Bee, Crape myrtle murder is a very common (unfortunately!) practice of repetitively topping crape myrtles year after year, leaving horribly scarred branches that look worse and worse over time. It is incredibly common in places like mall or shopping center parking lots. When new homeowners buy a place with a crape myrtle or plant one in their yard, they often copy that type of pruning because they've seen it so often they think it must be the correct way to prune crape myrtles. Horticulturalists have been fighting the practice of crape murder for at least a couple of decades, but not many people seem to be listening to them. I can't remember where Tim and I were last week, but we actually were in a parking lot where the crape myrtles had not been murdered, and they looked so much better with their natural shape, as opposed to the crape murdered ones, which often have a sort of bonsai-looking top on otherwise normal looking multiple trunks. I'll link an article by one widely-respected Texas horticulturalist, Greg Grant, but you can find a million more with similar info by googling. When you look at the photos in his article, you'll see where the branches have been cut in the same place year after year. When the branches are cut, the plants put out new growth just beyond that cut, and then the murderous pruners come and cut back at the same spot the next year and the next, and the tree keeps putting out new growth. Eventually you get the scarred-looking branches as the photos show. Gardening is a process in which you never stop learning and I think the easiest way to learn it is just by doing it. Reading about it endlessly will put a lot of info in your head, but a lot of the time, that info isn't very helpful until you've encountered a situation where you put what you read into use. You never stop learning and you never stop finding new techniques or better techniques that suit whatever situation you're dealing with.You do something and you learn from it either way....either you learn it works and that you like it and that you'll use that technique again in the future. Or, you learn it doesn't work as well as you'd hoped, or you think there's a better way, so the next time you try something different. Eventually you will discovered you have found what works best for you with the plants you have in your soil, your location, your climate, etc. Then, if you are like most Americans, at some point you move and start all over again with different soil, different plants and a different location, and then you have to figure out what works best there where you are with what you have. I think all that learning keeps gardeners' brains and bodies young. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Greg Grant Article on Crape Myrtles

I like the way they look hanging straight as in the last picture. However, if possible, I would shorten the rod a little. There's a little more rod beyond curtain than I like to see. You've done a great job keeping up with our suggestions and getting back with pictures! I think there is a rule of thumb for that but I don't know what it is, probably about 3".

I'm a novice at naming styles (the usual limits of my decorating vocabulary have been "that's nice") but if I were to give it a shot I would call the buffalo check a western/country/rustic/log cabin look. I think your names for your usual style are pretty good - French, traditional, also maybe formal, a bit dressy. For me, those styles don't have an intersection point with each other, but maybe for other people they do. At the moment with those drapes in the living room, it strikes me like wearing sweat pants and high heels together. That is to say, some people do it, but that doesn't make it a good thing :-) The valance at the "ledge" strikes me as good whatever you do to cover the window, because without it the window is so stark compared to the kitchen immediately adjacent. KarinL

Your layout is actually very similar to what I just did in my kitchen, with my island being smaller -- at about 4x7ft, and the space accordingly smaller. Works great for me, and I like your space! Moving the DW to the right of the sink is important, I agree. Another thought. I'd consider pushing your cleanup sink down the wall towards the right instead of centering it. When you design your cabinetry, you can center something lovely if you want a focal point there under what I am guessing is a window arch of some sort? (Maybe some special cabinetry stuff -- like a baking center . . .) Pushing that sink (and DW) down that wall will open up more nice prep/baking/etc space on that main wall and provide sink access closer to that entire right half of the kitchen. My sinks and cook top are laid out just about exactly as yours are now (except the DW on the right), and I generally use the island sink for cooktop water, etc. Only down side is that if you're making a mess by the cooktop, you do have to drag all those sloppy onion peels, etc either across the aisle to the island or a ways down the counter. Works OK for me, but something to consider. IMHO, your "work triangle" that is drawn should include the prep sink instead of the clean up sink . .. so, your work triangle is actually quite compact, so I wouldn't worry that the clean up sink moving right would make it too long/big. Depending on what that arch feature is on that sink/DW wall . . . have you considered swapping the sink and cooktop locations? The sink could be under a window looking out to the screen porch (and beyond), and the cooktop could be the focal point on that big wall. It might be nice to have the cooktop further away from your fridge (if it's as busy as mine is! My fridge is in a different location than yours, so that's not an issue for me.) If you did that, you could move the prep sink to the back right corner of the island instead of the back left.