Lynne The grout is TEC Accucolor Sanded Grout. The bag says it is color number 984 Almond/Sable. It is not self sealing. My husband sealed it before he grouted and then sealed again after grouting. We'll have to reseal periodically to keep the grout clean, but I think it's worth it. Didn't check into self sealing grout before hand. Maybe we should have? ACountryFarm Moving is so exciting and tiring. (With such a large family I assume you at least have plenty of hands on deck!) Soon the boxes and moving will be behind you and you can enjoy your new home. I can't wait to see a photo spread!!!

Marthavila your kitchen is so lovely, I'm sure whatever lighting you have looks fabulous! Buehl the tracks which hold the lights can be easily cut to any length. Our electrician left our tracks a little bit long above and below each light just to hold the wires better and because I knew I wasn't planning on moving those shelves up and down a lot. If I ever wanted to move a shelf where there was track I could just cut off a piece closer to where the bulb is, the bulbs are also adjustable up and down the track. If I had really wanted him to I could have asked him to cut much smaller pieces of track to make it easier to adjust my shelves. Since these were glass fronted cabinets where I store my everyday dishes and glasses, plus a few other pretty items, there really isn't a need to adjust them up and down a lot. My solid door shelves are the place where I adjust shelves from time to time for taller items and would want total flexibility to move them wherever. Having said that, the way it is set up now I can easily fit a fairly tall pitcher on my upper shelves and all of my everyday dishes and bowls fit easily into the space allotted as well as some very tall goblets! Kat :)

I've been very pleased with the way our lighting works. After 7 years the only regret is that I backed down on where I thought the switch for the peninsula light should be. The electrician wanted it placed at the entrance to the kitchen and I wanted it on the other side of the peninsula. Now I have to walk around the peninsula if I decide I want it on while I'm prepping. 1. The main lights that get turned on are three 5-in recessed lights. One is in the middle of our work "G" and the other 2 are along the main pathway through the kitchen. There are switches to these lights at each entrance. 2. We have fixtures/pendants above specific work stations that get turned on only when needed. -One 3-bulb fixture (like a pool table light) above the peninsula where I do most prep work. -Two pendants above our main sink. -Three pendants along a 9-ft run of counter. Our smaller sink is in the middle and our baking area is next to the sink. -Vent hood lights above the range. 3. We have 5 additional recessed lights above our perimeter counters. These are rarely used but they provide excellent light when we want our kitchen lit up like a baseball field. Since they are centered on the edges of the counters, there are no shadows created. 4. We have ucl lights under all 6 of our upper cabinets. We have them on 3 switches, 2 lights per switch. There is also a switch on each light that allows them to be turned on/off, brighter/dimmer individually. We almost never use these lights. After we were in our new kitchen for about 5 years, I turned one on and startled my dh. He had completely forgotten they were there. I used to use ucl's in our old kitchen all of the time because the lighting was so terrible (one fixture in the middle of the ceiling) and based on that experience, I thought they were a "must have" for all kitchens. I was wrong. The lighting in our new kitchen is so fantastic that it makes the ucl's redundant. I prefer the dispersed light from our ceiling recessed lights to the more concentrated light of the ucl's. I find light from above eye level more pleasant than light pooling on the counter and my hands. 18" between ucl and counter doesn't give much space for the light to disperse. When my mother, in her 90's, works in our kitchen, I turn on the additional recessed lights. None of us need the ucl's. We had our peninsula fixture, our sink pendants, and the 3 main recessed lights on dimmers. We took the dimmers out last year because they didn't work well with our cfl's (even though the cfl's were supposedly "dimmable".) The only light I tended to dim was the one above the prep peninsula because it hung closer to eye level than any of our other lights. Sometimes, on dark winter mornings, I would dim the lights but I really haven't missed any of the dimmers since taking it out.

According to the bottom of the ottoman, Sam Moore Furniture in Bedford, VA. The fabric came from another source.