Thanks everyone for your answers! Emagineer, Thanks for your good ideas and for that link. Hard to tell on the link what their prices are and I'm not up to calculating a precise window tonight. Real wood would certainly look the best... I'm just not sure how to do the joints on it as it might call for some fancy mitering. Dian, Great pic. Do you remember how he handled the joins in the wood part by any chance? Sheila, Thanks for letting me know it looks ok in person. I hope you find someone to help you get your grids up. Prairie, Good point. :) Tracey, I'm trying to imagine how those pins look. Joanie, I think you're right that the surround would be better. Let us know when you do it, k? Pics would be neat. Patser, I'm wondering... did the "plastic" look that turned you off look like what's offered on the web site I posted? Tara, That's good to know. I had the grids put in my new windows in my last home and they were definitely pricey... but worth it, I thought. Oh, I would love to see those directions! I hope I remember to look for that mag and find it. Thanks for the heads up on it. I do think it shouldn't be too hard if I can just figure out the best method.

It's not installed yet but I put a deposit down on patterned wall to wall in a trellis pattern for my upstairs hall and stairs (will be cut and bound as a runner - and also an area rug for downstairs. I got it on deep discount because it's been discontinued and cannot find the pattern online but this is the colorway: No border in my small space and I could not afford the coordinated runner with smaller border so we kept it simple. The pattern is a trellis pattern, which which looks like it is made of a twisted ribbon, with a small flower at each intersection. This is the only area of wall to wall in our house - every other room is hardwood or tile - but we'd have to move out while refinishing the floor under the carpet so we decided to go for a "posh hotel" style carpet in our 120 year old house. I will post pics when it is done. People don't use it much for two reasons. 1) carpet is not trendy at the moment in general 2) patterned carpet is way way way more expensive than plain carpet. I mentioned we got a closeout piece - to do the same job in the scroll pattern I posted with coordinated runner would have been over $2k for my small hall and stairs. We are paying about $1100 for what we got. To do it in a patterned berber (harlequin) would have been about $700. Patterned carpet is a pretty high end product.

Meg711, Thank you for being "long-winded" You have been incredibly helpful. My husband has been telling me that I am expecting too much from my installer and I guess he was right. I guess I will have to do a mock up myself so I can be certain of where the deco tiles land. I am looking at things like my coffee maker and a vase that I always have out and don't want to spend the $22 deco tile if it is going to land behind one of my appliances. My installer doesn't care how much they cost and just wants to do it mathematically! Thanks so much for all the information I am grateful for people like you!

Susanne, here is a photo from my local Home Depot. They have a display with Pietra and a full height backsplash. The cabinetry is a creamy white, and they did the side splashes as well. It's indoor, store lighting and no under-cabinet lighting. I haven't been able to decide what to do for a backsplash either. I've been sitting with different tiles leaned up against the wall for almost a year.