ken -adrian - "shutters would be so down class on this house ... it would be like putting mudflaps on your mercedes ... lol ... yosemite sam mudflaps ... to boot .... " LOL so you don't think i should do shutters?? ==>>> yeah ... lol.. at least i got my point across ... i was just getting a hate on for mine earlier this week ... fighting wasps ... dirt accumulators ... PIA .... but not really an option to get rid of them.. on my house ... my only other usual thought ... is to scan the area... for similar houses... and steal ideas .... lol.. i have no shame ... you never know where you will pick up a color scheme.. not necessarily the colors you like/want .... but a scheme ... which is what we are talking about ... lastly.. as a hardcore gardener ... to my eye... you have ... another cliche.. a million dollar house.. and a thousand dollar landscape ... based on the height of the house.. and the prominence of the portico [the word i could not come up with yesterday] ... you have no vertical accents in the landscaping ... off to the left.. if you had some trees/conifers that had potential to grow skyward.. and echo the portico .... it would help anchor the house.. to the lot .... IMHO .... and it is complicated ...by the sidewalk to the garage ... because you cant plant anything of size near the garage.. where i would prefer to .... i cant see your pic because i already hit preview.. and my computer is going nuts.. because i have to do an update .... will finish this later ... wait.. one final thought.. that house doesnt look that old... i wonder why they needed to slap paint on it.. for sale??? ... any idea.. perhaps your location??? good luck ken

lyfia - Thanks. Even my mood is brighter when working in my new kitchen : ) mab1964 - I'm really glad we added the glass on the cabs above the peninsula. To save money, we only did glass on 4 of the 8 doors. We chose to do glass on the 2 outer doors on the outside portion of the cabs (facing the family room). We did glass on the 2 inner doors for the portion facing the inside of the kitchen. See pics below. I feel like the glass adds a nice dimension and gives variety and lightens up the feel a lot so your eye doesn't only see wood. Another modification we made from the original over peninsula cabs...the new cabs are not quite as tall & a little less in length as well. This modification opened up the area a little and I still feel the cabinet space is sufficient. Now, when standing in the kitchen and talking to someone who's standing on the outside of the peninsula, I don't feel like the cabs are such a distraction like the old ones were. hisgal - Thanks. I like my faucet with one handle very much! My old faucet had one handle, although it wasn't exactly the same as this new one. So, it didn't take much getting use to. Below is a pic of my old faucet...so sad looking. I learned from people on this site that ceramic disc valves and solid brass construction are important features to look for when buying a faucet. drarc - Any ideas about what kind of backsplash you may want to use in your kitchen? Dal Tile has a nice showroom in Anaheim. The public can look, but they sell to contractors. Will your kd be involved with the backsplash? If not, you might want to check out Anaheim Stone Works (2020 E. Howell Ave, Suite F). They use Dal Tile and are located right across the street from them. Anaheim Stone Works did our granite and they probably do backsplashes, as well. We were very pleased with them. ngng - Thanks for the nice comments : ) I was finally able to view the slideshow of your beautiful new kitchen! When I picked on your link, I got a black screen (even after waiting a few minutes). Then, I tried picking directly onto one of your pics in your post...and I got it!! All of your colors go so well together. I especially like the message center, granite & backsplash & the decorative plate displayed in the corner..so pretty : ) You did an amazing job on everything! Old Faucet : ( New Faucet : )

It's the 'land of counterpane' for me. It's a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson involving books, and a bed. I love reading in bed, especially my decorating books, so will pile several on the bed and browse thru them for whatever inspiration I might need at the moment. I have several books written by Oklahoma designer Charles Faudree, who could make my heart sing from the very first page! His 'speciality' was French Country and since i'm also very drawn to the style, it was just a matter of time before I would 'meet' him thru his books. Unfortunately Mr. Faudree passed away a few years ago, but left us 'inspiration beyond belief' thru the pages of his books. Although he is my *very* favorite, I have a 'collection' of almost 200 books on everything from architecture to gardening, as well as eveything in between, aka, wallpaper, fabrics, hardware, antiques, landscaping, lighting, upholstery, draperies, etc. You can never have TOO many decorating books.....or magazines. ;)

Hi Houzz! You've been saving me professionally for years - helping me find contractors, designers and vendors across the country for a slew of home renovation shows that I produce. Now I'm in the midst of my biggest project yet - my first houzz! It's a nearly 100-year-old home in Oak Park, IL, just outside of Chicago. Trust me, it took a lot of convincing to get me to leave the city, but this house is worth it! A turn key dream home was never in the cards for us. My husband is a Landscape Architect and I've developed an appreciation for design over the years, so when it was time to find our house, the more the house needed us, the more we needed the house. Aka - bring on the ugly, poorly planned, never-updated house! We've owned our new home for 3 weeks and have been going full speed ahead - new roof, refinishing flooring throughout, removing decades of wallpaper, installing all new HVAC...etc. The list goes on forever. We've never hustled so hard to make a project work. Our original plan was to do the project in phases, but with a 4-year-old and a 4-month-old we're realizing that living in dust just isn't an option. We've been able to stretch our budget and use our resources to get pretty far... but we're at a standstill with the Master Bathroom. It's original and it's small and has TONS of potential to be opened up into a great space. We even locked in the design after I posted to the Houzz Design Dilemmas and got some great feedback. On one hand, we're already breaking down walls and have all of the right people in the house to get the job done, so we want to go for it. On the other hand, our budget is so tight at this point, we're not sure we can afford the fixtures and tile and fun things that would go into the bathroom and make it ours. We're really hoping our Ideabook can become our reality - but we need help! Rachel Fobes (contact information is in email I sent to casting)