LOL!!! MV, it's okay! 'Course, I never expected kudos for posting voluntarily. :) I didn't post the reveal for kudos about either the kitchen or posting it, but just because I had promised.

So, MV, instead of going through all of that, why not just set aside the pretty pictures of your red range and hood, and white cabinets, and just show the bits of floor that need finishing, the leggy plants, and your version of the big box of grout I used to take pictures around. :) We've seen the good bits, anyway, right?

Yeah, shelayne, get back in here. :)

Oh how I long to be done. Making progress, slowly but surely.

I've learned so much from this forum and as a person who can not easily visualize design elements, a picture really does say a thousand words. Click away and post today! Work in process just means we'll continue rooting for you!

Here's another reason I haven't really posted detailed pics:

It has been so long since I started, I don't remember a lot of details.
The flooring? Can't remember. The knobs from RH, don't remember their name. My pendant lights- I've already changed them once. The cabinets- Diamond, but don't ask me the style door or color of the stain.
I'm not quite as TKO as many on here. I stumbled onto GW after I had already designed the kitchen and made all the choices. How I wish I had found it before!!

What is TKO? Figured I'd figure it out but haven't yet...

Shelayne--step right back in here, babe!

Martha--post the pics, but don't title the thread "Here's my finished kitchen." We'll all be so thrilled to see more that we won't care what's left to be done or switched out or the like. Please!

CP--I'd really like to see pics of your kitchen gathered in one place. Seeing bits and pieces in various threads over time doesn't equate.

With the FKB basically stagnating for two years, its not like any of your threads with completed or nearly- kitchens will be saved for posterity...or anything. ;)

And Lalitha--my not-yet-finished thread maxing out does not a completed kitchen make. :) It looks relatively the same now as then. Also, I don't really fall into the same league as CP, Lascatx, Rhome, Plllog, Shelayne, or Marthavila.

Marthavilla, I've been looking for your kitchen for years. I started with this website about 4 years ago and I was always intrigued with your beautiful posts. When I came back more recently I was sure I'd find it in the FKB but alas, it was not there. I really did think I wasn't looking in the right place....I can absolutely understand your trepidation; well, maybe not yours as the pictures that you have posted thus far are fantastic. It's hard to put yourself and your creative child out there but I'm pretty sure you have nothing to worry about. Shoot, I've only posted my plan and that has made me a nervous wreck. Thanks for posting this, HBK! Three cheers for Polly--what a wonderful kitchen you have put together! (No pressure, MV.)

Shelayne,

YOU are exactly the one I thought about when I read this thread.

We can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way.

(Really, I don't know what the hard way would be, but it sounded tough; I'm not sure I can pull it off, unless the whole "pen is mightier than the sword" thing works for you. I can do that.)

C'mon. You know you want to...

This thread might evolve into the normal discussion of why some people value their privacy more than one might think reasonable.

Ruh roh!

Post whose humous? Mine or my contractor's?

I've been waiting for things to be done, but also for professional photos. My GC has arranged with a mag to do a photo shoot, but I won't allow him the free advertising until, at a minimum, we are done. (and if I can have a free ad following it to excoriate him and warn off the unsuspecting).

A recent legal victory gives me hope that one day we will have everything right in our house, for 15 minutes until a kid or dog messes it up again. But of course there is nothing like a legal victory to make a GC want to rise and shine and haul his dupa over to your home to do work.

Failing that, I will get out my camera, read the instruction manual, and see what I can manage.

Thanks for your interest. : )

I think its the word "finished" that does it. Are you ever finished? Maybe the FKB should the The Kitchen Blog. Just post your kitchen.

Deedles...TKO is...totally kitchen obsessed, which so many of us
are, be we lurkers, sometimes posters, or frequent contributors.

It is sad to say but our kitchen is far from finished. Our floor will be removed and replaced with something different. Our hood was installed wrong. The bs is not in. The leg situation to our stove is currently just the stove sitting on some 2 x 4s, unpainted besides not being allowed to hook it up so using the single plug in burner to cook. The ceiling can't be painted until the sheetrock gets fixed (morons used nails instead of screws, throughout the house!). We need part of the faucet put on because it is currently set up to be stubby and not use the elbow joint in the spout. I have a liner to put in our cubbies in the island, but since the stove question is not settled, I am worried about doing too much to the island just in case it gets reworked.

What is funny is I have shown many of the warts with all the pix of damage I posted, and I did show "progress" pix back when some was being made.... It is just that we are at the 85% point visually and it would be so much nicer if more got done.

I'd show you my other rooms, but the wt is not fully up in the master nor the closet doors painted, much less the artwork on the walls. Our radiator cover in the mbth needs doing too (maybe I can get to that soon and so have 1 completed room, lol). The laundry room pocket door is hanging wrong. The hardwood floors need refinishing and staining. The den floor and dining room floor are being replaced with mahogany. We have leaks and fails everywhere (taped parts practically hanging down off the ceiling) so some parts need to be painted and some need correction and to be re-painted. Wts were not put up yet in our kitchen or dining room.
I have a feeling that we won't really be completed for another 6 months at best. I am waiting for the final roof estimate (some have suggested it was installed so poorly it needs a ripoff and re-do to the tune of over $12k!), so I can file papers with the Consumer Complaint board in our area. I may end up in court if that does not work.

*gulp* I am so busted.

Writersblock & Clergychick, you are TOO FUNNY! And Breezy, my small, budget kitchen is not even in the same league as yours and the GW Giants you listed, Circuspeanut, Lascatx, RHome, Plllog, or Marthavila, but thank you for thinking so. :D

I made a promise that I would post my meager little offering when we finished, so as soon as DH finishes an eye-sore patch job (it's really hideous), I will take some snaps, and then I will put on some extra anti-perspirant, chug some pepto bismol, take a huge breath and damn the torpedoes.

I am sweating and nauseous already. :p

PS--does anybody have a paper bag I can breathe in? ;)

If I ever get around to posting (I have to learn how) my title will be "My perfect for me, imperfect for GW white kitchen" That should tell you something. I loooove my new kitchen it is so much better than it was but not up to the standards of the places here. But, we finally got window coverings installed yesterday so now I have no excuse.

Davidro's comment highlights a concern some may have.

Like me. Not that my kitchen is remotely near the state of reveal-ability. The eventually-to-be-kitchen room is still filled with bunny hutches (with live bunnies inside) and cat litter boxes, and home to dust-sheeted furniture moved from rooms where other, more urgent, projects are underway. (Several of my appliances and fixtures are already there, though still in crates. Alas.)

Eventually (in which decade you may reasonably ask), my kitchen will be done. And I do feel a deep obligation to pay it back (and forward) as I have greatly enjoyed and learned much from the generosity of others who have revealed their rooms.

But, still, I would squirm with uneasiness plus earn serious complaint from my DH who is adamantly against putting pictures of our house on the net.

The loss of privacy is what would cause my squeamishness, but my DH's issues are related to his innate modesty and the unseemliness of calling attention to our personal lives or household arrangements.

What to do? So far I have confined myself to word pictures, and one time, to posting a plan under another account name I only used for that purpose. The feedback I got on that plan was extremely useful to me in my design process.

My gratitude for that help, and in recompense for the many hours of pleasure I have had here, makes me keenly aware of an unpaid debt if I eventually declined to ante in with pics of my own. I have spent some time trying to come up with a solution.

One idea I had was to start a thread dedicated to anonymous (with throw-away user names) postings of kitchens sans identification. Whether this would invite sleuthing to uncover the "real identity" of the kitchen's owners would be a risk. And doubly so for me since I have now publicly proposed doing it.

Or perhaps we could adopt a KF ethos that allowed anybody to post an explicitly described "Finished But Anonymous Kitchen" using a one-off, just-for-that-thread user name. This would allow back and forth discussions with the "OP" in order to capture the extremely useful technical details, with the tacit but accepted convention that public identification of the "real" GW user name was not welcome, nor encouraged.

I'm sure there are other, probably even better, solutions that could be invented as this group is nothing if not wildly creative and dedicated to collective problem solving. If it resulted in more revealed kitchens it would be worth it, I think.

Suggestions?

L.

"My perfect for me, imperfect for GW white kitchen" That should tell you something. I loooove my new kitchen it is so much better than it was but not up to the standards of the places here.

blfenton, I recently commented to another GW member that I post pics of my low-budget projects, because there have to be others like us, who drool over the big, beautiful kitchens posted, but live in more modest circumstances. I love the diversity I find on this forum, but I really appreciate it when I find a kitchen that looks like mine--in size, budget or 'feel.'

So, c'mon everyone--let's see them all!

OK, anyone who was called out or who has sheepishly self-identified as withholding, YOU MAY JUST SAY NO!

But debrak is correct. I mistitled this thread, for which I apologize. It should have read "near-finished" kitchens. My curiosity is mainly trained on kitchens that we have seen tantalizing bits of but never seen the parts in the context of the whole. Anyone who waits until perfection has been achieved may well be leaving it to his or her executors to post.

* * *

dianalo, I was under the impression that -- despite your rascally contractor -- you were out of your basement camping and actually using your kitchen. I am so sorry about what you are going through.

The photo of your backyard with small boys and cool earth-moving machines seemed so auspicious. I was particularly interested in how the handsome Marmoleum pattern you had designed was going to look in the [largely] finished kitchen. Perhaps I am not monitoring your travails here well enough, but are you sure the floor cannot be salvaged?

* * *

circuspeanut: Major kudos for revealing the various bits of your amazing creation over time in the context of what people with imagination, enterprise, and skill can accomplish. I have been assuming that a major reveal happened before I found this forum.

By all means do the FKB, but everyone should be aware that the assets of the blog -- it is a great way to scan the existing universe and it's indexing can be handy, even though it is a bit uneven -- are sort of offset by the paucity of information it can include.

To my mind, every FKB should include a line like, "For further details, google: gardenweb kitchen [user name]." That is the only way to get useful details on kitchens whose evolutions are in threads that have aged out of the live forum.

* * *

polly929 is our citizen of the month. She has set a high bar for self-identification as a withholder followed by remedial action. She gets extra credit for posting a couple of before photos, so that we can all appreciate the magnitude of the gorgeous transformation.

shelayne has done a nice job of self-identfying and now needs to follow polly's example, even if her kitchen is not a finished as polly's is.

* * *

Finally, does anyone think we need a separate thread to deconstruct the word "finished" for the purposes of this forum?

To me, "finished" is Hamlet's slaying his uncle, after which he could not really think of anything else to do. Some of us unconsciously believe that if we can only get a kitchen exactly right, our lives will unfold in serene contentment. The corollary may be that we know that serene contentment only comes in scattered ten-minute increments, so we embark on open-ended cycles of tweaks, so that we don't have to face an open-ended anti-climax.

Cheers. hbk

PS. Repeating: This thread is meant as an invitation, not a sharp elbow in the ribs. Anyone may just say, "I would prefer not to." For those who are willing to be more forthcoming, however, I hope you can see that the interest in how you are progressing is avid and the opposite of judgmental.

Agreeing, whole-heartedly, with Mama Goose!!!

Please do not feel that your kitchen must meet some size or perceived fanciness standard in order for others to enjoy seeing it. It is a great blessing to all sorts of people to see all sorts of kitchens here. Ours was built on a much lesser budget than most would imagine, because we did everything ourselves, including cabinet-building.

Not everyone has that ability, and believe me, we've spent most of the our 27 years of marriage with kitchens much smaller and less luxuriously appointed that we improved, as our growing skills and always meager budget allowed. If we'd had such a resource showing examples of other kitchens of the same size and budget like is possible here, we may have done and enjoyed much better. A lot of creativity and clever solutions come out of limitations. Maybe we would have learned earlier that some cool features and layout improvements don't cost that much more. Maybe we would've had more courage to try new ideas.

Much of the rest of our house is smallish and bare bones in comparison to the kitchen, because we chose to concentrate spending on appliances that would perform and last in the production of food for our large family instead of new furnishings, window treatment, or other decor. We don't vacation, we don't eat out --we are homeschooling homebodies living on one teacher's income. Kitchen activities are a family need/priority/passion/entertainment, and not everyone else lives that way. I understand and respect that, and love seeing what others have done when they can't build a new, large space, and must meet their own set of challenges and limitations.

Has Alabamamommy posted pix of her finsihed kitchen?

'"My perfect for me, imperfect for GW white kitchen" That should tell you something. I loooove my new kitchen it is so much better than it was but not up to the standards of the places here.'

Just wanted to add something.

I used to watch HGTV and what surprised me the most, was that - quite often - someone's "before" room was someone else's "after" and vice versa. It really felt like the producers were just "recycling" the projects. They'd take a perfectly "fine" modern room, call it "cold and uninviting" and convert it into something traditional (and call it "home-y", "cozy", "warm", or whatever), then take another - very similar - traditional ("outdated") interior and make it modern ("clean and uncluttered"). LOL.

I guess "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", indeed.

I have looked at quite a few kitchens on FKB and while I liked them, you couldn't pay me enough to have some of them b/c no matter how thought out and well-executed, they are just not "me".

And no matter how much I 'salivate' after white kitchens, I don't have time or energy to keep them 'pristine' nor I have enough money to hire a housekeeper to do it as, speaking of priorities, I have to pay for my DD's private school.

My kitchen is not even large enough to have an island, for example. Plus, a huge "flashy" kitchen would look weird in this house, I think. I have friends who did a $130K kitchen remodel with very contemporary Italian cabinets and integarted everything. Unfortunately, their truly fabulous kitchen looks totally out of place in their older style house (but I keep that to myself).

So, I am VERY interested in seeing the "budget" remodels as well b/c 'form and function" does not necessarily translate into $$$$. :-)

Please, don't be shy!

Okay, I'm going to throw this out there into the sea of Who?-L'il-Ol'-Me? and hope you'll all forgive me for being really blunt: If your "budget" kitchen is the first thing you saw at Lowe's, where their KD chose the fixtures and finishes, and you left town while it was being installed, I'm really not going to hound you to post your pictures. You can if you want to, especially if you've moved back into it and have some real life and/or personal touches showing, but if it's just the Lowe's special of the week and new out of the carton, thanks, but if you're shy I can just look at the circular and see what it looks like. This is somewhat less true of the Christopher Peacock level kitchens, because each one (should) look unique at that level of budget and designer input, so looking at the magazines might not tell the story.

If you have a low budget, high budget, or middle budget kitchen, for which you've sweated through the details, commiserated over the problems, and rejoiced in the solutions with us, then the finished kitchen reveal is not about exposing your personal life or bragging or any of that. It's about the payoff for the people who've been on the journey with you. I used to get really annoyed by the drive-bys, who joined just to show off their kitchens, because it was so not about that, and so much about the bragging, but then others said, convincingly, that they just liked seeing finished kitchens no matter what, so I let go of that bugaboo.

People want to see the results. They want to see how the chandeliers look in context. They want to see how the weird sink works in real life. They want to see if that crazy color combo really works. I doubt anyone is going to use my kitchen as an inspiration picture. Maybe for a cabinetry detail, but not for the design. It's too individual. Still, many were asking me for the pictures because they wanted to see how it all worked out, and how the proportions meshed, and how all the colors worked, and all like that. I did wait until it was completely finished to do the final pictures, and I did just have point and shoot quality, and a fair share of wonky angles, but I don't think that mattered. It's really very satisfying to do it, and to give back to the community that has given me so much.

It's also really great to use have to get the pictures done as a reason to get the kitchen in a place where you can draw a line and declare it done. I had a couple of repairs that needed doing on my picture day, but I declared them "maintenance", and proceeded with the "done" word.

Do it, folks. It's a worthwhile endeavor. :)

eleena hit the nail on the head.
(I moved my thumb this time)

Ditto what rhome410 said. If only this had been available...
Renee

Lirio: My opinion on your predicament: Just say no. As much as I would love to see your (I am sure) lovely kit, I don't want to see it enough to make you uncomfortable. I think there are enough of us who can find sufficient anonymity to be comfortable posting pictures. I laud (and share) your desire to give back to others, but we can let one go if it makes the owner squirm.

I'm pretty sure every one of us has had this experience in one form or another; none of us is spring chickens, even the youngest here: way back in college I had a roommate who bored me for months talking about this dreamy cutest-ever guy who never looked at her, etc, etc, etc ... eventually they actually managed to look at each other mutually and all was aligned in the world of love for her. She wanted me to meet him and I must say, I was more-than-eager to encounter this paragon at last. He had been so long built up, Adonis himself would be unlikely to hold his water. To mix a metaphor or two rather unfortunately.

And yes, you can see this coming ... he was a nice guy, sure, but absolutely the most homely individual I have ever laid eyes on. I was so shocked! It was such an amazing lesson. There is so someone for everyone .... I mean, I thought this guy was so much of a dud in some absolute way - I can see how there are subjective gradations, but it would seem to me that this one was a clunker on an absolute scale. And quite obviously I was wrong.

It helped in learning the lesson that I'd had so many months of build-up about this guy. I had no doubt in my mind that my friend, who I adored, and accordingly thought as beautiful as they come, with the most immaculate of good taste - I believed that she really saw him to be beauty incarnate. And I know I did not.

And so there you have it: someone for everyone, a kitchen to warm the cockles of every heart. Absolutely no one cares if yours is large or small -- they care about the blood, sweat, tears and brains you put into it -- as well as what they've put into it! We want to see our input, realized. Speaking for myself at least, there isn't even any language available for relative judgment: it just doesn't compute, doesn't matter.

So there you have it. You're still welcome to refrain from revealing, but please don't do it because you're embarrassed you'll somehow show up short in comparison with another. Given that the OTK has been pretty convincingly debunked here over and over again, it doesn't really make sense that anyone should be worried that they fall short: there is no standard.

Well ... now I'm thinking of all those Design Around This threads -- maybe there is a standard, but it's an internally consistent one, not a comparative one.

Go for it! (but just know that I can't until I find that last light bulb, clean off the dirty mail and seal the countertops. Plus, some drywall patches and paint would be nice too....)

My kitchen has been mostly finished for a couple of months...and I really love it. It brings a smile to my face. And every time I look I it, I know I have this forum to thank for most of it. You have all helped me so much. BUT, I haven't posted pics because, first, I don't know how. And second, I have the dreaded white subway tile backsplash and much maligned white cabinets. With soapstone counters no less. So, rather than try to figure out how to post, only to have everyone go, ho-hum and politely smile, I just haven't done it. I do have a really cool laundry room however!

Gharborwa, I, for one, have been waiting to see your kitchen! I am always amazed at how each kitchen is unique for the person living there, even though with white cabs, backsplash, and classic soapstone counters. To post a pic, you upload it to photobucket or other photo-sharing website, then copy the HTML code into the post. Email me if you want more specifics, or email the pictures and I'll be glad to do it for you. But if you don't want to share publicly, that's OK, too.

Gharborwa.. you are done! Congratulations.. I have been looking forward to seeing if you did checkerboard floor, the view of mountains and if I recall a 12' island..

Lalitha

Gharborwa, I want to see your kitchen! I want to see everyone's kitchens! I am a design and shelter mag junkie...I could look at kitchens all day long. That is why I hang around here even though I am done...I love seeing everything, and learning new things. Every kitchen I have seen on here has at least one feature that has charmed or inspired me....and some are so amazing that I almost have to catch my breath when I open the thread! Please share! :)

Gharborwa, please post photos and narrative if you have any inclination to. You can start with a deadpan list of elements:
* white cabinets
* soapstone counters
* white subways
* Mount Rainier

I doubt anyone will yawn.

Cheers. hbk

Gharborwa--Postitpostitpostitpostit!

Just a teensy bit of peer pressure. ;)

I would like to add Babushkacat, nutherokie, and pickle2 with the cooking apple green cabinets. Also annachousk or something like that, cannot find the right spelling.

GigHarbor--Ive been waiting too! Please! If Rhome, your neighbor and mine, hadn't volunteered to help with your pics, I'd have done it. No one will yawn or ho-hum! Promise. No pressure though. :)

Aww Athomeinva! It's so nice of you to remember me! The house is taking so long that I've just gone into kind of a funk. Looks like Easter will be yet another date to mark off the long list of unmet move-in dates. It seems the kitchen's somehow less finished than it was months ago when I posted thinking completion was around the corner.

We gave up on soapstone for the island when we couldn't locate a single slab wide enough and couldn't find anyone confident that they could book match slabs in an attractive fashion. Last week we had butcher block installed as a temporary solution. That's the latest progress so I'll include a couple of snaps.

I still lurk occasionally ... okay frequently ... oh, who am I kidding, PATHOLOGICALLY in hopes of catching a glimpse of another of the beautiful kitchens here. I'm just too dejected to post anything myself.

Oh, and Gharborwa, add me to the chorus dying to see your white cabs and soapstone!

Ignore my vintage light fixtures. They look like aliens without their glass slip shades.

Nutherokie--holy freakin' cow!!! Beautiful!

Chin up, too. Our whole house reno should have taken four months. Took 12 just to get moved back in. Now, we're at month 19, including the start of the addition which at first didn't impact the interior of the house, and counting.....so many things not done. You'll get there!

Nutherokie,
It's beautiful even in that state. After seeing your light fixtures I am going to give up my search for the perfect lantern and start the search for anything that looks like yours. I think I'm going to like, no, love, every single thing about your kitchen. And a fireplace too?

Notherokie --

I have been searching in vain for a photo you posted months ago, with a long view through your unfinished first floor, lovely play of light and shadow (which you still have), and a not-too-small-scale herringbone floor installed diagonally in some matte material that could have been brick, wood, or tile.

Did I hallucinate that floor? If not, would you repost the pic and/or identify the flooring material, please?

The windows alone would be worth waiting years for, to say nothing of that kitchen and the rest of the house. I think I sense a broad yearning that you keep us abreast.

Thanks so much for posting. hbk

I promise I will post, just want the basics in (backsplash, fixtures) before I post. Latest tile selection was a flop. :(. I briefly considered sticking my head in my lovely wolf oven, then decided that was excessive. So I licked my wounds and will go back to the darn blasted tile store again on Saturday!!! Thank you for your interest and encouragement!

Babushka

Okay, I'm out of town now, but will try to take some pics when I return. But I may have to wait a while for the mountain to be out! Thanks rhome and Breezy..I may call on you to help.

Well, you've all made me feel much better about my embarrassingly long slog!

Breezy, thanks so much for the kind words and encouragement. Here I am whining when others are going through the same thing with a much stiffer upper lip. I'm adoring your progress, by the way. Your walnut island is a dream. And I'm so glad you got the RH Aubrey pulls. I was secretly hoping you'd choose them.

Gigi, I hope you still like it when it's finished. I'm planning on some amber glass knobs and bridge pulls that are maybe a bit, shall we say, taste specific? But I had my heart set on the lights and the hardware before we ever broke ground, so I might as well forge ahead at this point.

Honorbiltkit, is the picture below the one you're thinking of? The floors are done with tumbled brick pavers. Unfortunately I haven't seen them since those last photos were shot. They've been covered in sawdust, grime and paper for months. I'm a little terrified of what we'll find when we pull up the coverings.

I'll delightedly post finished or even sort-of-finished pics when that blessed day arrives. If the post turns out to be posthumous, it'll be because I just didn't survive quite long enough. (Note to self, take vitamins, but update will with GW instructions just in case.)

honorbiltkit - we have been out of the basement since last April or so. We are using the kitchen, but not the stove (not allowed). Luckily, we added in a wall oven to the plan last minute when I realized how small the stove's oven was.
Since our house was "finished" (lol, can't type that without laughing), the sheetrock that has been painted has flaws coming out from the nail pops and tape fails. Luckily, we started to see the problems and did not paint the living room or finish painting the kitchen ceilings because we saw our previously painted stuff start to turn bad.
I cook in our kitchen daily, but there are many unfinished details there and elsewhere. The written estimates vary from about $12k of work/repair left to almost $25k if you take all the highest numbers and put them together. It is pretty pathetic as we don't have the excuse of construction any more, but we are also not completed.
I do enjoy the extra space and storage, but I also see all the stuff that needs doing, so I have good days and bad about it. I am almost numb at times about how much needs doing and how we will be disrupted again in the process. I feel like we are in the long eye of the storm.
I will try to think about what I can take pix of that won't look awful to me and can convey the essence of the place.
Sadly, our Marm floors that looked so awesome when installed are all structurally compromised and will have to be replaced. I don't count that into the costs mentioned above, btw, since those are one of the only things that weren't the gc's fault. We have not decided what to do because we want something equally fabulous, but are worried about the risks with some flooring that is like this to have the same outcome. We know we don't want tile or a hard floor, nor hardwood in the kitchen. The den portion will be replaced with mahogany and the adjacent dining room as well. The den currently matches the kitchen floor, but we got a deal on mahogany and figure the kitchen will just have to go solo next time. I'd almost want to keep the Marm in the den since it does not get food spilled on it in the same way and therefore does not worry me about its integrity not being right, but then it might start to look like a quilt with too many floors in an open plan. Our living room and hallways are oak and will be stained to coordinate with the mahogany (not match, but complement). I had not wanted any brown or beige tones in the kitchen or den, but now with more wood in the rest, we just don't know what to do. So, therefore, we wait until inspiration hits and our pocketbooks are not so empty.
Unfortunately, the real estate downturn coincided with doing the work on our house. My income has dropped a bit although we see signs of life again this year. Dh's job got frozen at the contract amount from 3 years ago, or that would have helped a bit. I know some people have lost jobs, so we have it good, but it is not what we had expected. 2010 was a good year for me when the market stunk, so I was surprised that 2011 was so bad. We were lucky to finally refinance and get lower rates on our mortgage and HELOC. That has dropped the monthly payment by $600! In the coming months, we will start to enjoy the lower amount.
So, in a very belated nutshell, we are not done with just about any part of the house. The roof may need to be fully replaced (brand stinking new, yet leaks in 4 places due to poor installation), the interior paint job and sheetrock are both a mess thanks to poor installation. Our floors are not yet done. We don't even have all the wts installed. Our furniture is still not fully put where it will end up and we have hung nothing on the walls nor put anything out for display purposes. One day, I will unpack the pretty things put away from when we moved in and it will be like Xmas morning to see all our "old friends". It will be awesome to have curio and china cabinets where they belong and not hugging the hallway walls, empty.
One day, the interior doors will be painted (as soon as the weather gets warm and I can empty out the garage to have space to paint them properly). I can also finish painting the radiator covers then too.
Until then, I will try to offer up more peeks and be less covert about it all...

Nutherokie- beautiful, cannot wait to see it finished but such a unique house needs time to come together so it is good that it is not being rushed.

Babuskacat- I love seeing glimpses of your kitchen and cats, I type this as my cat walks by swishing her huge tail in my face and covering the keyboard in fur. But I understand the time it takes to make the best choices, good luck!

dianalo --

If indeed -- as I incessantly preach and often even believe -- the transcendent wonderfulness of an outcome is proportional to the angst and tribulation that is invested up front -- you are going to have a world-class kitchen in an equally spiffy house.

This may be of no use, but I am linking below a cork floor place that has a patented method of coloring their tiles. They also provide samples at little or no cost, so you could simulate hard use before deciding on them.

I also have a fantasy that I will suddenly be given only a few weeks to live but without immediate diminution of physical vitality. At that point, I start working my way down the list of people whom I can help escape this mortal coil without guilt. Most of them hang out within a mile of my house, in Washington DC, but I could trek out to LI if you want to give me your contractors' addresses. Mind you, the whole point of the exercise would not be retribution, but the more high-minded general deterrence, so that the rest of these creeps will think twice before throwing people's lives into turmoil as a function of ripping them off.

Cheers. hbk

Here is a link that might be useful: Globus cork

And then there are the exhibitionists, who flash their kitchens in progress every chance they get. Sometimes I embarrass myself with how willing I am to show it all, to solicit feedback on the next element :) But then again, I wouldn't clean as well if I didn't have to take a picture....

Nutherokie -- WOW what a beautiful kitchen. My brother is a timber framer and I always love seeing pictures of the lovely homes he builds. Please keep posting more pictures.

pillog -- Well said!

Nutherokie, I'm quite sure your kitchen will be worth the wait! My breath has already been taken away... Can't wait to see the finished pics!

GHarbor, if we're waiting for the mountain, it may be awhile! I'm not that patient. :-)

Nutherokie, you have a beautiful kitchen.

BTW Nutherokie, do you see what I see in the 1st picture you posted? It looks like the Blessed Virgin Mary keeping watch over your kitchen. See her full body profile on the floor between the island and the fireplace? See her halo? Your house is blessed.

Well, I guess I'm done with mine...since we sold it and moved....

:/

Thanks athomeinva. I frequently hope that only I will know just how "unique" the house is. ; )

Oldbat2be (cute name), I enjoy the peeks at your progress. It's going to be great!

Aww, thanks Rhome. The kind words mean a lot coming from you.

Ha! Enduring, It took me a while to see her! My husband swears any otherworldly intervention has been from the uh, other side of the tracks, but I prefer your interpretation!

Yes, Bee, but we're anticipating the one with the Super White!! Looking forward to your finished photos with 'bated breath!