I'm still leaning to the 1840s rather than the 1850s. Hannah White's cap is a lot more like this example from 1828 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Harding_Mrs_Blake.jpg than the example from the 1850s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ingres_Princess_Albert_de_Broglie.jpg which as you can see is a mere wisp hardly visible at the front. By the late 1840s the earlier style would be getting rather old fashioned, though older women do tend to hang on to the styles of their youth. :-) Also, I don't think Hannah looks to be in her 50s in the portrait. Women of an earlier time tended to look older at a given age than they do today. Check out this tie from the 1840s http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ludwig_des_Coudres_001.jpg Young people then as now tend to be "trendy" :-) Also this fashion plate from 1848 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mens_fashion_plate_1848.jpg The centre man's outfit from tie, shirt, vest, coat, hairstyle and even extended sideburns is _very_ similar to William White's younger portrait. So if the portrait was painted in the late 1840s then William would have been about 20 and Hannah in her late 40s, rather than well into her 50s.

Thanks everyone - sharing your experiences is most helpful for me. When you suggest shopping around, are you referring to stoneyards or fabricators? Things could get quite busy if I'm going to try different stoneyards and fabricators. We had originally been interested in the 5cm slabs as we were going to use it on our island. We really like to look of a thick heavy island top. We revised our original plan to use marble on the island and we've decided upon a 2" thick top made of mahogany. We were thinking the marble on the perimeter should be a similar thickness. After doing some research, it seems that many people use countertops with varying thicknesses in the kitchen. From the limited number of images I've seen, this looks nice. Does anyone have any thoughts about pairing a 2" thick wood island with 1.25" thick perimeter counters? Is this ok? Assuming this isn't an issue, we are going to consider more 3cm slabs - which are not only less expensive, but are far more available. Like many of you, I was really struck by the Calacatta Manahattan. However, I'm not sure we're ready to spend over $11k on the perimeter counters. At the same time, the Calacatta Reggine was the warmest and seemed to compliment our cabinets the best. Also, this stone has a slight translucency which really adds to the beauty - you can slightly see it in the pictures, but it is much more prevalent in person. At this point, I think we're leaning towards the Calacatta Reggine - but I'd love to hear more thoughts! It is pretty humorous that many folks go with Calacatta "gold" and we're considering a stone that translates to Calacatta "rust"! You would think rust would be much cheaper than gold... =) Roseofblue - our cabinets will be BM Ivory. The island will be topped with 2" thick mahogany and we were planning on marble for the perimeter. In a seperate adjoining pantry area, we intend to use soapstone - but we haven't gotten to that section yet. Thanks for the inquiry.

dyh, I find it odd when guests (either family or friends) visit and don't comment on something new or meaningful to me. I don't mean something small or easily overlooked, but a new portrait of Brie right over your fireplace?!! I get that it didn't look odd to them, but I would not have been able to contain my delight over the painting. I have a Waterlogue'd portrait of my cat Bessie in my guest bath. I think it's totally adorable and hard to miss. In the 3-1/2 years it's been there, one (1) person has remarked on it. She loved it, and I told her that she was the first and only person who ever said something about it. She was shocked. It just goes to show that you need to decorate with what you like, not what you want others to respond favorably to.

Sedum 'Ayers Rock' has been evergreen in my yard. and this one: https://garden.org/plants/view/542022/Sedum-Hylotelephium-SunSparkler-Dazzleberry/ Does it have to be a Sedum? There are so many great Graptosedum, & Sedeverias, that are evergreen. Take a look @ Oscularia deltoides, & Othonna capensis... https://garden.org/plants/view/588939/Sedeveria-XSedeveria-Sorrento/ https://garden.org/plants/view/778697/Sedeveria-XSedeveria-Blue-Elf/ https://garden.org/plants/view/587664/Graptosedum-XGraptosedum-Francesco-Baldi/ https://garden.org/plants/view/87839/Graptosedum-XGraptosedum-Bronze/ https://garden.org/plants/view/659923/Pink-Ice-Plant-Oscularia-deltoides/ https://garden.org/plants/view/122739/Little-Pickles-Crassothonna-capensis/