Hi Sooz -- I happen to love the kind of tile you had; I grew up in a 30s house with strongly-colored tiles in that pattern carried around the room. So while there are many, many options out there I sure wouldn't rule out a variation on the theme. One thing re your window -- have you really checked to make sure there's no rot around the window or into the walls? Because now would certainly be time to replace things. We're wrapping up our bath reno so I do have some photos of what we did plus a few inspiration photos I can share -- none are exactly what you're looking for but some have the elements you mentioned. If you're committed to just keeping the tile in the shower/tub area vs carrying it around the room, I think keeping things simple is probably best. Simple can be serene and gorgeous! Good luck with your project! 6x6 Tile on the diagonal (inspiration pic) Think this is 4x4 field, with grout blending in (inspiration pic) Contrasting grout (inspiration pic) More rustic approach to grid, with wide grout lines (insp. pic) Know it's tough to see -- white 4x4 grid, window (insp. pic) ********** My bath, Before shot (ceiling dropped to 6' over last 1/3 of tub) My almost-done bath (1905 house), done in DalTile's pale yellow 6x6 in a running bond vs grid pattern My bath, window area -- we removed double-hung and did a tiled-in aluminum below, awning window above

How shallow is your shallow pantry? 12"? With overlay doors, that makes it 13" deep. If you're using 24" deep cabinets, your island will be 27" wide, not 24" because of the counter overhang (standard 1.5" on all sides). Even a CD fridge will extend beyond the counters 3-4". A standard depth (SD) fridge can extend into the aisle as much as 10" beyond your perimeter counters. You wrote that you don't like to shop. Are you okay with the reduced storage space a CD fridge offers? So for your 12' wide room, you need to factor in a 27" island, a 13" deep pantry cab, a 30" fridge (inc. box, door required air space behind it, not handles) to know how much aisle space you'll really have. 144" (12' width) 30" (CD fridge, with required air space behind it and door, not handles) 27" island 13" pantry cab (12" depth plus 1" for door) ---- 74" left over for aisles or 37" for each aisle That is less than NKBA recs of 42" aisles for a one-cook kitchen. Some GWers do have narrower aisles but generally only one aisle is as little as 36" with other aisles wider, which is actually in line with NKBA specs (at least one aisle should be 42"). Additionally, it could be tricky maneuvering the fridge in and out of its cab. If you end up with a standard depth (SD) fridge, an island plan won't work. To give you enough room in front of the fridge, you'd have to shrink the aisle between island and pantry cabs to about 29". Before you decide on a lay-out, I think you really need to determine how much storage you need (esp. how large a pantry) and what type of fridge you will get.

Good point Lavender. Now that you point that out, as a guest, I'd feel more encouraged to help myself to the closet if it wasn't full of personal belongings. To you, which one is the bigger bathroom ?? I think they are all aprox the same size and just configured differently. I remember when you were working on your big working pantry years ago. I'd love to see what your house wound up looking like. I assume it's been posted, if so, can you share your link? Red, you just gave me an in between idea. I could take up less room and have a closet with less depth that has pegs in it and space for some other items guest may want (a wrap to sit outside, or some slippers if their shoes happen to be muddy ---hey, I can hope for no drought, right?) Awww, thanks for the compliment on my plans. Scottie, thanks! I will definitely post the after pictures. They are breaking ground tomorrow morning so it will be a while. Soon we will be tackling my kitchen storage, so stay tuned for more postings :) If we do a bench, I think I like your idea of the trunk so we could store some more things So far we have one vote for the second to the last photo ...

Thanks! The old dining set is not comfortable without cushions. I hate leaving cushions out because they get dirty fast, but such a process to bring them out and put them away. Plus our dogs are all over us so we typically clean up fairly quickly after eating. I hadn’t thought about it but the 36” height may help with the dogs. I think the bar height is too tall because of the dangling feet issue. They do make counter chairs with backs and that may be better than the backless. That’s a good point. The adirondacks are great because they are comfortable without cushions. Hoping this set will be the same. What color do you think would work best with the Adirondack chairs?