teacats, thank you to both you and your husband! We had to take the door off one of the narrower doorways to get it in the house from the workshop out back! Being that it's oak, it weighs a ton. denali, thank you very much! Cross your fingers for me that I'll do the inset panels without messing up! flyleft, thank you so much! Believe it or not, we're in northern New Mexico, and the original portion of the house is actually an early 1890's Vic with the Arts & Crafts fireplace, built-ins, windows, and other A & C details added in the early 1920's, we believe. Some areas in New Mexico have a lot of bungalows, particularly this town. It seems a lot of them were inhabited by employees of the SF railroad. Albuquerque actually has many nifty bungalows, as well. Brutuses, thank you! It's been a very busy summer in terms of the home projects, so I've not been on the board much. I'll post again when I really have it done. We had been using a small Ikea loveseat for a number of years, which was good for fitting in all the cramped rentals we lived in for so long. It looks like we're going to have to rearrange the LR a bit in order to accommodate this six foot long settee! funkyart, thank you! My husband is getting pretty dang good at woodworking, and it's been a great help budget-wise. We did spend some time working out the styling of the settee, and sort of combined different aspects of various designs we found into the settee. We think the house appreciates it!

It took me multiple readings of this thread to understand your room's dimensions and obstacles but I think I finally got it. Think being the operative word here. I'm sure I missed something. ;-) Anyhoo, it seems to me that the biggest hurdle you face is having too many interruptions on each length of wall. I agree that if at all possible, the DR hutch and built-in ex-ironing board cab should be kept. And it seems a shame not to take advantage of those recesses on each side of the DR hutch. So I turned my attention to the opposite wall and and played with the idea of moving the doorway from the outer room into the kitchen. I realize this means moving utilities and all that but it might be cost effective if it means you don't need to do as much customization of cabinetry in your kitchen. I just checked and with a few minor tweaks, you can make this plan work with Ikea cabinets. This is what I came up with: The outer room will be on large space, a mud room with utilities (behind doors), W/D and whatever else you want to keep out there. Moving the door down to the end gave me enough room to put the fridge, DW, sink and range all in one section of your kitchen, creating a very efficient work zone for 1 cook. The fridge is slightly recessed into the wall so that it's bulk is less obvious. The DR hutch is bordered by 2 pull-out pantry cabs with a shallow cabinet between them. You could mimic the DR hutch, giving a nod to your home's past. It also gives you a decent section of shallow counter to set down bags of groceries or a place for small appliances such as toaster, coffee maker, etc. You can fit the GE spacemaker MW above (it fits in a 12" deep upper cabinet). You could also make this section standard depth, sitting slightly proud of the pantry cabs on either side. You'd still have a 49.5" aisle, which will help your smallish space feel less squished. As someone above suggested, I moved the ex-ironing board cabinet. I shifted it over towards the window, next to the range so that it can continue its life as your spice cabinet (love this!). With all the storage on the DR hutch wall, I think that you just might be able to go without upper cabinets elsewhere, which will also help your kitchen feel spacious. You can fill in the old doorway space with an interior window - fixed or working, your choice. If the view isn't nice but you want the light, put in a real or fake stained glass window or other type of obscure glass. Or you can just make it a wall. Note: aisle measurement is counter edge to counter edge. I assumed a 1.5" counter overhang.

it's the regular black walnut. There are three knots on my top actually. I wish I had thought to take a far away shot when I had Jen's camera last night! Next time I will back up and take a full top shot for you guys. I can't believe no one else is in awe though. I never Ever thought rubbing alcohol would take of permanent marker from waterloxed wood. (someone on here said "Waterloxed - new verb!" and I am totally stealing that) : )

I have been spending my pennies at yard sales and estate sales to add to my garden and come home with some treasures! I almost feel the need to stop , almost! Haha i picked up this swan this weekend . Here's the rest of my treasure . It's not all where I want it but I'll be working on that soon Gonna be a petunia planter .. Flea market gold ! Got this feeder , it will go on top of a rickety wood ladder and support my honeysuckle vine .