Thanks to all for the good suggestions! Current state of the project area: The former herb garden along the east edge of the yard behind the house has been dismantled! All of the often used herbs (oregano, parsley, cilantro, basil, thyme, rosemary) have been moved to the small bed just west of the back door. This will end up being a pretty densely vegetated bed, but that usually helps keep down the weeds. :) Slipped a few flat stepping stones between the plants for ease of harvesting. I love it! No need to even put on shoes to get fresh herbs! Chives are in front of the (not often used) air conditioner unit. Some of the bigger herbs (lavender and sage) are a little further away--just past the a/c, but making a nice little border connecting all of the herbs together. Some of the other herby plants (hyssop, rue) have gotten moved into other spots around the yard. Now that the herbs are relocated, I've spent a lot of time staring at that area between the back of the house and garage. We do want to make this into a patio area, flagstone (with creeping groundcover and smaller stone in the gaps), with the BBQ grill closer to the garage along the fenceline. One of the remaining issues with this area is the need to adjust the grade. Currently, the level of soil next to pond and under the flagstones from the back door to the garage is slightly elevated--which impedes water from draining quickly away from the foundation. Luckily, the elevation drops again near the fenceline, and definitely sloping down to the narrow section next to the garage and into the alley. This will definitely be a big project, removing the right amount of dirt and leveling it. It also has the additional issue of being infested with bindweed, so I'll actually need to get rid of this dirt entirely (for which I don't yet have a good strategy). Plus the expense of a large amount of flagstone. The other issue, which I haven't mentioned before--is the wretched state of the neighbors privacy fence all along this east edge of the yard. It's definitely falling to bits at this point, but I'm fairly certain that it's repair or replacement isn't high on their list. Sigh. All that being said, it looks like the narrow section path of the yard may again be shelved for another year. But small strides are being made. I've moved the shrubs from the back corner of the house to better spots. I'll probably continue with rearranging the current plants in this area this year, in preparation for finishing up the stepping stones and groundcover here next year--hopefully! I love the idea of some sort of arch/gateway towards the front of the path area, which will help break up the very tall and narrow aspect. Maybe also a bench near the porch, to make this part of the yard more visiting friendly. thanks again, and if there's any more comments suggestions...especially about any good tricks for aiding with the grade/drainage and getting rid of "bad" dirt...

I think an angled peninsula would look unique and interesting if done properly. What is the clearance b/w the peninsula & pantry in your drawing? With seats there, I hope at least 48". BTW...the locations of your range & sink concern me a little in that if there are two people working in those locations they will be "bumping elbows". I agree w/Rhome, post a to-scale drawing of the "empty" room and then tell us the pertinent information (appliances, goals, "wants", "needs", "do NOT want", etc.) If you haven't already, I recommend you read the "Read Me" thread. It discusses drawing a layout as well as other useful info. Here is a link that might be useful: Thread: Read Me If You're New To GW Kitchens!

I'm going to point out a couple of considerations about that layout. They are just in case you haven't thought about it. I'm sure you have as its just about the layout you have now. a. Using the cooktop will sometimes involve asking the person at the sink to move. (Anytime those drawers under the cooktop are opened). b. Using cabinet one will sometimes involve asking the person at the cooktop to move. c. Its going to be harder to get into the corner uppers with a modern hood that sticks out further - perhaps even more than today because the corner upper cabinets look like they might be smaller. d. Be careful about leaving allowance for fillers in the corners and up against a wall - particularly when using frameless cabinets. In a corner, the filler on both sides needs to be the depth of the door AND the depth of the handle plus a tiny bit - so that the cabinets on both sides can open properly. Up against a wall, you should allow for a 3/4" piece of starter molding - except that you may need more to clear your door casing. e. Be careful about wall cabinets with wide doors that open over counters and the amount that the hinge allows the door to open. Looking at the wall cabinet door arrangement over the dishwasher - it looks like you've skipped the first cabinet and put dishes into the second cabinet. You may want to rethink that. You could get brained by the cabinet door or left in the slightly odd situation where the door doesn't open wide enough to be able to pick something out of the dishwasher and put it away without first putting it on the counter to avoid crashing it into the counter. Or you have to walk around the open dw door to put stuff away. This is just my personal opinion, but I would move the dw back over to the left and put the main dish storage on the first cabinet to the right. f. Same wall cabinets - opening the center cabinet prevents both other cabinet doors from opening - certainly not the end of the world or anything.

Thank you, voila, for coming out of lurkdom to help me! This HAS been painful in the sense that I really dislike being in limbo, uncertain, and indecisive, which has also been time-consuming since I have been looking at paint colors off and on for 2 or 3 years, and stewing around about them trying to figure this out. To clarify regarding the Carlisle Cream with the hint of pink: this is not the trim color. I will try to see if I can find the name somewhere in my files, but the color of the trim for all of the house and most of the ceilings has a yellowish cast. The Carlisle Cream is only on the ceiling in the DR & MBR (and the paint chosen for the DR will also be used in the MBR which faces NW), as well as the walls of the mudroom, laundry, powder room, and MBath. You are correct that it fights with yellow, because the tiles have hints of yellow tones, and it does not look good there. Except for the 2 ceilings, the Carlisle Cream will be changed to something that goes better with all of the tiles and countertops that probably need a color with some yellow, rather than pink, in it. When we painted our former N facing foyer with Pittsfield Buff, it really pulled together the colors of the 2 small rugs and tile, which are almost the same as what we have now. But that is a whole nuther story. Wythe & Palladian Blues are on my "possible" list, so I will give them further consideration. The HC 139-141 at first glance under kitchen lighting seemed minty, but the lighting in the LR is halogen, so they look different in there. I will need to see them on a sunny day. Another vote for HC 146, 147, and Gray Wisp is good! And I really like your suggestion of Quiet Moments. It is interesting that you say, "all greens seem to go together", which I had heard before. The reason I got a new LR rug was that my old one had multiple colors of green and greenish gold on a cream field, and to me it clashed with the fireplace in daylight. I moved it into the kitchen eating area that has the same slate tile on the other side of the 2-way FP where it only gets light from the NW which is not directly on it as it is in the LR, and it looks perfect in the different light! Also, if I turned the LR rug around, it would look much better upon entering the room, but to me the green from that direction looks awful with the FP green. I think it will be a lot easier to choose the DR paint than that for the LR. I will definitely pursue looking at grayed colors for both rooms, but I would still like to try maybe a rich tan that does not lean to red or yellow and see if that could work in the LR to pull out those colors in the rug, but maybe nothing will do this? I suppose that would only add to the blendy feeling that I am so good at achieving. I had originally imagined having a sort of rich, dark cream, but I guess that would mean yellow, so it is out. A correction regarding the "drapes." They are actually 4 drapery panels on each side of a 7 ft triple casement that help to set off the piano and a small chest near the creamy beige rug, and at each end of a 4 window bank (each 42" wide) next to the chest and behind the mauve wing-back near the FP. They are not directly next to the 9 x 12 "green" rug. The 2 rugs are separated by the sofa, so you do not see much of the Bokhara when entering the LR. I know that all the detail causes many people not to read this, but I welcome comments from anyone who has the patience to work through them to give me additional guidance. Anne