it's lap rugs for me this year- some of them are real simple- made my parents matching ones out of blue fleece with a blue and white fringed border some of them aren't- I just really got started on a run of crazy-quilt pieces decidated to useing up the four or five garbage bags full of wool and upholstry-weight fabric in my attic (the boss cleans house seasonally, and has gotten into the habit of bagging her scraps, rather than throwing them away :) other than that- I'm giving away a load of pottery that I got for helping a potter friend empty out her mom's house and put the estate sale together. she's since given me things that fit the decor of OUR house better, so I'm giving away everything else :) and DH wants to bake cookies for all the people in his office...though it's hard enough to get him to reheat the gumbo for dinner, so we'll see about that ;)

It took me multiple readings of this thread to understand your room's dimensions and obstacles but I think I finally got it. Think being the operative word here. I'm sure I missed something. ;-) Anyhoo, it seems to me that the biggest hurdle you face is having too many interruptions on each length of wall. I agree that if at all possible, the DR hutch and built-in ex-ironing board cab should be kept. And it seems a shame not to take advantage of those recesses on each side of the DR hutch. So I turned my attention to the opposite wall and and played with the idea of moving the doorway from the outer room into the kitchen. I realize this means moving utilities and all that but it might be cost effective if it means you don't need to do as much customization of cabinetry in your kitchen. I just checked and with a few minor tweaks, you can make this plan work with Ikea cabinets. This is what I came up with: The outer room will be on large space, a mud room with utilities (behind doors), W/D and whatever else you want to keep out there. Moving the door down to the end gave me enough room to put the fridge, DW, sink and range all in one section of your kitchen, creating a very efficient work zone for 1 cook. The fridge is slightly recessed into the wall so that it's bulk is less obvious. The DR hutch is bordered by 2 pull-out pantry cabs with a shallow cabinet between them. You could mimic the DR hutch, giving a nod to your home's past. It also gives you a decent section of shallow counter to set down bags of groceries or a place for small appliances such as toaster, coffee maker, etc. You can fit the GE spacemaker MW above (it fits in a 12" deep upper cabinet). You could also make this section standard depth, sitting slightly proud of the pantry cabs on either side. You'd still have a 49.5" aisle, which will help your smallish space feel less squished. As someone above suggested, I moved the ex-ironing board cabinet. I shifted it over towards the window, next to the range so that it can continue its life as your spice cabinet (love this!). With all the storage on the DR hutch wall, I think that you just might be able to go without upper cabinets elsewhere, which will also help your kitchen feel spacious. You can fill in the old doorway space with an interior window - fixed or working, your choice. If the view isn't nice but you want the light, put in a real or fake stained glass window or other type of obscure glass. Or you can just make it a wall. Note: aisle measurement is counter edge to counter edge. I assumed a 1.5" counter overhang.

We installed a couple of fireplace walls w/IslandStone Rice White Craft Line stone tile and some of them have a yellow stain on them! What is the best way to clean them?

You'll need to look away from the big box stores if you want specialty tile that looks really good. Tilebar has a lot of those tiles, but some seem to be a little better quality than HD. (and some tiles are used by both places) I did a bath remodel for my neighbor and they wanted to use the Bella tiles on the back wall. I used the 3x12 subways in a stacked pattern on the other walls https://www.tilebar.com/bella-picasso-blanco-8x8-porcelain-tile.html I love the Bella Tate in the soft pinks and golds. w/rose gold hardware, a soft wood vanity, and this gorgeous pink tile done in a herringbone, (below some other floor tiles) I think it would look stunning. Not into pink? then do the same thing in any of the other 20 diff colors! https://www.tilebar.com/collection/tile-mosaic-collections/bella.html https://www.tilebar.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=+morrocan+tile if you want authentic, look at Zellige tiles or try CleTile. they were used here on this shower tile Or, Fireclay tile has the moroccan look down pat. this is Justina Blakeneys bathroom this is my own shower. I used black/white cement tiles for my 'plant wall', and black marble for the shower floor this is a similar style done w/a smaller shower. You will get a ton more choices of colors and pattern if you go w/encaustic tiles. tilebar has these Sasha Hex tiles in this blue green shade that works w/your first tile https://www.tilebar.com/sasha-hex-blue-green-6-porcelain-hexagon-tile.html you could use it outside the shower on the floor or try something like this: https://www.tilebar.com/portmore-aqua-4x4-glazed-ceramic-tile