Thanks, actually I almost purchased that same light for the dining room, but instead bought another JCP chandelier for about $10 more. My kitchen & dining room are open and across from each other...would it look silly to have 2 very similar chandeliers hanging across the room from each other? I'm wanting to do a couple of pendant lights over the peninsula and maybe one over the sink, but that still leaves a light fixture for the center of my kitchen. I will also have recessed lighting, so I guess I could actually just do a ceiling fan with no light kit in the center of the room...I know what you're thinking, a ceiling fan?? But I'm extremely hot natured and I think I might really enjoy having it in the kitchen. What do you think? IF not the ceiling fan, what about a pot rack? Would that look goofy hanging in the center of the room or must you always hang it OVER something...like an island? THANKS! Here is a link that might be useful: Pottery Barn Pendant Light

I too love the look of stacked cabinets to the ceiling. We have ordered ours from Crown Point & the upper most upper is 19.25 inches tall & the lower upper is 37.75 inches tall. There is going to be a piece of trim between the two upper cabinets & plain 2x2 cove at the celing. I went back & forth about the bead & finally decided to go without it. I read that beaded inset catches a lot of dust & I also felt that the bead looked a little more "fancy" & less period looking than I wanted. But I do like the look of a bead. I would go with the look you love - try not to get swayed by the taste of the designer or you may regret it in the end. I think double stacked cabinets, although more expensive, look much better than layers of built-up trim.

We have stained beadboard next to the mixer. As long as splashes are wiped away right away, they come off easily. I'm not a terribly vigilant cleaner but I am pretty good with taking care of the mixer splatter. I've found no problem with the painted beadboard backsplash in the rest of our kitchen. We have 4" of stone backsplash (matching the counters) before the beadboard starts. The strip of stone is the only backsplash behind our sinks since the windows come down quite low. We have stainless steel behind the range. Except for the baking area, we do most food prep on a peninsula so maybe that's why cleaning the beadboard hasn't been an issue....at all. We have beadboard in our powder room also. We get more shrinkage there, near the radiator, than we do in the kitchen. I love the beadboard and any gapping between boards is in character with our older farmhouse. Our beadboard has been up for 6 years and I don't remember pricing. The stained beadboard in our kitchen is part of the cabinetry and it is true beadboard. Dh put up the backsplash beadboard and it was the kind that came in long strips about 6" across (2-3 beaded units across). He bought it at a big box store. We didn't need a lot of it so it wasn't very pricey (sorry, I can't remember a ballpark amount). He primed all sides. We put 2 coats of paint on the fronts and that was it. We never had a vent hood before our reno. It's made a huge difference on the amount of gunk that accumulates on the backsplash.

i agree, this is not the time of year to do any major work on a plant. Try to give the plant strong light and keep it a bit moist, don't let it dry out totally. I grew mine in NY for years. I now live in Florida where it has grown quite large. As Josh explained, they really don't branch well. They tend to grow tall with growth on the top. I have cut mine numerous times and plant a big chop this Spring. But, in my experience they do not really branch. They grow taller and taller. You might be lucky and get a couple of offshoots, but that's rare...at least for me. I honestly don't think they make good bonsai candidate. Al would be the expert on that. But, you can continue to root prune and keep the top cut back so it can live in your house. I strongly recommend putting it outdoors in Spring and let it grow outside. It really makes a big difference. I keep mine under control by root pruning and top pruning every few years. This was taken five years ago growing out on a patio. It had been chopped at least 3x. This is the same tree this past summer (5 years since the above photo). I had just root pruned and repotted. I did not top prune. I will do that this summer. Since this repot it has grown a lot and is now against the screen roof. I plan to prune all the growth off the top to lower the tree and hope to get some side growth. Honestly, not sure how you could bonsai this tree. Jane