I have Glamis Castle and I think you'll be pleased with the amount of bloom it produces when it's mature. Yours in its little pot is really precious. Peonies are among the most beautiful plants ever, although I can't grow them here. Just as well, since I'd expect them to bloom nine months out of the year like my roses.... Ingrid

This is awesome feedback and so incredibly helpful! For a newbie like me, having your input really gives me confidence in our layout. So I've been contemplating the reco to switch the fridge and the range. I know having the fridge closer to the hall gives quick access to drinks, ensures the door opens properly and keeps the people from having to walk behind the cook to reach the fridge. But what are your thoughts about the impact of the fridge placement on the openness of the space? Do you think having the fridge on the right and the hutch on the left creates a more enclosed entrance into the kitchen? Right now we dont have any wall cabinets so we enjoy a fairly open and bright space with the large windows. I dont want to lose that so I'm interested in your thoughts. houseful: Your rendering is awesome. Its so cool to see my space in 3D! I surely dont want to lose inches in the planning (every inch counts, right) so Ill go back and recalculate the cabinet measurements. I love the curved island because it adds so much interest. My DH and I really want to maintain the seating for 4 on 2 sides of the island. This is the only way we could keep the ability to look at each other and our guests while eating. We played around with a "T" shaped island (the bottom of the T extending from the window), but thought the proposed island gave us more prep space. mom2lilenj: I fell in love with your idea of switching the DW and trash. It makes so much sense! If we lose that seat in the 33" space due to clearance issues, well definitely incorporate your suggestion. I also like your suggestion to expose the brick in the chimney. We had an architect friend over to take a look at the space and when I mentioned using the chimney as a decorative feature, she said because it was plastered over, the brick is probably not "pretty" brick. Id like to find out though, so maybe well expose a section in the mudroom to find out whats underneath the plaster. Even if its not pretty brick (which Im not exactly sure what that means), it would be awesome to expose another original element to the house. Ill keep you posted. Thanks again for your input and I welcome any other thoughts or ideas!

Rnmomof2, in lieu of graph paper, I did a mockup in my photo program because I don't have a drawing program... and if I did it right I can get that long left side panel out of two pieces, totalling about three yards, maybe 4 to be safe. That means that panel on the left would require a whopping 6+ yards! I should double-check that on paper, though. At work we used to have huge rolls of graph paper on vellum, which would have been perfect. But in the real world those are very hard to find and cost a ridiculous amount. But I do have big plain paper and a ruler. I'll just have to figure out a scale. If I did it right, that would mean one diagonal seam in each of the sides of that panel and the entire panel would take six yards. There would be a lot of "waste" on that and I'm hoping I could get out at least some of those upper pointies out of that. Clt3 -- Thanks about the needle! You're right, the ideal and easy solution would be to find fabric that was printed with diagonal stripes. I looked on both eBay and Fabric Guru sites tonight, plus just tried to Google it. Does anyone have any other suggestions for good places to look online? Sherrmann, thanks for letting me know you appreciate that treatment like I do. I agree, it's stunning. I'm going with you and Sippi on that the panel is a rectangle. Good point about puddling -- I can just see the vacuum sucking those babies up! I found a double rod that is long enough here: http://www5.jcpenney.com/jcp/ProductsHOM.aspx?GrpTyp=SIZ&ItemID=117adfc&RefPage=ProductsHOM&CmCatId=25437:28415:50246&cmOrigID=104f2d9&cmPosID=1 Your tip about sewing natural fabrics prompted me to look up sewing on the bias and the fabrics I found recommended were "cotton, linen, silk broadcloth, and wool challis." EBay does have some striped linens. They won't shine, but I think it could still be pretty. I'm thinking about it. The article I read said stay away from "most rayons (stretches like crazy), silkies and polyester (slippery and hard to handle), twills (lose definition), and fabrics that are heavy or stiff, like duck or poplin. Silks and sheers like crepe de chine, charmeuse, and georgette are beautiful on the bias, but these hard-to-handle fabrics aren't a good place to begin. Move up to silky fabrics once you've conquered the stable ones." No particular fabric in mind yet. I've determined that it must be a symmetrical stripe -- otherwise if you turn it the other direction your stripes can't match up. I'm a little tight on color selection to go with my furniture, too. My couch and chair should return from the upholsterer in a couple of days (we held off today because of incessant heavy rain) and then I'll get a better feel for if I have to re-cover another piece (I can do that one myself), and if I want to use what I've already got or find something else... and I'm a bit limited there too, as it needs to warm the wood, not chill it. Anyway, that's why no I haven't zeroed in on a fabric yet. I wish you lived nearby too! Are you in the Seattle area? Daisyadair, thanks for the link. It won't help me on yardage, because of the bias, but I did determine from reading it that 5 pointies is a good ballpark for what would look good in the valance. Now I have to see if I can make that work out aesthetically. Sippi, you're right, it would not be hard to just make the valance parts, and it would be much easier to cop out on the panels, and cheaper too. But I personally think the charm is in the entire look of it, not particularly in the valances. I have a favorite site for valance patterns and I think some of those are much prettier. (Southern Living) So depending on what I find out are the yardage requirements, this is still an option... another treatment entirely. I'll be looking those over again before I make a final decision. That's an interesting theory about seaming the two 54" pieces together -- but don't I end up with an extra seam in the panels that way? I don't know if this will make sense to anyone else, but here is what I made in my photo program. I left a wee bit of the red corners (the red being the 1/2 of the entire panel shape including seam allowances) sticking out just so I could see where they were, then added the dotted lines, and here's what I came up with: The blue edged white squares represent the yardage (54" square, IOW 1 yard). The arrows show which direction the fabric could be longer and also indicate the direction of the stripes. The 1/2 yard was just a visual guess -- seems it would be less on the lower piece and more on the higher piece. Naturally, when I'm done ballparking the entire yardage I'll add some just to be safe. I've tackled a lot of tough sewing projects too, and I think this is doable. But the burning question is how bad would that diagonal seam look in the panel? In its defense, it does travel the same way as the stripes, which might make it harder for the eye to pick up... but it's easy to imagine hitting it with an iron and having it define itself. If it wouldn't look good, the only answers are either hold out for a piece of fabric printed on the diagonal that is the right color and pattern (good luck!) or give it up, at least somewhat smug that I've mostly figured it out. lol! I did see one piece on eBay that was tons of yardage and 54" wide, but the color was wrong for my living room unless I change the color of my fainting couch to something I haven't yet found. I'm hemmed in by two things: 1.) The couch and chair are about to return from the upholsterer all rebuilt and covered in deep tomato red mohair velvet, and 2.) the fainting couch wood sings with warm earth tones, but dies with blues and greens or grey tones on it. Bringing a room together sure is a bear in the planning stages, isn't it? Again, thanks everyone! If I build these I will for sure post a picture here for you all to see. At this point my next plan is to mock this out on paper, and try to get the remainer of it included so I can make an educated guestimate at the amount of yardage I need. But I'm still interested in everyone's opinion on if that seam could be pulled off in each half of the panel without looking crummy. I'd hate to go to all that expense and work and then have a bad result. What do you think? I'm thinking it might depend on the type of fabric I use, but I don't know which type would be better or worse. If nothing else, if I cop out and do a different valance and plain panels, I'll be appreciating how easy it is compared to this! :-)

Thanks bmorepanic. Exactly right, there is a spectrum of styles that would work which creates too many options. In the end, it's hard not to let price be the deciding factor. Why pay $25+ a sq/ft if it's no more inspiring than $7 a sq/ft really? The issue of where to start and stop the tile is another thing we can't resolve, especially because of that angled corner. Oh well, any strong opinions are welcomed because we're about ready to toss up our arms in defeat.