That's a lot of monorail, even for Disney. ;) As long as you're happy, that's what counts. It's your money. In regards to the photos themselves, too many filters for my taste. And some of the perspective-correcting wide angle makes me dizzy with things that should be square stretched into rhomboids. What kind of product is that countertop? Real old world craftsmen would know not to use egg & dart molding upside-down. Casey

We did not use him but check with C & M Home Improvement (Matt). I wish we had used him. I cannot recommend our contractor. Not only was it a chore managing the GC and his team because they screwed up something almost every day from little things like using the wrong paint color in wrong rooms (and asking us to pay to replace paint, which we did not); to installing items incorrectly (drywall in shower instead of cement board); and using the wrong type of glue for our hardwood floor installation (thankfully, I caught that early & forced them to buy the correct glue per my flooring retailer recommendations); as well as trying to complete an 8 week project in 5 weeks (missed a lot of days due to other jobs booked). In the end, the GC tried to force us to make design changes to accommodate their schedule. We didn't. Instead, I pulled out the contract and reminded him of the $100/day penalty for them not completing the project on time & I had a record of all days that the workers didn't show up since we only moved down the hall on the same floor. The added frustration was using Google translate to communicate with the workers when the GC wasn't around. Only the plaster guy spoke English. I had to call/text the GC when there was an issue and he would call & translate to the workers or come by to translate. I resorted to using Google translate. Months later when it turned out they incorrectly installed an item, he suggested my husband fix it. This wasn't the first time that happened. During the renovation, the GC suggested my husband make adjustments although we were paying the GC for that work. We refused each time. A couple of weeks ago, he sent his dad to reinstall the item after the vendor sent us a free replacement & installation paperwork. A 10-minute installation job took an hour & 4 attempts since the directions, instead of being used, were strewn on the floor and upside down. I wish I did have his tile guys contact info. He did a great job and we gave him a cash tip. He took his time & our bathroom tile came out amazingly well, just as I pictured. If you need hardwood flooring installed, I recommend: Celso at Shine Star Floors shinestarfloors@gmail.com Office assistant is Lorrany http://shinestarfloors.com 109 Jersey Street, Harrison, NJ 07029 Tel.: 973-736-1346 Fax: 973-736-2096 They came with a crew of 5 to get the job done in 1 day but our GC wasn't ready so we ended up not being able to use him. However, I was pleased with everything from communication and customer service despite them not actually doing our floors. When we had an issue after the GC finished, Ceslo told us to buy a humidifier to stop the weird snap, crackle, pop noise we were hearing due to the building heating system drying out the floors.

Thanks everyone! It's so fun to finally be able to share this. A couple things I left out of my post up top: The old kitchen was in that set up when we bought the house (minus the sideboard and Ikea table in the back, which we bought). We lived with that for 18 years. Eighteen years!!! I hated that kitchen so much that I didn't even care about damage. My mom burned the laminate once by putting a hot pan right on it, and I was like "whatever. It's ugly already." Sometimes I cut vegetables right on the laminate b/c I just didn't care. As to the light and clean lines in the new kitchen, I am enjoying that sooo much. I surprised myself in the planning process because I didn't expect to be so drawn to white and light wood. I am usually a dark wood person. But I think being in such a cramped space with poor lighting for so long (even though the tiles, cabs, and floor were light) really made me crave simplicity and openness. Mama goose, I had meant to mention the pull-down table before. We ended up not doing it because the designer squeezed in that little counter at the back of the room, and I realized that we could have shallow cabinets that protruded on the interior wall (just not a huge fridge). And it turned out that we couldn't recess anything on that interior wall because of the vent stack. :( Also want to thank Anglophilia for her consistent recommendation of Glacier White Corian. And is CPartist gone now? I can't remember specifically what we talked about, but I know she was involved at some point too.

hey lauribet - thank you! Yes, I think they go equally well with warm and cool tones. I'd describe Semonia as a a warmer grey. We have a lot of wood trim throughout our house (woohoo 70s decor haha). I wanted something modern but wouldn't look weird with all the wood, and think Semonia works really well. We love these floors -- have had them for 1.5 years now and they look good as new, even with our toddler smashing pots and pans on them. Good luck with your remodel! how fun!