Fall color in New England starts earliest the farther north you go and the farther inland, away from the ocean. It peaks in the suburbs north and west of Boston around true Columbus Day, Oct. 12 and the following week. Vermont and northern NH are maybe a week or two earlier. It does vary in timing from year to year but you should be safe with the above guidelines. Massachusetts--and other New England states??--track it online. Ask on the New England forum of GW for the website. The trick is that for popular leaf-peeping areas in Vermont and New Hampshire especially, you need to make reservations a long time in advance. People come from all over the world to see it. Hope your trip is wonderful!

Thanks, Lyfia and LavenderLass! At first I nixed the idea of relocating the sink to the opposite end of the kitchen, largely due to cost reasons (I'm ok with shimmying the sink over a few feet, but wasn't sure what the costs are associated with moving it across the room. Still, though, I started mocking something up in my software and I kind of like how it's evolving! My concerns are: 1. if the fridge moves to the opposite wall (where we fill in that pesky column), when you round the corner from the living/dining room, it sticks out right in your face. I thought nestling it into the old doorway was clever, and I lose that with this layout. Also, it puts the fridge a few more steps away from people hanging out in the family room (admittedly, not a huge deal, but something to consider). 2. Keeping a window cutout in the old doorway means I lose some upper cabinets. I think I can squeeze more continuous prep space out of this one, though, and my base cabinet storage potential increases, which is a HUGE plus. Here's what I have so far (please disregard what is going on in the dining room with these pics ;-). In both cases, the microwave is next to the fridge (shown as an OTR that isn't located over a range): Layout 1: Nestles the fridge into the old doorway. Note the extra 5 foot run of upper cabinets above the sink. My corners aren't very functional in this one, but I'm totally open to suggestions. Garbage pullout is "south" of the stove in this layout, in the middle of prep space. Layout 2: Keeps a cutout to the family room (reflected as a window above the sink), moves the sink to the opposite wall. Really like how the fridge wall is shaping up with this and that I can get a susan in without sacrificing drawer space. Garbage pullout is just "north" of stove, on the edge of the slightly more expansive prep space. In either case, with the 24 inch sink base (which is what I have now), I'd try to squeeze in as large a sink as possible, hopefully a d-bowl with the faucet off in a back corner. With Layout 2, I could probably go up to a 30 inch sink base and shorten the bank of drawers next door from a 30 to a 24. That base cabinet is where I was thinking of storing dishes, and I think it can all squeeze in. I should mention that due to cost, I'm probably going with Ikea cabinets or Barker depending on cost, or perhaps a combination of the two if i'm finding I need a lot of special sizes. What do you think?

Steph I also use the plastic dish pans for drawers in the lower cabinets in the kitchen. For the same thing. My plastic food containers. Since I do not use those containers for left over food much now I might start using them to package my meat to freeze instead of baggies. Would take more freezer space but I think I have enough for that and reusable and would hold the juice well. Hummmm Good idea Steph. Looking back at the photos. I REALLY need to paint the brackets behind the mirror in the closet. I have to have them to hold up the shelf above. They do look pretty ugly gray. Or maybe I can find my long mirror to cover them. But I like the look of this other mirror. It came from my old neighbor lived across the street. I bet it was one thing that belonged to his wife. The frame on the mirror is actually plastic ,was gold I painted white. And I just had a thought. I have a small window with the divided pains that might fit that space. Will have to check it out. It needs glass and would make a great mirror. It is painted a funky green that I might leave that way and just seal it. I will have to drag it in to see if it fits. OH joy more fun.

I find it difficult to visualize another colour when the current one works but here goes... One option would be a warm ivory, pale pale yellow. Dial down the current colour a few notches. Another could be a terra cotta, burnt orange type colour. Dial up the gold a few notches. Not sure how that would fare next to the red in your kitchen though. Sorry I don't have actual paint manufacturers names and colours for these two options. Just took these pics from a House Beautiful book. I also thought a browny-pink could work. Very pale, too much yellow or grey in it to read pink. Something like Farrow & Ball's Pink Ground or Benjamin Moore's Silky Smooth. (On my screen, that's how they look. Might be very different in your space, with your lighting.) Depends on what direction you were thinking of going and how saturated you want your walls. Have you been checking out paint strips in the store? See what appeals to you there (blue? white?) and bring them home and see how they look in your space. Some will be a definite no, others might have promise.