You mentioned an "older photo" did you perhaps forget the pic and/or link? Most windows are white or else a beige. Late 50's contemporary to Arts & Crafts/Mission is interesting. Arts & Craft style lights alone may not be enough to pull away from the 50's contemporary. The white windows could be a challenge, but like I said before it's a common color challenge. If you get pictures up, I could probably offer more options. Not saying you are sampling frantically, but that happens. Maybe dial back on samples and let's get some color direction first and then revisit samples. The beiges you've listed, and this is off the top of my head, sound way too safe and restrained to do what you want color to do for you and the exterior. Again, a picture would help ooodles and gobs.

Walkin Yesindeed, a reporter once asked Louis Sullivan the same basic question you just asked me, and got back one of Sullivan's typical cryptic responses: "I would describe it as the successful solution of a problem." Thanks a lot, Louis. Big help. And when somebody else asked Sullivan to describe the style of the Auditorium's own decoration, he said "I would prefer not to describe it at all. I would perfer for you to look at it yourself and make up your own mind." Let's just say that Sullivan would have gotten himself eliminated on the first round of something like "Design Star" that are less about design ability or artistic vision and more about personality & sense of humor. And those things are fine, but they have nothing to do with design. Anyway, here's the thing: like I said above, most of Sullivan's mature work was on major commissions: the Auditorium, the Chicago Grand Opera House, the Chicago Stock Exchange, department stores, banks, railway stations. After Adler & Sullivan becamse famous with the opening of the Auditorium, he seldom designed anything as small as a residence again, and most of the residential designs that came out of the office were in fact Wright's, or George Elmslie's, with Sullivan directing the overall design & the ornamental detailing. Even in this somewhat limited role, it was his vision that determined the aesthetic form of the finished buildings and the look that we think of as Sullivanian, in the same way that Fritz Kreisler & George Solti & Daniel Barenboim put their individual stamps on the sound of the Chicago Symphony, even though they weren't the ones playing all the instruments. Unfortunately, since Sullivan didn't really do residences, and never furnished the interiors of the houses that came out of the A&S offices, we have to look at his other buildings to find what motivated him, but it's not hard to see. In a letter to a banker client, he talked of the decorative scheme of the interior as a 'color symphony' and he wasn't kidding: the finished banking room has literally dozens of intermingled colors, mostly soft greens, yellows & oranges. It also has an elaborate stenciling scheme that blends all those contrasting colors with such subtlety that they seem to dissolve into a green haze that floats in front of the wall plane. Not only that, the main banking room is lit with a pair of gigantic arched windows of golden yellow & white glass, and at night the room glows with the light from four immense electroliers that hang from the corners of the room, fixtures in the form of gigantic clusters of sea green foliage & coiling, intertwined stems, all studded along their length with electric light bulbs. And don't forget the honey-colored Roman bricks on the walls, the intricately molded paster ceiling ai more tinys of green, the green terra cotta moldings, the bronze teller cages or the green marble counters. What's amazing was that this incredibly rich scheme was designed not for a sophiticated city audience but for a small-town farming community, where the people in line were likely to be standing in muddy boots & dirty overalls, and when he was designing for the really fancy people, it was amazing. But rather than intimidating the locals, it enobled them and their daily activities. Sullivan was a color genius, that's all I can say. After dinner I'll look up the description of his color scheme for the McVickers' Theatre here in the city, which, even as mere words on a page--the theatre was demolished decades ago--is one of the most striking combinations you'll ever see.

White cabinets, shaker style, subway tile backsplash, lots of drawers, one large sink, intelligently placed prep sink, island in contrasting colour/stain, stainless appliances. I reading more of a mix for counters - granite still predominates, but man-made quartz quite popular here, as is marble of course. And there are a few of us here pushing the white/grey quartzite option too. Could Redroze's kitchen be the "IT" gardenweb kitchen?? I think overall the popular trend here is light, clean and classy. The most popular elements seem to be building blocks for what some people are calling a 'transitional' kitchen - essentially contemporary (in a temporal sense) with nods to tradition and a touch of modern design. It is a pretty, cheerful and bright mix altogether I think. On the no upper cabinets issue - this definitely isn't a major trend here on GW. But, having said that, I think it is a natural part of that same light, clean airy kitchen that seems to be the prototype. In certain (many) kitchens storage demands means that uppers are a necessity - but you sure see a lot of glass and white uppers, another way of keeping the room open and airy feeling. On the dust issue for shelving in "no-uppers" kitchen, it depends. I have a wall with no uppers, with two shelves. I put frequently used glasses and bowls etc. on the shelf, plus a few display items that would have been out elsewhere in any case. At most it adds 90 seconds to my weekly (or biweekly) dusting regime, so a non-issue I think. Now I have seen pictures of kitchens with nothing but open shelves - that would be a dust nightmare I think. Interesting thread for sure!

Did you end up doing the magnetized chalkboards in your kitchen? That's how we "chatted" -- you were interested in mine. (I have the all-white kitchen with lots of white marble and the two magnetized chalkboards on either side of our fridge and freezer, if that rings a bell.) Listen, don't sell yourself short! 2,400 square feet is a lot of flooring and (to be redundant) a lot of cleaning. I can see how rugs mightn't be tops on your list .... That being said, last weekend on HGTV's Find Your Style they did a Craftsman living room and used this rug in the Jewel colorway from Room & Board: It's definitely a modern goose on Craftsman style and unfortunately, none of these photos do it justice but in the episode it looked wonderful! from the episode: I don't know how much you want to do True Mission, and (caveat) I really like like a modern twist thrown in to keep it fresh and current, but what about a leather Moroccan rug or a Turkish kilim? Warning: you could be lost for days searching for those! (there are so many and it can become positively addictive -- I started to look for you but snapped to when two year-old Li'l Bit demanded a cuddle) This is the vase I got from etsy, just so you can see what I was thinking: I know you just hung the pictures in your stairwell, but do you think you could hang both of them together? I like them but think, in the photo, they appear kind of lost. In my mind's eye if hung together they wouldn't look so salt & pepper. (Don't change the one by the lamp, however!) Have a wonderful tapas party this Friday!