@sombreuil I guess I’m an outlaw as I just put in limestone floor in Versailles pattern on the first floor. I used to love oak and hate the orange color but now I have a huge aversion to wood kitchen as my in laws have oak everywhere. Their house is so dark that I carry a flashlight with me because I keep tripping over all the small carpets underfoot. Their cabinets were custom but the oak has gone orange. It was hellish trying to find paint to tone down the kitchen. With oak walls, ceiling beams, floors, cabinets, trims and all furniture (big and small) in dark oak, it’s very claustrophobic and oppressive to be in the house. We remodeled their house recently due to flood and they put everything back the same and added more oak in any area that did not have it before. My advice is choose what you love but use moderation in the amount of wood.

Thanks for the extra pictures! I don't remember seeing the name of NVG in our looking through the granite the other day--we were overwhelmed, I guess. I do seem to recall something similar. Later, at the kitchen place, we saw Santa Cecilia and liked that it seemed to have more veining than what I thought I'd liked at the granite place--Giallo Ornamental (if I'm thinking of the right piece), but I don't recall Santa Cecilia at the granite place either. Maybe it was in the more expensive aisle, of which we tried to steer clear. I appreciate the flooring info too, as I'm sure that's our next decision--or will it be the exterior? Thanks.

I bought one of these beauties last year. I had repotted it into a larger pot and grown it in full sunlight. It was growing great up until my cat decided to get frisky with it and snapped the trunk off right at the graft. I tried rescuing it, but there wasn't much I could do. The root stock tried sprouting, but I decided not to keep it. I waited a full year for the garden center to get some more back in stock and I just bought one today. I almost gave up hope on my garden center getting some more of them in this year. But this time they had more to choose from, seeing as they had just gotten them in yesterday. Last year, they only had three left. One of which was this variety. I probably looked a little silly standing out in the rain sorting thru each and every one of them, haha. But after waiting for this long, I wanted the best one that I could find. Since I had almost given up hope, I looked elsewhere for some more Japanese maples. I came across a garden center at a local grocery store that had bigger maples that were almost as tall as me. They were only $20, too. So I had bought a real beautiful one called Acer palmatum 'Shirazz." It's a similar red laceleaf, but it's a brighter and variegated. The trunk had a red plastic "patented" tag on it. I quite look forward to growing both of these beauties in my garden. :)

I did get it and I have to say we absolutely love it. It is incredibly durable and it has not yellowed at all - at least not that WE have noticed and we were concerned about that. We have it in our kitchen, as well, and it's held up perfectly. We love that it's simultaneously a neutral palate for furniture and decor but it also has a good amount of character with knots and distressing.