I have no idea where my post went. I clicked submit post and the screen that came up was blank. No way to get back to it. I'll try to recap. Love the Crees. Get the correct color spectrum as they have at least two choices. They are quite bright. In our kitchen/family room we have 4 zones - they are placed approximately 4 feet apart in line, but the rows vary somewhat in distance apart. The dimmers aren't great, so I control the brightness by turning on and off zones. I wish that I had one extra control zone in the family room because you could land a plane in the FR with the available light from the crees. If I could turn off every third light in the FR it would be about right - although threre are times when I want all the light possible. Our light sources for the kitchen and family room are the 4 zones of CREEs, 3 pendants, hood light, under cab light and three 4 inch "wall washer" cans in the family room- not cree. We used the cree's through out the house wherever we added cans, and I am very happy with the led light. The five main observations would be: poor ability to dim light, (I don't care), brighter than regular cans - to me anyway, their 4" cans actually use a 6" housing - don't get fooled- check specs, buy the correct color spectrum- warm white vs blue light, add multiple zones to make dimming options greater. I think you'll really like them.

I'm sorry, I'm all over the place here. I had thought about hanging the Romans in the slider higher, but they're inside mount and short as it is. I never thought of running the casing higher *and* adding fabric above the romans to make them look taller. I'll have to see if we have some casing that's long enough to go the 4" higher and redo it. But DH kind of likes the sign in the middle of the 2 pictures so we may just keep that. So, leaving windows aside, let's try to see what we can do with furniture. Later I'll need help with artwork b/c as I said I never hung any in old house and we were there 14 years. Now, I really want the bay to be a focal point, original plan was to build in bookcases on either side and have a small table with 2 caned Victorian chairs in the bay. But reality (living with extended family nearby) hit and we realized we needed more seating so we bought sofa and loveseat (and then ottoman) instead of just a sofa. We put the tree in the bay at Xmas time. I'm thinking eventually I'd like a (shallow) windowseat there flanked by bookcases but that custom work won't happen until we replace the carpet oh, 10 yrs from now. So, DH and I moved the LS *into* the bay with the ottoman in front of it (also moved the Victrola in from the LR where it clashed with dark wood tables). What do you think? With the back almost against the windows, does it make it a focal point almost like a window seat might? Of course, I should have just saved the expense of putting in the single sill now since you can't even see it. Ah well, it will still be there when we get to do the window seat. We tried putting the LS at the kitchen end but it just closed off the room and was hard to get by the table & chairs (another unplanned but necessary purchase since we had at that time been living 3 months with no island countertop, eating off a folding table and folding chairs - it took 6 more months to get countertop and I still have to finish the last barstool).

We are removing soffits in our kitchen. The lighting for the counter area is currently in there. Once the soffits come out all we'd have is very high ceilings that are really part of the family room. So, we decided to build out ceiling from the kitchen so it extends to the countertop. We are hanging the pendends from that. May not be an option for you however. I'd like to hear what other have done with high ceilings.

Why chrome? You will find it last if you want "transitional" as it has fallen from favor.........for other finishes. However, you can also consider TWO only, linear shallow , and open. One Left and one right of sink Note the specs!!! especially " overall minimum hanging height" . In Chrome below. Again......note specs. A lot of light, and no obstructed view of hood, or anything else for that matter. Yes TWO and perfect sizing below You need width.........without height in the fixture body. That's the deal with eight foot ceilings. Actual Size: 14.25"Hx32"Wx9.75"D Backplate/Canopy Size: 14"Wx4.75"D Rectangular Bulb Base: US Candelabra-E12 Color: Chrome Downrods Included: (2) 3" (2) 6" (6) 12" Material: Glass, Steel Max Bulb Wattage: 60 Number of Lights: 5 Overall Height Max: 60 Overall Height Min: 18