Just a response to a couple of folks that had comments or questions directed to me. Don't want to hijack the thread, but since it seems to be completed, perhaps no one will mind. NCamy: we're almost neighbors, as our lake house is 1-1/2 hours west of Asheville, on a lake that is better known for the river rafting provided by the dam on our lake. I'm sure you can guess which one. Asheville is one of my favorite haunts. Mindstorm: Thanks for the compliments on the DR chairs and library desk. The dining room chairs (and table) were made by a local craftsman in Asheville, NC - Jan Derr of Placeways Studio. Their design was a collaboration between Jan, our architect and interior designer. The desk in the library is my favorite piece of furniture in the entire house. It was made by Brian Fireman of Tryon, NC. I cannot recommend Brian highly enough - fantastic craftsman. I agree 100% with Fori that restraint is key in designing an arts and crafts home to keep it from looking like a cliched imitation of the real thing. I love each and every one of the kitchens posted by Garden Web members, but some of those others above are just over the top, overdone. Lastly, Powertoolpatriot (the OP): I still have a clipping from the Winter/Spring issue of Style 1900 Magazine that lists the features that "if you choose from these features, you'll end up with a kitchen you won't regret thirty minutes or several years later" at least according to the author of this article (I think it was Jane Powell based on a credit on the other side of the page). Although this topic has been debated ad nauseum on this forum, and I don't agree with all of the list, I'm happy to mail this to you if you will send me your USPS mailing address (my email address is on my member page - yours is not). Good luck and be sure to post your kitchen when it is done (she says shamed faced, not having posted her own kitchen...).

Walkin Yesindeed, a reporter once asked Louis Sullivan the same basic question you just asked me, and got back one of Sullivan's typical cryptic responses: "I would describe it as the successful solution of a problem." Thanks a lot, Louis. Big help. And when somebody else asked Sullivan to describe the style of the Auditorium's own decoration, he said "I would prefer not to describe it at all. I would perfer for you to look at it yourself and make up your own mind." Let's just say that Sullivan would have gotten himself eliminated on the first round of something like "Design Star" that are less about design ability or artistic vision and more about personality & sense of humor. And those things are fine, but they have nothing to do with design. Anyway, here's the thing: like I said above, most of Sullivan's mature work was on major commissions: the Auditorium, the Chicago Grand Opera House, the Chicago Stock Exchange, department stores, banks, railway stations. After Adler & Sullivan becamse famous with the opening of the Auditorium, he seldom designed anything as small as a residence again, and most of the residential designs that came out of the office were in fact Wright's, or George Elmslie's, with Sullivan directing the overall design & the ornamental detailing. Even in this somewhat limited role, it was his vision that determined the aesthetic form of the finished buildings and the look that we think of as Sullivanian, in the same way that Fritz Kreisler & George Solti & Daniel Barenboim put their individual stamps on the sound of the Chicago Symphony, even though they weren't the ones playing all the instruments. Unfortunately, since Sullivan didn't really do residences, and never furnished the interiors of the houses that came out of the A&S offices, we have to look at his other buildings to find what motivated him, but it's not hard to see. In a letter to a banker client, he talked of the decorative scheme of the interior as a 'color symphony' and he wasn't kidding: the finished banking room has literally dozens of intermingled colors, mostly soft greens, yellows & oranges. It also has an elaborate stenciling scheme that blends all those contrasting colors with such subtlety that they seem to dissolve into a green haze that floats in front of the wall plane. Not only that, the main banking room is lit with a pair of gigantic arched windows of golden yellow & white glass, and at night the room glows with the light from four immense electroliers that hang from the corners of the room, fixtures in the form of gigantic clusters of sea green foliage & coiling, intertwined stems, all studded along their length with electric light bulbs. And don't forget the honey-colored Roman bricks on the walls, the intricately molded paster ceiling ai more tinys of green, the green terra cotta moldings, the bronze teller cages or the green marble counters. What's amazing was that this incredibly rich scheme was designed not for a sophiticated city audience but for a small-town farming community, where the people in line were likely to be standing in muddy boots & dirty overalls, and when he was designing for the really fancy people, it was amazing. But rather than intimidating the locals, it enobled them and their daily activities. Sullivan was a color genius, that's all I can say. After dinner I'll look up the description of his color scheme for the McVickers' Theatre here in the city, which, even as mere words on a page--the theatre was demolished decades ago--is one of the most striking combinations you'll ever see.

Purplepansies Blue Louise--I love the combination of the copper brown and the blue. Florantha Starry Night--Good job finding swirly tile. I tried this exercise, but was stumped searching for swirly tile. I love the dark blue drapes. Purplepansies Approaching Thunder Storm--Oooh, I love the artwork! You did a great job of capturing the colors and the mood of the painting. I love the magma supreme granite. Honorbiltkit Vuillard--Also a beautiful painting, full of interesting details and patterns. You captured the color of the rug in the painting, and the painting you chose for your design does a great job of mimicking the painting in the painting. If that makes any sense. Palimpsest Vuillard--You also did a great job of capturing the colors of the painting, playing up the neutrals a bit compared to Honorbiltkit. The floor--is it Marmoleum?--mimics the colors of the rug. Style-wise, the table is unexpected, but I really like it in the design. Pricklypearcactus Lanadscape with Butterflies--I like the interplay of colors in your kitchen just as much as in the original painting. I just want to say how very much I've enjoyed this thread. I liked the artwork, I liked the kitchens, and I liked all the creative thinking that went into putting them together.

The tiles are 3x3. We bought them a number of years ago. I’m traveling for the next month and can’t look at the box for the manufacturer. The green tiles were relatively inexpensive. The cat tiles from the Moravian Pottery weren’t. But I only needed two.