Thank you so very much Mongo, you do a superb job of explaining things. I remember you telling me on a previous post about a small wet saw, thanks for reminding me. My husband doesn't have enough hair for spray so I think I'll use some cheapy brand; it is a wonderful tip. I can do this, I pulled it off on my kitchen backsplash with even less information and the herringbone ran on the diagonal. Those tiles were pre cut and I am thankful that they were, because I didn't have a clue to the problems that could have developed if they weren't. They were apparently cut to your equation because they matched perfectly. Crazy spacing, I like the grid tech for the floor:) I remember taping my 45* drafting square to the sides of these sections for drying overnight. One night I stayed up all night to tile. It was fun though. This was my first wall, I got better on the second wall as seen in the 2nd pic: I just picked a center spot over the stove location and started - it wasn't exactly centered though, The grout was still wet at this point: You've just boosted my confidence, and others if they are following this post. Thank you so much again Mongo, for your help on this project, and on all the other projects that us lost souls post on GW.

Kaismom, The deck is just a utility deck, completely covered by a roof, where dry wood will be stored, muddy boots, etc. Right off of that utility deck will be an expansive stone patio beyond which lies my greenhouse. Off of the dining room is the sundeck, facing south, which has some pretty nice views. Entertaining would happen on either the stone patio or the sundeck. There is no way for me to avoid the doors anytime I want to leave the house because each exterior door enters into a vestibule/airlock. The backdoor enters into the mudroom and then into the kitchen. The front door enters into a vestibule and then into the living room. The kitchen door enters into the sunroom and then there is another door from the sunroom out onto the sundeck. The sunroom captures early morning EASTERLY sun and the dining room wall facing east is stone, thus working nicely as a thermal mass. The exterior sunroom door faces south and the kitchen door opens on the south wall and that wall is also stone, thus also working as a thermal mass. I intend to capture the heat and open my kitchen door to let it into the house and then when it gets cold outside and in the sunroom, I close the door to keep the cold out. Notice that the walls are 15" thick. Nice deep window sills. This means that I'm not in a climate where I've got a lot of indoor/outdoor living and where I'm dealing with a pleasant climate for most of the year. I'm setting out to control heat escape via open doors and through thin walls. I do believe i have plenty of natural light in the kitchen. the entire east wall can be windows and the kitchen is framed for a 10' high space (don't yet know how much the ceiling treatment will drop the ceiling.) I took your suggestion and centered one window over the sink but I'm not sure how well that's working. I do have to consider balancing issues with the windows on the floor above. The previous layout had two huge 5' high windows on the kitchen wall - plenty of light coming in and only offset from the sink by a few inches on each side of the sink, meaning I only have to turn my head a few degrees either side and I'm gazing out through a 5'x 5' window on either side - that's 50 sf of windows on the East wall. Melissastar, Here are some pics to help you get a better understanding of the first floor. Some points about the pics. The range hood is a place holder. I can't find a range hood model which is more massive and goes to the ceiling. I'm not too keen on the skinny wall cabinet to the left of the range hood. I will be doing "something" about extending the wall cabinets up a bit more, either taller cabinets or a 2nd decorative row. The ceiling is probably going to get some treatment, meaning that it will drop from the 10' height shown in the rendering. Also, the island is just s slap-dash effort for now but will get prettied up when I get the space planning settled. I did take your suggestion on the 36" range and I took the extra 6 inches from the left cabinet space because the right butts up against the corner unit. On the island I've placed a built in cutting board and dropped the height. Does anyone else have something like this? I was thinking that I might find a different height for a cutting surface useful, but that's just speculation on my part. What say you all? Any wisdom on that issue? To your question on a prep sink on the island, I'm not really keen on that because to my mind it's too close to the main 42" sink on the wall and that island is only 72" x 42". We're only talking a few steps to get from the fridge to the main sink. What's guiding me right now on the prep sink is to find a place for it which is far enough away from the main sink but still close to a work area which could justify taking counter space for the prep sink. Having it over on the stainless steel countertop along the South wall, amidst all the baking stuff kind of meets those conditions. Regarding the 36" range and the wood fired stove, well, I don't at present have a wood fired stove so putting that in is a leap of faith for me. I have no idea how much, or if at all, I'll be using it. I do know though that the residual heat in the masonry heater will give that stove top some heat and the flip side is that if I purposely heat up the stove in order to cook something there then the heat of the fire will also heat the rest of the mass in the masonry heater and save me the trouble of firing the heater just for heat - it's kind of a "kill two birds with one stone" type of deal. Or that's how I'm justifying it. It won't cost much to put it in and I HOPE that I'll use it sometime. The landing for the pizza/bake oven will be the island in the kitchen. Anything that comes out of the oven won't be held in my bare hands, so the eight foot transit to the island won't kill me. Also, it's not like the pizza/bake oven will be getting daily use (but then if I really like wood fired baking, it might.)

We don't know what kind of cabinets you're discussing, so it's hard to say, "Yes, that's a fair price" or, "No, run away. Run away fast." You're implying that you're shocked by that high number and are wondering how to lower it, so I'll throw out these generalizations: - Custom cabinets will cost the most (by a large margin), Ready-to-Assemble will be the cheapest. Semi-custom and Ready-made will be in between. - Corner cabinets (for example, Lazy Susans) cost significantly more than straight-run cabinets. - Tall pantry cabinets (especially if they have pull-outs) are surprisingly expensive. - Standard sized cabinets cost more than unusual sizes. - Some woods cost more than others. Cherry or walnut are at the top of the cost list, while oak is a little lower, and MDF is cheaper still. Within the same type of wood, costs can vary; for example, rift-sawn oak or quarter-sawn oak will cost more than plain oak. - Fancy inserts (pull-out shelves, spices, silverware dividers, Chef's drawers, etc.) cost more than plain cabinets. - Drawers cost a good bit more than plain cabinets. - Glass-front uppers cost more than wooden drawers (because the interior of the cabinet must be finished just like the exterior). - Islands cost more than regular cabinets (because they must be finished on all four sides). - Shorter uppers will cost less than to-the-ceiling cabinets. - Two stacked uppers will cost less than taller uppers. - Overlay or semi-overlay doors cost less than inset. - Appliances hidden behind wooden panels cost extra; the same is true for refrigerators enclosed in boxes. - Soft-close drawers cost more, but not much more. - Full extension /heavy duty hardware will cost more (but will last longer). - Painted cabinets cost more than stained (and paint doesn't last as long). - Glazes over paint cost more than plain paint. I don't think you were including hardware, but hardware can vary from 50 cents to $30-40 per item. I'm not saying those higher-cost items aren't worthwhile, but maybe this'll help you understand where your splurges lie. And, as someone above stated, materials are high right now (and I think we all suspect will remain high for some time) for numerous reasons.

Before following the guidelines below remember that the style and visual weight of the chandelier will also affect the size you should get. A visually heavy light fixture can be a little bit smaller while a visually light fixture can be a little wider. A simple way to determine a chandelier size is to add the dimensions of the room together in feet and then convert the answer to inches. The answer in inches should equal the diameter of the fixture. If the room is around 12' x 12' the fixture should be 22" to 27" wide.