we bought a new house from a builder, it's a new experience for us. we didn't have a model home so we tried our luck and someone that was already living in such model agreed to show us the house, obviously we didn't have the time to pay attention to every part. the 1st impression of the kitchen was WOW and that defiantly made us go to the sales office and later on sign an offer. only later we came to know that the WOW kitchen was actually custom made. with the builder i don't have an access to a Kitchen designer, we just need to pick the colours and that's killing me. i like the European style - the slab doors, but EVERYONE says it's only for condos and we will have 3000 sqft of a house. meanwhile there were two house for resale - same model. one did only a range without built in, the other with built in. the thing is that the built in are too close (in my opinion) to the eating area and can be seen from the family room. i dont like having a 30'' oven so close and feels too big and bulky for me. so if we do a built in , it should look nice and i like the Miele as this is the only flush one i could have fine. and of course the quality, i'm not the type that will change things every 2 - 3 years. i'm trying to force my self to go with a shaker style and not a slab door, doing all of this thinking by myself with a kd. budget - $15k. i'm trying to avoid from radiation, so no induction cooktop. microwave using , but as minimum as possible and move a way. if there is an alternative way to heat food - would love to hear. i have a few pics of the houses , will try to post them. that's for now, apologize for the long post.

Looks beautiful, I think the grout colour is perfect! For accent colour, do you mean to buy accents, ie utensils/ornaments/towels? Or to paint a wall/shelf somewhere? I would buy a couple of towels in turquoise and in purple, and see which you like best. That's the fun stuff, perhaps if you found a picture/ornament/vase that you loved, you could work from there. I have an Italian glass vase that I fell in love with and it would look fabulous next to your backsplash. I use that when I'm trying to think of colours for tablecloths/napkins, etc. Nice thing about having so many colours in that BS, is that you can change your accent colour either seasonally or a few years down the road!

To answer questions - This absolutely could be an in-law suite for someone. But the bedroom next door could also be used since it also has a small ancillary room and private bath. (Though both are on the second floor...) The office is not the only office in the house - I just call it an office because that's how I am using the space right now. (As DH bangs away on the other side of the wall -- grrr!) It could easily be a sewing room or craft room. The 'white corner thingy' is a built-in desk, so there's not enough leftover space to call it a sitting room. But I guess the decision is now made because DH is frustrated and has declared that it's going to be Option #3. We can advertise a 'walk-in closet' even if you have to walk in sideways! ;-) Thanks for all the help ~

I'm not clear on the type of wetlands the property has. I live w/i 30 minutes of Seattle....a ferry boat ride away. Is there actually standing water or is it just a really wet area on the property where moisture loving plants grow? In my area, I would say that a good portion of the properties have wetlands restrictions. I would be OK w/ the non-standing water type wetlands, but probably wouldn't want a pond since we have young children. As far as mosquitoes....we have a ton on the property we are renting. The house is backed by wetlands and a seasonal stream. The mosquitoes are seasonal and there are times we don't use the deck to avoid them. Dusk is really bad. I suppose you could use repellant. Friends of ours bought several of those mosquito propane things that are supposed to keep the bugs away. I'm not convinced they work. We change into long-sleeved shirts and pants at the first sign of mosquitoes in the day. This seems to work for most of us, though dh is a mosquito magnet. If you plan to be outside around dusk, the best thing you could probably do is add a screened porch. I doubt you'll find any home in the PNW w/o mosquitoes on the property. It's just a part of life in this geographic region. You probably will have more on a property w/ wetlands. Building and planning laws vary by jurisdiction. We can't build close to an area designated wetlands. I doubt you can either, but this is definitely something you would want to ask the county.