Wow, punk! You've got to feel very blessed with all these lovin' people thinking of you! It was fun to look at all these material blessings, too (given with thought for you)! Love those chargers & accessories that you found for yourself...that chip & dip set is perfect for our "Fall-ish" decor right now...will be fun to see what you do with it. The gold dishes are very "cheerful" & will look forward to seeing them soon...more "Fallish" decor...& for many times of the yr. Take care of yourself & enjoy...that "spare time" will come soon enough! TFS! Jeanne S.

Thanks Bobby for the inspiration!!! I just put 2 bushels of potatoes I dug into storage so have plenty of tasty potatoes to work with. I am seeing some "all but the kitchen sink" soup getting made today. (I call it all but the kitchen sink because I just add what ever I can find, usually ham, carrots, onions, celery, bacon, sour cream, ham, cream cheese, velvetta, cheddar cheese, milk and butter.) Feeling hungary, Stacie

Thanks, all. Bluebars~ The shower curtain is just top & backing. I brought the backing around to the front so didn't even have borders/binding to deal with. The buttons serve as the 'quilting', though I did consider quilting bubbles or sea grass. Instead I just wanted it done. I did put stiff craft interfacing along the top to give substance while hanging. The holes are just button holes. My hangers don't even require me to take them down to remove so they just slipped through the button hole.

Davidro1.... You are correct in that the LR/DR black granite tiles are set on the diagonal. The foyer terrazzo tiles are set 'square' to the front door. The kitchen entryway from the foyer is flanked by louvered double doors which I plan to remove along with the door trim. I plan to open up the entryway to the ceiling. The current transition is awful as I think it sits up too high and when I hit it with my foot (which I tend to do a lot), it is reminder that I don't like it. I plan to make the transition flush with both floors. As I mentioned in my original post, I was going to use a strip (two+ inches wide) of AB granite to serve as a visual transition in the Foyer/Kitchen entryway. Since I am now going to use a terrazzo tile, I don't think I need to repeat this transition in the other entryway. The Breakfast space (which is contiguous to the task area) is closed off by a swinging door (that is never used). I plan to remove this also and open up to the ceiling. The sliding glass doors (as shown in my mockups) open up to a balcony which is no longer a functioning space. We moved the doors outward bringing the space indoors gaining almost five feet. The remaining balcony 'space' is about 18 inches deep....just enough space for a few small pots of herbs. I went to three granite/tile places today looking at terrazzo tile. My one positive accomplishment....I think I am going with an 18" square, rectified tile. I had thought to use a 12" size but after adjusting my thinking and visual perspective, I think the larger tile will work - unless someone is willing to tell me otherwise and explain the supporting design principle. The color will be a lighter, less busy pattern similar to ArizonaTiles 'Torreon Stone' My design vision doesn't see to be too far off from yours. I have tentatively selected maple with stain/wash/glaze/whatever to create this sort of look. I realize I might have to change my wood species to achieve it.: The granite selection seems to be a moving target right now. I had originally selected Imperial White which is a very tight, fine grained 'granite' (and I use that term with much chagrin). It was the closest granite that I could find that had a somewhat even look of engineered quartz. I wanted a stone that was not very busy and fairly even in color which EQ provided - but I didn't like the looks of after five years of use. After thinking that this stone 'was the one', I learned via the world-wide-web that this material is actually an Orthogneiss which means it needs lots and lots (did I say lots?) of pampering. After finding this out I've done two things....1) lots of reading about sealers and 2) started looking at Bianco Romano...which I'm not really keen on the garnet accents but at least they are fairly small on the slabs that I'm considering. Imperial White not-granite slab (picture color is not accurate, only posting to show the look): Backsplash, I don't know if you saw my comment on another posting, but I credit your Clippings of reminding me that I had a solid glass backsplash in my Inspiration folder. My only conundrum is whether to paint the back ala Palimpsest or frost it and place it over a painted wall. The drawback with the frosted-over-the-painted-wall version, is if I ever want to change the kitchen paint, then this one portion will present a challenge...which I have a whole other thought tangent regarding paint colors. *sigh* There are other small design elements that I plan to add which I won't bother you with in this post unless you express an interest. Thanks for taking the time to read this and for taking the time to reply to my post! Pepper