Well, kitchen is now packed, not counting the stuff we will use the next few days but that is condensed to small groupings. I don't have a lot of cabinets and they are not big, but I must be a master magician to have fit so much in them. Each time I'd empty a cab, I am convinced that the contents expanded when exposed to light ;) I threw out a bunch of stuff and did my best to keep it moving. I am now soaking the hamstring I pulled and waiting for the Advil to kick in. I asked our 7.5 y.o. about the symbols on the wall and he admitted he did it. He did not know what they meant but knew they were "German". My mother is German and came to the US as an adult, so how do we explain how awful some of those people were yet not everyone? We told him that it was not a good symbol and was used by some very bad guys who just happened to be from Germany and to never do it again. We also said he'd be kicked out of school if he ever drew that again and the school found out. He looked shocked. He said he saw it on the back of a school bus seat, so I will be calling the school in the a.m.. I am quite proud that I only found 1 instance of "poo" written on the wall (although he did manage 4 swastikas when my back was turned). I think with how worn out I am looking today, the crew would not even want a show from me, lol. I wonder if they take bets on how long it takes for the wife on each project to go from cute to scary. I am moving along the scale rapidly. The first few days, I had makeup on before they came. By today, I let the hammering wake me up, lol. When we were at the bus stop this a.m., our other son asked me if I ever picked up our 2nd a/c from the store. Turns out, it slipped our minds and the store forgot to call and remind us. We took one home and the other was due in later that week (in Aug). I was happy to cross it off the to do list and just moved on. Funny that dh & I did not notice but our almost 9 y.o. did... Luckily, it was still in the warehouse so dh got it today. I keep hearing Billy Joel in my head.. "so much to do and only so many hours in the day"..... Thanks weed, I forgot we have tarps I could use instead. It would be better to use a larger sheet with fewer seams. To illustrate how tired I was earlier, I went to the garage to hit my emergency chocolate stash. I got to the doorway to go to the garage or bsmt and forgot why I was there. I can't believe I forgot chocolate in the 15 seconds it took me to walk towards it. I think I have hit my quota of reno stories and would like smooth sailing with boring updates from here on out. Our gc and his bro (co-gcs) have turned out to be quite nice to work with so I think we got lucky in that regard. Tomorrow's list includes finishing up the living room, dining room and emptying our coat closet. That will leave the weekend for setting up in the bsmt, packing the bathrooms and moving our bed down and furniture into the boys' room. One day at a time...

@Chessie The irony is that we actually don't even take baths! The default option was a built-in bathtub surrounded by a rectangular tiled edge, and I knew we'd be bonking our knees and calves into the corners every time we walked into our closets. Similar to this one: So we upgraded to a freestanding just so we could avoid the bruises! Though looking at it now that it's installed, it kind of makes me want to take a bath after all.

Joe, I would trust you with my life. However...(ha...) I had Corian installed as a replacement counter in a house I owned about a million years ago now. And I could not believe the mess that created! It seemed like there was dust, random particles of unknown crap, and tiny bits of drywall debris all over the place...including in every top drawer I had and all over my silverware. If you saw you can install a countertop without making that huge of a mess, I believe you. However, you and I both know the average countertop installer out there is not nearly as attentive to details as you are. I actually took it as a good sign that they asked her to remove top drawers and cover contents - it means they're at least aware of the fact that they're going to make a mess. LOL.

I think one reason you are feeling like there's a lot of black is that you have railings on both sides. One curves around on the back wall and creates a LOT of stripey contrast there compared to your inspiration photos. It's hard to see from your photos what the options are, but if the right hand rail could be rebuilt to just go to the corner of the wall, you would have a plain white wall as background. Also, you have a horizontal stripe in the upper left of the stair from the plant shelf. Maybe painting that to match the wall would eliminate another point of contrast.