch. I've always just used composted horse patooties/bedding (which was pine CHIPS, not sawdust) in the past in my gardens, and everything seems to have done well with it, including the "big box store" conifers I've gotten in the past. That being said, this is my first dealings with these seemingly delicate little baby conifers. Will the same stuff work/be ok with these guys, albeit not ideal? I've been trying to read up on it and it seems like a lot of folks on here prefer the pine bark mulch, of which I have nada. The other option I have available to me is shredded bark/wood/etc from non-pine trees; one was ash, another was tulip poplar, and I think there was a third but can't remember what. But this would be freshly shredded (trees that were cut down only ~2 weeks ago). Thought I read somewhere that could be a problem? I'm sorry - my head is swimming with everything I've been trying to read! Again, I can't say enough how much I've appreciated all your help and tips and teachings!!! Many thanks!!! Mary

Everything you've chosen is lovely -- you have a beautiful and tasteful eye. I read that you already chose armchair #1 and now I want to tell you why you made the right choice (in my opinion, that is): We have chairs similar to your #2 choice and reading that you have NOT sat in them I'd like to offer my (twenty-)two cents. Yes, they are deep and comfy for cuddling little children, curling up to read a book or take a nap. However, they are also difficult to get out of -- during both my pregnancies I could not sit in those chairs without either somebody helping me out or without first piling loads of pillows in the back so I was more upright. My father occasionally walks with a cane -- his stability is not great. He, too, cannot sit in our armchairs without assistance getting up or the pillows wedged in the back. I don't know your age / life circumstances, but it's something to think about .... Also, our chairs have wheels in the front bottom too, and they do wiggle! (We have hardwood floors -- might be better on carpet.) So we have little cups for them which look a bit ugly but better that than vroom-vroom armchairs! I'd also like to pipe on about your barstools: I happen to love a rush seat (love it!), but think the Pierre Deux barstools with their carving might, as kmcg85 wrote about the mantel, bore you after a while. I don't know, I guess based on all your beautiful choices I'm pulling toward the third barstool pictured. I'm not sure I can put my finger on why, but to my eye it just makes better "sense" with the other pieces / fabrics you've already selected (or are in the process of selecting). I'm really looking forward to seeing your space -- you have beautiful taste! (and I just might get some of your barstools myself!)

Momx9, chill. :) You won't need months of rumination or hundreds of plans to pull this together. Given a limited budget and family of 11 always in flux, the typical "perfect plan" goal is not only not attainable but also specifically undesirable since the kind of "perfection" some people manage to achieve for themselves is for one person at one specific time of life. That has nothing to do with you guys! You just need to open up your kitchen and improve its function. You need flexibility. That's before even mentioning budget. I'm sure you guys have any number of worthy ways to allocate your money, so keeping budget at the top of your list of priorities will simplify your decision-making tremendously. Flexibility saves money because it means not building in everything possible everywhere you can find a place for something. So, 2 main goals here so far 1. Opening up the kitchen on both sides. 2. Improving function. Anything else? One thing that's not been properly explored is...what's WRONG with your current layout? What does not work for you guys? Given your budget, and ALL THE FEATURES YOU LIKE THAT YOU ALREADY HAVE AND WANT TO KEEP, if possible, by far the best course would be to tweak what you have, and the answers to the what's-wrong question will determine what can be kept and what has to be changed. Stove wall: To start, you can keep the stove and dishwasher where they are, keep the SS counters, keep the stove hood, AND open the kitchen to the family room safely IF you settle for opening that wall on the right and left sides of the stove and keeping the wall right behind the stove (and the hood) in place. The wall on each side could be opened right down to the counter and deepened toward the family room if you like. This compromise would accomplish probably 90% of what you want: Both areas would feel more spacious and open. People in the two rooms could see and communicate with each other. If you wanted stools on the family room side, you could place some safely enough at one or both of the open stretches of counter if you deepened them toward the family room. Those counters, with or without stools, would offer extra places for people to work, cooking or schoolwork, as needed. The wall behind the stove could be an attractive display area that multifunctioned by hiding some kitchen mess. If you deepened the counter beyond the depth of the wall the two ends count be connected across the wall as a display shelf. OR, you could open the whole wall, leaving it raised above the work counter to provide some protection from flying grease, boiling water, etc. This is not optimal but is doable, especially if you do not have seating there. You can display art projects on the raised ledge instead. :) Breakfast/mudroom side: If you can improve your kitchen nicely essentially in its current footprint (again, contingent on being able to solve dysfunctions), there will be no need to decide about developing a mudroom right now. Why do you NEED to remove the U counter on that side? Or do you? You want to open the kitchen to the breakfast area, but removing the counter on that end is not necessary to do that. Leaving it in place would allow you to deepen the counter on that side for stools, multifunctioning, etc., etc. So far I'm not seeing a good reason to go to an island in this case, i.e., nothing of real value gained because of your space limitations. What would you hope to gain from one? If the U isn't working well enough, would a wider U be the answer? Mudroom functions: You need a mudroom but need the breakfast space for other uses right now. Have you considered simply enclosing your covered porch as an entry vestibule, not heating it, just creating a sheltered spot with walls for bench/shelves/hooks/closets?

The shower head arm is secured by a drop eared elbow that should be screwed to a wood block that goes between the studs.Open up the drywall just a bit to see if the screws are attached securely.