If you wait until next week, IÂll take you to the Kutztown Folk Festival here in eastern PA, where youÂll be able to sample a huge variety of PA Dutch specialties all in one place (link below) and be tempted to take home one of the 2000+ locally made quilts on display. Some of your choices will include chicken pot pie, schnitz un knepp (ham cooked with dried apples and dumplings), Lebanon bologna (a type of summer sausage) sandwiches, potato cakes, sausage and pepper sandwiches, shoofly, cherry crumb or other crumb-topped fruit pies, corn pie, fried scrapple and/or corn meal mush, roast ox, and pickles and preserves of many varieties. On the way home, weÂll stop at one of the farmers markets for thinly sliced dried beef, applewood smoked bacon and ham, Lodi apples, Uncle HenryÂs hard pretzels, any one of a dozen varieties of potato chips still fried in lard, sticky buns, chip steak, freshly picked corn, untrimmed celery, pickled eggs and red beets, pot pie noodles, whoopie pies and Moravian sugar cakes. I confess that I wonÂt feel much like cooking dinner since IÂll be tired from volunteering at the festival. We can go out for dinner at any one of a score of diners or 100+ year old still-operating village hotels/taverns, where itÂs possible that some of the nightly specials may be stuffed beef heart with gravy or pig stomach stuffed with potatoes, onions, smoked and fresh sausage. YouÂll have to remember that many of the vegetables or items like steamed clams will be served with addiction-inducing browned butter. Yuengling beer will be on tap everywhere but you can also have prize-winning Chambourcin wine from one of the Lehigh ValleyÂs vineyards. Here is a link that might be useful: Kutztown PA German Folk Festival

Hmmm...we'll work out something--maybe Friday? And you know what, I meant to add that I was really underwhelmed by the experience of painting with the MoorGuard. Are Exterior paints generally thinner than interior? I then went in and put on a coat of EK (ICI-Dulux) interior semi-gloss on some window trim and it was a completely different experience. The Aura was more like the ICI. I'm wondering if there's a better exterior paint that I could mix the Sandy Hook Gray in...I may take the sample in to ICI-Dulux and ask them to mix it in one of their exterior finishes. Any thoughts on that? What exterior paint do folks favor?

If you like your layout and if the cabinets boxes are in good shape, here's what I would do. Remove the uppers Make the back wall window much bigger and put in a window overlooking the deck. I would actually make it into two walls of windows that meet in the corner Remove the doors from the lowers, purchase drawers from a good RTA place, and convert most of the lowers to drawers (you can store more in drawers and they are so much more easily accessible). You can reface the cabinet fronts to match the new drawer fronts. Put in the hardwood floors, new counters and undermount sink Widen the opening between table and kitchen. I'd take it all the way to the cabinet on that wall and then totally eliminate the short wall between the kitchen counter and table next to the window. The wider opening will allow for a bigger island which will replace most, if not all, the storage lost by losing your uppers. After this, if there is money into the budget for it, I would get rid of the china hutch and desk in that open space "south" of the table and have cabinets made that either match or are different but coordinate with your kitchen cabinetry. In this, I would include areas for whatever you store in your current china hutch, some glass doors, some solid depending on how much you want to show off unless you actually prefer using a desktop computer and need the desk area for that, I would eliminate the desk and instead put in filing cabinet drawers, shelves with plug ins for charging phones, tablets, laptops, etc., and cubbies for incoming and outgoing mail, a family communications center with calendar, etc., and put it all inside cabinets so anything can be hidden when entertaining storage for items you don't use often so you don't need to store them in the kitchen like serving platters and larger trays, large serving bowls, extra glassware, whatever plumb it from the W/D for a beverage bar with sink for coffee, tea, making mixed drinks, and put in a small under-counter fridge for ice, juice, creamer, milk, etc. and make sure the area has proper storage for mugs, glasses, and other items you would use for the types of beverages you typically make like tea bags, different types of coffees, mixers, whatever. I do think a rectangular table would work better in that space and banquette style seating along the walls would be cool and make for a comfy place to perch when you're perusing cookbook over morning coffee, reading the mail, and playing on your laptop, but I would leave this for last. If your budget is spent by this point, you could always change this up later when your wallet recovers. FWIW, my laundry room is large and serves as a pantry and is through an open door from the kitchen. My kitchen/laundry-pantry may as well be one room. And I love it. So convenient. Especially since I upgraded to a new W/D which are so quiet I barely know they are running. If your kitchen is far removed from your bedrooms, it could be more convenient to have the laundry area closer to the bedrooms. But if this is a typical ranch, I'm guessing the bedrooms aren't too-too far from your kitchen. Mine aren't but the W/D are so quiet I can run laundry if someone is sleeping in a bedroom and they don't hear it. So, if this works for you, I wouldn't change it. Hope these ideas help a bit.

The Rothko chairs are VERY comfortable. Indeed, I have bought them for more than one home that I have owned and have recommended them to others, too, who have purchased them. They are deep enough for tall people, but I am short and find them very easy to sit in. The back cushion is removable and can be plumped up. Or augmented with a toss pillow. And there are all sorts of options for upholstery AND slip covers. I highly recommend them! See who offers them in your area and try one on for size, if you can. Good luck!