I, too, love Carrara marble, but could not imagine it in the kitchen. I was going to put it in my bathroom. The sample I had sat in there for only two weeks and I could see wear on it. I assume you already know this, but its worth pointing out. I have a friend who put in all honed marble in her kitchen. It was gorgeous until they lived with it for a while. Now she's just sick over all the scratches etc., but she paid so much the first time she cannot replace it anytime soon. I'm granite shopping for the kitchen too & it seems to me I had found a quartz that resembled carrara. I can try to find it again if you like?

ha, b's mom -- I think of a backsplash because I am a hopeless *mosaic and tile addict*! : ) Guess you haven't seen my daughter's bathroom LOL. It's a riotous yet controlled explosion of Pratt & Larson seconds/overruns that I facemounted on mosaicmount and worked into the design of the entire room. I only have in-process photos, no current photos of it because my daughter is 14 and we don't have a housekeeper, iykwim. Anywhere I can tile I generally try to,and if I find some nice tile at a salvage, I have a tendency to buy it and then figure out where to use it somewhere down the road. It's even happened one or two times : ). I was actually thinking of wainscoting in the room, but I want to find a tile that is the same color as the paint. We actually have some two-or-three-fist-sized rocks of labradorite that we will have cut to make slices to work in somewhere, probably in the shower. I can't cut it because it fractures too easily. I may try to get the fabricator who has sold us the countertop piece to see if he can cut these rocks. I'll try to imagine the room without a backsplash...honestly, I've had bathrooms in other houses without a backsplash and it can work...I'll keep an open mind. I love the mirror frame idea to have that be the reference to the gold floor -- a combination picking up the chrome tone would be cool. Thanks! You know, I could probably even do it myself, I imagine, with a couple of shades of rub-n-buff? After a little observation and practice? And thanks, kp -- I appreciate your vote. I'll find a way to highlight the counter so it doesn't disappear into the wall color. Glad to know that someone else besides me notices through-composed floors! : ) And stinky, I do think the lighting fixture is beautiful, as you say -- once again, found at salvage, but I then searched online and found it at retail back in 2007 for about $200...the shades look like large crystal block ice cubes. The pantry is a combination of Ikea metal-mesh shelving (I like it because it's see-through but much tougher than that plastic-coated'ventilated' shelving with the ridges which I despise (it's just me -- other people may love it but it's like fingernails on a blackboard to me) -- we tried both, solid wood and the metal mesh, and I vastly preferred the metal because I could actually see what was on the higher shelves) and wood* on one wall because we couldn't get the metal in sizes we wanted, and the marmoleum counter. There will also be a mahogany (to match the Ikea Hallarum) sink cabinet and mahogany countertop edging (vintage floor moulding I've stripped and stained to match the Hallarum) as well. I'm completely in love with the marmoleum -- a kind g'webber pointed me in the direction of great wood tints and I've warmed up a light blue (again, salvage) to a joyous spring blue-green. I think if I could live my entire life in the nexus of brown, gray, gold, blue and green I'd be happy : ) *Yes, the wood is a salvage find too, an extremely high grade *new* plywood that we bought scads of random offcuts of...it's a very light off-white maple (I think) plywood, and we had no idea how it got to the salvage but one day we went to the Museum of Contemporary Craft here in Portland and saw the current exhibit on one of my idols, Betty Feves, and lo and behold, all the display stands for her pottery/ceramics were made of *exactly* the same wood! There's no mistaking it! So I'm one degree closer to Betty Feves now! I was thinking just to paint the plywood, but not after we discovered its noble provenance : ) Well, maybe after the vicarious thrill wears off and I want more uniformity in the room...but not now. o.k., just for the fun of it I'll link to the exhibit, just have to spread the Feves gospel wherever I can : ) Here is a link that might be useful: visceral, glorious Betty Feves

Seems like we're basically all on the same page, it's just a matter of degrees - how far we want to "express" ourselves with color. Thanks chicagoans for the colorful mock-ups. I think horizontal tile compliments with the grain of our cabinets. Growlery is right, we can get away with some "punch" because of the houses character. I also agree with kaismom that it has to be taken as a cohesive design as far as vertical and horizontal lines go (especially since it's open concept). Sochi- we're north of Victoria BC, and won't be selling for at least 2 years, maybe 4-5 years at most. (Whatever we do will probably be dated in 5 years anyway, right?). I think we are definitely leaning towards the light counter- maybe Caesarstone's "Baja" or "Sierra" which aren't white white, but should read that way if the walls are off-white too. This is Sierra; Then we can try a splash of personality with the backsplash. We tried some whitish granite samples, but even the less busy granites did change the feel of the space. firsthouse, the linoleum glitter is back in some of the quartz colors - some even have little bits of mirror in them! We have looked at the circle penny tiles too. Some of them are beautiful. Jakabedy's tile is great. Is that "Sesshu Silk" stacked brick Sumi-e? I see there are other shapes in the Sesshu series. Now how about where the cabinets meet that angled wall? Any ideas for a shelf or filler? I want to ask about the island too, but I'll start another thread on that. That chandelier is a like a piece of modern art! BTW - Kaismom's Henrybuilt pictures disappeared? Here is a link that might be useful: sumi-e stacked brick tile

I have a flat black milk paint on my island. Originally I painted it with the black milk paint, distressed it and then put an amber glaze on it to give it that 'old house' look. I make all my own food- mill my own grains- and have an old house = lots of dust! And, the drip marks..... I finally decided it just wasn't working for me. So, this past week, I took all the hardware off and repainted to just the flat black. I really like it so much better. It doesn't show the drip marks as easily, and flour and dust just make it look 'aged'! I'm not sure if it's the shiny-ness of the previous paint that made it worse or not, but I'm much happier with it as a flat.