B2alicia- Beautiful photos! You've really improved on what you started with and made it so inviting :) Gardenweed- Wonderful path! It's amazing how old/antique it looks...did you mortar the blocks? I would love to get a path like that for my mom's house. Your fence is so rustic and charming. Was it difficult to install? The fence, path and plants are just a beautiful combination. Tk- Focus on one area at a time and really do something you love. Sometimes, it's hard to ignore other areas, but mowed grass always looks nice and it gives you more time to focus on a few beds and really make them what you want. I think the hardest thing sometimes is realizing how much we can really take on AND maintain. Look at all my weeds this summer! LOL I have to realize there's only so much I can do and focus on those areas. Remember, you have almost 1 1/2 acres! It's going to take a little time to make it everything you'd like it to be...but I know you're going to get there...eventually :) Lois- Cute picture! It took me a minute to find your little visitor LOL. Pots can be hard to keep watered. I've had better luck with a few big pots of cosmos than smaller ones. I had a few large containers of petunias and star jasmine, with a really big cosmos container, by the front porch. They could easily go two even three days, before I had to water them again...and that was with 90 degree weather. Melissa- Have you ever thought of creating a potager? It doesn't have to be a big garden, but it's perfect for mixing roses and vegetables with other edibles. A rose in the middle, or several along the edge of the garden, or even on a couple of sides, will look beautiful with maybe blueberries and a few beds of veggies and herbs. Edible flowers are nice, too and bring in lots of "good" bugs :) There are a lot of beautiful pictures over on the potager forum, or just google potager.

Just watch head clearance, as in your head.

Twn85, do you have pictures of your final design? Would love to see it. Laughable, that may be an alternative. I definitely don't want to go shorter, as I am 5'9 and DH is 6'3. My only thing is that I'd have to add some granite to the left of the stove (where the current fridge is now, before the corner begins to make a peninsula) but maybe I could take what I'd be cutting out on the other side where the fridge would be moved? I don't know enough about granite to know if that's an option. Honestly I'd love new counters but even getting DH to consider any of this is enough of a challenge - he sees the square footage and thinks I'm crazy and high maintenance (okay, I AM but still) to even talk about putting money into an already "big" kitchen with upgrades. As for what I like to do in the kitchen - I'm a pretty much make-from-scratch cook. I am a SAHM and spend A LOT of time in the kitchen, either cooking, prepping or cleaning. I like having stations - baking, cooking, coffee, etc. I don't like a lot of appliances on the counter but I DO have a lot of heavy gadgets I'd want a spot in a cabinet or drawer for. There is a small TV in the corner of a countertop to give me company while I'm in there because I'm usually alone, although I'd LOVE to have (adult) company - other times, I have my small (ages 5 and 3) children to "help" out, and having a place for them to put their stools to spread out and pour ingredients is very good. The breakfast nook bugs me right now - the window seat is not currently there and the outside chairs are right in the walkway from the garage door into the FR. However, I'm not a big fan of stool seating b/c family dinners are really important at this stage in our lives. I know eventually the kids will need a place to do homework but if a sink goes at the peninsula, that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. One thing you may be able to see is the architect suggested cutting out that pantry cabinet and extending the archway that leads into the dining room. The purpose there would be to make that more of a breakfast room than formal DR and maybe put some comfortable chairs where the current breakfast nook is for conversation. A peninsula would block that idea, though, I think. After reading these responses, I've gotten to thinking. We currently have a temporary island where the suggested one would go. It's smaller and not as functional and I just assumed that functionality was what was missing. However, DH doesn't help me as often as he used to and now I'm starting to think it may be how tight the kitchen seems now, rather than him just trying to avoid any work (or miss my engaging and witty banter.)

Could you please post a larger version of the Kitchen and identify what each item is & the size? Is your sink really 66" wide and/or 2 sinks (it looks like two in the "picture" of the Kitchen)? If so, could you please explain why? Do you really need two DWs? Is this supposed to be a Kosher kitchen? Is that a table where it says "Family Room"? If so, do you really need two forms of seating so close to each other? It looks like you have a Dining Room as well, is that correct? Unless you have very long arms, your island should not be any deeper than 60". Most people can easily reach no more than 30" without straining, so anything deeper will be difficult to clean (reaching the middle of the island). Keep in mind the following for seating at an island (or peninsula): Each seat needs a minimum of 24" of linear space. So, to seat four people, your island will need to be at least 8' wide (96"). The minimum recommended seating overhang for short to average height people is 15" -- after accounting for any doors or decorative end panels on the cabinets under the overhang. (If you are a tall family, an 18" overhang would be better.) For cabinets under a seating overhang, I would not go any deeper than 18", and 12" to 15" would be better. Why? Because you have to squat/lean over & under to reach things inside a cabinet under an overhang and you will have trouble reaching into the depths of a cabinet much more than 15" or so deep. No drawer in the top half of those cabinets as well as the overhang will block access to the drawers from the top. Your island would be better as: 1.5" overhang in the front + 24"D cabinets + 15"D cabinets facing under the overhang + 1" for the cabinet doors (doors & drawer fronts are not included in cabinet measurements & they stick out another 1" or so from the front of the cabinets) + 15" overhang ======== 56.5" When considering the width of your island, be careful not to make the aisles around the island too shallow. Plan for 48-inch aisles around the three non-seating sides and 60" b/w the seating side and the table in the "Family Room". (Aisles are measured to/from the items that stick out into the aisle the farthest -- counter overhangs, appliance handles, etc. They are not measured to/from cabinets because, as I mentioned above, cabinet doors & drawer fronts are not included in the depths of cabinets. 24" is the depth of the cabinet box only, not the doors/drawer fronts. Counter overhangs aren't included in cabinet measurements either.)