It's a vast improvement over the shrub-engulfed house we first saw, merely by being cleaned up. One thing that jumps out to me as not enough, is the groundcover, which are few and far apart. The goal is usually to get groundcover to grow into a solid mass for the best look and so as not to need top dressing with mulch anymore and still have weed suppression. But I imagine you'll be doing some tweaking over the next year. As far as watering, it's hard for someone, by remote, to tell you if you've watered long enough. There are a lot of variables in how you might be doing it and with what equipment. If in doubt, dig down and see. It won't take you long to discover the right timing formula.

The attached layout I did days ago but didn't post it because it didn't seem applicable to discussions. Here's my thinking. I would run the countertop all the way along the top wall, around the corner, and down to the fridge. Cabs underneath. You could easily bring a 15"or so wide x 12" deep cabinet all the way down to countertop height on the far left of the stove. That space is not prime work area. I really like the idea of a glass-fronted area there that is shallow enough to find things easily--which your present 24" deep pantry is definitely not--and which would be a lovely accent that could be adjusted to the colors you prefer and even seasons. Center the range on the top cabinet run as I sketched it here, not between the two walls. The area to the right of the range will be the main cooking area. The cleanup will happen to the right of the sink, opposite the island. The island will be your work area, as you say it now is. I squared the island and slightly enlarged it. I really urge you to put in a prep sink. I know it seems redundant so close to the cleanup sink, but it isn't. Mine, like this one, is very close to the cleanup sink, but I use both, piling dirty dishes into the cleanup sink and keeping the prep sink clear for work. Of all the changes I made in my new kitchen, I think the inclusion of that sink was easily one of the most important. I think your cleanup sink should be large enough to hold your biggest frequently used pans. It does not, IMO, need to be as large as it presently is. Making it smaller will leave you room for more drawers. If this is an idea you can consider, you can solicit input with a query thread here on GW. I am not sure of the size of the window on the sink wall. I would love you to have 15" cabinets on that wall and on the left corner. On the range wall, 12" cabs will be fine, and will leave easier work areas. (Although I find no problem with 15" cabs flanking my range, because most work on that wall is really done ON the range itself.) Finally, I played with the idea of moving the fridge toward the sink, putting a shallow 15" or so wide cabinet facing the kitchen on the right of the fridge. If this is 8" or a bit less, it will be wonderful for storing your baking goods, spices, and cans. Then, behind it, facing the family room would be a 15" deep, 20" or so wide pantry for whatever you chose to store there. Hey, among other goodies, it could hold the ladder you will need to access the top of your ceiling-height cabs! This is just idea playing--not a hard proposal. Actually, all of this is just playing with ideas, of course. As I have said before in other links, this is like playing with paper dolls as I did as a child. Just plain fun. This post was edited by Bellsmom on Wed, Mar 26, 14 at 22:28

"I don't understand what you want to do. Currently you have a carpet bar covering the carpet/tile transition. The bar is on top of the ceramic tile and covering the carpet. Do you want to remove this brass item and replace it with something else? Why would you need to remove the tile?" Hi, ron6519 -- sorry - I must not have explained very clearly. We don't have any ceramic tile. We pulled up linoleum and put slate tile down to replace it. But the metal piece is not on top of any ceramic tile at all. It's not on top of anything other than the subfloor. It butts up against the tile, with a slight gap. I don't think I have to pull the tile up (it is something that someone at Lowe's recommended we do... I was more looking for confirmation that we DON'T need to). Thanks, Sierraeast, I will try to find the flooring forum. There are so many forums here, that I think I have the right one but I guess I don't. Thanks though. :)

Thanks to all who replied to my post. We went to look at the house again this morning - was surprised to see some guys inside - seems the bank was paying to put on a new roof. I had someone meet me there that knows construction - the more he look (and pointed out) he went from saying if I could get it at one price to I wouldn't buy this house for anything but the land. He pointed out things I hadn't seen before. And yes, one of the problems was the ridge vent, but boy, there was so much more!!! I decided to not bother with the house. On a good note, well sort of, we passed by another house that may be a match, and a better option. It has a contingency contract on it but we may put in an offer and see what happens. Again, I want to thank you all - the information was very helpful!!!