THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! For posting this! I want to put slate down on a front door patio that is a plain jane exposed aggrigate right now, and this is helping me with that vision right now!! I gotta do it myself, I've collected/scrounged the slate, got a tile saw, motar, and grout and sealer,just need to put my roof up first! I am woman, hear me roar! heh heh! And all I need for that is 5 2x4 now and I am set! Your path is so lovely and transforming!! A Big effort and a Big Payoff!!!

The fabric is primarily Kaffe Fassett, with a few Philip Jacobs pieces added in. I love every one of them! It's fun to watch people with the quilt because so many of them touch each block. Bright colors turn us all into children and we want to reach out to them, like a stack of pretty toys. The birds in the 4 center blocks and the border fabric are from the Jaipur collection by Bethany Reynolds. I bought the Jaipur print and border on sale over 3 years ago but didn't know what to do with it. It seemed wild enough to stand up to the graphic, vivid prints of Fassett and Jacobs! I know it's a crazy bright quilt but I'm pleased with it. It looked at home in the tropical garden!

carree, the Hirsch tile is gorgeous, but waaaaay out of my price range. I'm going to post a new thread for BS help. I'm finally back with some more details and hopefully some better photos. We just got the new NXR installed and a few last minute details finished. We made our first "real" meal in the oven tonight! Whooppeee-- feels like a real kitchen now. For those who asked about the NXR, I will try to post in the appliance forum, but the first one arrived with damage (ordered from Costco). After trying to get it repaired with warranty company, we opted to just return it and get another one. Smart move... should have just done that from the start. Anyway, the 2nd one is the charm and it works well. I'm posting a few new photos just because I'm embarrassed by how blurry the first ones are. Maybe I should edit the original post? I posted the insides of my drawers in another thread. As for the MO shelf, it looks nice when it's closed and seemed good when it was planned, but not sure that I would do that again. It's hard to open the cabinet next to it if it's open and it's just a PITA to open and close it. We are not big MO users, but our kitty seems to insist on having his food heated for exactly 8 seconds! Thanks again for the help and BS suggestions.

Thanks so much everyone! We learned so much from this forum -- I had never actually heard of soapstone before coming onto this board and quickly was convinced. We did use Buck's and it was a perfect experience with them. Lisa_a -- YES -- we used SW Restrained Gold in our dining room. We actually meant to use Mannered Gold but the painters picked up the wrong shade. No big deal, though, Andi K: it is a Buck's Franklin edge on our counters. I think we asked them to go light on the Franklin edge, but I absolutely love the edging. It just feels natural. Our cabs are Kraftmaid natural cherry. I know some people have had issues with Kraftmaid, but a year later and we've had absolutely no problems. And Aliris -- we were definitely not your inspiration :) I just saw someone's photos the other day who had a very similar backsplash, but it wasn't me. I wish I had seen their bs last year when I first started out looking -- would have saved me dozens of trips to tile stores. I think their tiles were random but all the same size, whereas ours have some thin and thick. I really wanted marble for the bs and it was very tricky to find one that wasn't too cool. The danby marble has a lot of caramel mixed in with the gray. Although I'm thrilled to be done with the kitchen (finally), it's a little sad not to have the project to work on. This was a DIY project (save a few hired out areas like counters, floor installation and drywall). Oh well -- tons to do in the house. On to bathrooms and laundry room reconstruction!