I have NEVER seen any fall color on silver maples here maybe a scant yellow for a day and then brown...Maybe you have a differnt variety there. I had one at my old house loose a limb and take out the neighbors garage that cost me pleanty I had my neighbors take out my fence .. we had one down the road take out the power for about 1000 folks. I have another neibor who lost half of his last wiointer the rest doied and it's 80 feet tall it will cost a fortune to take down now and have it cut up or hauled away you can't use it for fire wood it's to soft and crummy!! As Ia kid my father had several planted for quick shade and I spent most of every summmer taking care of falling branches ...As I said If you like 'em go for it .As far as seeds there were NO SM's withjin 800 yards of me 5 years ago and now except for the thousands that are popping up in any unmowed place in my yard ...they do FLY!!..But in the final result It's all a persoanal choice based on personal experiences ... Mine are obviously differnt from yours and from the posts here I have much more company than you as far as opinions on the silver maple but there is nothing wrong with having a minority opinion ...again good luck ..David

Here's an update: I bought a new rug. The picture quality is not the greatest as I took it with my phone, but here it is: It is returnable, so I would like some thoughts on it! I love the colour (a mixture of blues and browns), and I think the pattern will help hide our day to day messes (compliments of Bandit, on the loveseat, and her two teenagers!) I also like that it is a less traditional feel than the old rug. I went on my first fabric hunting trip yesterday, but came up empty. I'm still not sure what direction to go for the chairs. Thanks, Carrie

Thank you Cpartist. That is what I meant to say (instead of move the cooktop). I just think that is too much renovation for us at this point in time. Just looking for a little freshen up. Kids are almost ready for College and my discretionary funds are being diverted elsewhere other than my kitchen!! We will have to make do with the cooktop in the island but after these discussions I am leaning towards getting the best downdraft I can fit in my space. Although in all fairness, I rarely use the downdraft that I have now.

I’m curious, though: if picking the right color based on window or light orientation isn’t a sound strategy, why are there so many articles about it? Because it's lucrative. It depends on what you mean by "articles". There are scientific studies and white papers about azimuth, fenestration, cardinal and intermediate geographical directions and how daylight propagates through interior spaces. Also, lots of good stuff about how the eye adapts to light and dark illuminantion. If you're talking about posts on blogs, most of them are garbage. It's a lot of baseless, subjective opinion presented as expertise. Bloggers know they can make up whatever they want about color and no one is going to call them out on the bulls@t they publish - because there aren't that many legit color experts reading the crap they publish to call them out - or care. Most people have not one fat clue how color works but are intrigued, fascinated, sometimes romanced by color. Which makes it a hot topic and how color responds to NSEW light is Google keywords rich. So, whatever "systems" and "rules" bloggers want to make up, and sometimes slap a price tag on, innocent people who don't know any better are willing to gobble it up and adopt their color point of view as if it were gospel without question or vetting. Blogosphere is at best reductive when it comes to how color works and it's the last place anyone should look for information. The damage it's done to color literacy is actually quite sad.