Homepro, thanks for the ideas! I love ideas! But shudder I can't wait to get rid of my peninsula. It's worse than an island :) Ah!, but here I see our miscommunication :) The brown rectangles are supposed to represent furniture (wood) and the yellow circles are chairs or stools (upholsery), where as the cabinets are gray (crosshatching) and the uppers are transparent gray. :) Surface appliances are white, and undercounter ones are under the gray, and the transparent red is the hood. The brown rectangle is a table which is 100% moveable, and which will probably be smaller. I drew the largest rectangle I could fit :) In my very first layout (which is remarkably similar to the latest one except for the pantry solution) I tried a small island with a small table tucked under it. It fit, and I considered the of reviving it, but I do so like the idea of the whole floor space being open, rather than confined! It leaves room for 4 people to sit and eat fairly comfortably rather than squeezed in, oh, let's sit in the dining room already. I like the sounds of surfboard and round islands :) I like my table better, but I like the way you think! The style will likely be hybrid. I'm leaning toward Euro style frameless cabinets (not having talked to the cabinet maker in detail yet), with slab doors. With a farm table :) My house isn't old, but it has a kind of N.O. style. Originally I was thinking white to pick up on that, but I don't think I want painted cabinets. I haven't really shopped sinks yet. Thanks for the mention. The size can change when I can touch some :) I do like my current 48" sink a lot, but it's rather massive. I was thinking of a single bowl sink with an offset drain. In the above plan the work wall counter is 27" deep and I might push it to 30". If so, I think I'd like to put a drainer behind the sink. It's the kind that's like a strip of overgrown colander steel and connects to the drain pipe. Then I could set my produce colander there to drain, instead of balanced on the waste bowl in the current sink, and put cutting boards and baking sheets to drip there. I do that anyway, but that leads to puddles :) If I do that, I'll do an in counter knife holder too, behind the dishwasher. I haven't really shopped the hood yet. Just read threads and rooted around online Some of it will depend on the cooktop I end up with so there's no point in getting too far into it before then. It has to vent out the wall since there's no ducting up through the second storey. The Abbaka looks a lot like what I have now, though I don't remember the name -- I bought what could be made to fit in a bad location :) Re the Gaggs, it was an appliance salesman who'd been to Gaggenau training sessions and was spouting the party line who said the 15" controls could be deck mounted, and it's just logical. I assume the same for the Cooktek, which also has the front mount controls. It's just that you have to have enough clearance for safety. I don't know if 4" is enough. BTW, have you looked at the Wolf wok burner? It has surface mounted knobs. If I do the four part Gagg top it'll have to be with the front knobs for space. Likely the same if I get some Gagg or Cooktek and some other parts. Looks isn't top importance to me (others choose the range because they like the knobs), but lining up the danged knobs is one thing I'd like to do. I'm hoping to get more information at a distributor this week or next. I'll let you know.

Firstly, your room is beautiful, serene and live able just as it is! I love every single thing about it. My suggestions for it--- although you know I have different inclinations with respect to color and accessorizing :) ----are these: Move the table back behind the long axis of the sofa. Do a few taller, substantial lamps (maybe with metal or ceramic bases as a contrast to the wood? Or perhaps blue and white Chinese export porcelain ginger jar lamps in a large scale?) on it that would give task reading light to someone on the sofa at night or on a dark day. And have you tried the small chairs on top of that table? As to the corner, I agree that the bookcase from your former house is too formal (but it is completely fabulous!). The sewing table is too small. We had a similar problem situation in Florida. The kids need a computer, but they also need, or will need, a place to write as they're reading on the Internet, particularly for essays and term papers. One kid with schoolbooks needs the same amount of room as three kids :) We solved this with a custom table (not expensive, there are places you just pick the top and legs, and you could do a distressed (or not) gray or white or taupe or a wood of your liking. It was NARROW-- about 20 inches--- and very wide, so they could all sit in a row or one could spread out the books laterally. You could then use two or three of those armless blue leather chairs from your previous home, if they would fit, or get inexpensive leather parsons chairs if they won't. I love the pale rug! A "winter" rug with blues and reds might be a nice change....maybe a very worn out Persian. Finally, you can get a custom runner from Maslan or Stark carpets. I would not have separate ones sewn together as they will wear differently at the seams. Stark has some lovely patterns in blue and white or cream that look sort of rustic but not at all country, iykwim.

Gosh, I'm just a lurker on this forum but I've got to chime in on this conversation! My pet peeve is the misuse of literally. Literally means that something actually, truly, in fact occurred. So people saying things like "I was so angry my head literally exploded" always makes me wonder 1) who had to clean up that unfortunate mess and 2) how the speaker managed to either patch that shattered head together or procure a new one that looks completely normal. I'm a Southerner myself and I know people who put their clothes in a chester drawers. They try to avoid running over porky-pines. And they certainly dread nuc-uh-lar warfare (personally I've always cynically assumed Bush is attempting to talk Texan when he uses that phrase). And while I"m here the 'needs washed/painted' phrasing grates on me like no other mis-locution. It gives me the instant impression of someone too lazy to complete a sentence at best or totally ignorant of how to speak correct English at worst.

I completely share your pain with having to be treated as if you and SD are the same person to your husband/her dad. In my own situation, the cynic in me started to feel like I was my BF's daughter as well...because when he would show affection to me he would turn around and show affection to her. It's as if he didn't want her to feel left out. But what he didn't realize was that he was leaving me out (or at least that is how I interpreted it). I have an 8 year old son and we are very close. But he knows that my relationship with my BF is drastically different from my relationship with him. I don't kiss my boyfriend and then turn around and kiss my son so that he doesn't feel left out. Most men cannot distinguish between the fine lines of these types of relationships. Just yesterday, she made a comment to her dad "Well, your girlfriend is going to get all glammed up for you. I want to get my nails done too." So he gave her $40 and we both went to the same salon and got our nails done. Before leaving, her dad pulled me aside and asked if I would get the french manicure because he really thinks it looks chic and classy. I told him absolutely. His daughter (like most teens do) always got designs, bright colors, etc. but when we got to the salon, she asked if she could get the french mani done. And nothing is wrong with that. It's just that it's annoying to us. We are letting her behaviour and his get the best of us. Is this because we feel like an outsider...like she will be around for the duration but he can drop us like a hot potato. Does this mean that you and I are insecure? Maybe. But what it shouldn't mean is anything at all having to do with their behaviour as questionable or incestuous. He has lived this part of his life with her as the only other FEMALE. So naturally, the lines are incredibly blurred for the both of them (my BF and his daughter) (your husband and his daughter) for whatever reasons there are (and most times dad only explains it as being over protective of his little girl). But what starts to happen innocently enough is that the two have a relationship that mimics the ones that grown ups have without the physical part but certainly flutters on the psychologically romantic overtures but moreso just a pretty normal relationship between one person and another. Like fixing breakfast for the other, going out to dinner, going out to the movies, talking about cars, talking about sports, sharing the bathroom, washing the laundry, going on vacations, etc. The reason that I believe the trend is not to call us "Step" anylonger, is that it means that we are stepping in, replacing, barging, changing things, pushing away. It will take time (the same goes for me) to see that their relationship isn't salacious and questionable but that it's the only way these kinds of dads know how to treat their daughters. It only becomes wrong when we start making it wrong, when we step in and try to change things and not let their relationship exist and grow and mature. Yes, it is a juggling act to turn our feelings on and off and to not let things like, getting the same presents or surface affection (like hugs and kisses on the cheek or forehead)annoy us. But that is all that it is...an annoyance to us. It doesn't mean that dad prefers his daughter over you and we certainly shouldn't be thinking of it that way or in any way at all. What it means is that the daughter hasn't grown out of this attention seeking and re-assurance stage with dad and also that no one (namely dad) has taught her or steered her in a direction that shows that she is still a priority for him but that he has other priorities as well which are just as important to him. He doesn't want to feel guilty and inasmuch as she wants to be the apple of his eye, he too wants to be her hero and someone that she looks up to. It's up to you to find your middle ground, pick your battles and make yourself understand that your relationship is as beautiful as you believe it to be...but don't live in a fantasy land. If you let them flourish they (especially the daughter) will come to appreciate you. At least this is what I'm trying to do in my own situation.