You gals are sooo funny! Sure brightens up my days when I sign on here and get to laugh out loud at all your posts. ;o) Count me in on that group discount! Don't know what I am going to do when my DH retires in about 18 months and is hanging around the house more--guess I'll just bring my haul in and tolerate the questions and the rolling of the eyes! LOL I'm sure most of you know that look! Actually, since we are planning on spending more time in the motorhome then--my playing with dishes will probably decline for awhile--but maybe I will have a really good stash by then so it will be something to look forward to when we are at home. Luvs

Hi Flower mum & ems, I'm going to throw a spanner in the works here but.... You can paint a timber table. It sounds like yours is a French polish (7 coats of high lacquer over 3-4 coats of stain) Cherry Mahogany. You may find you have been addressed by the "more traditional" wood lovers and your husband being a man would think it sacriledge to sand timber. But.... consider before you purchase another expensive piece of glass! There are many ladies and men steering away from the heavy oppressive Victorian "Sullivan style look" and wanting a lighter, fresher, less odious look. I believe in your heart you wanted a light cheery more home living room, and the tables you looked at made your heart sing but the traditionalists with their "afraid of change" attitudes of platitude put you off. IF this is the case look thru dept stores. Get a catalogue from Nordic Style or similar stores and look at your dining room. Ask yourself! You! What is it I sm really wanting. Is it lighter, breezier charm and relaxed living? If so, tell hubby. Then either sell it on eBay or trading post and shop around fir your look thru the bargains there or compare the price of sanding and re surfacing. I personally have just spent 10 hours on removing dark Wenge chocolate surface to bleach and grey wash, then wax my table. IT CAN BE DONE! Those who think it will make your furniture tacky are afraid to venture out And their homes may be cold and formal. Consider what I said. My hubby Loves timber as do most men and he baulked at first but 2 years later He loves home and the simple light charm it carries. Gloom and doom tables are for unchanging lives. My humble opinion. Oh and my table was solid oak, looks so wonderful and light. Makes my heart sing. Which is what home is about. Red stains require much elbow grease to get out, though. Consider selling and re-furnishing in cheaper arenas like wealthy people who just re-decorate or who move overseas.... On eBay or the like. Signed: interior designer

So I had Roman Shades for almost 30 years and didn't know it. How weird is THAT? Mine were identical to the one's above but they were the color of the red in the floor. Therefore, I can't use them because I got sick of them. I really want cloth panels over the shades. They'll look pretty with the shades pulled halfway up. I'm thinking a small window pane check so it won't be too obvious and fight with the wallpaper in the adjoining room. Thankfully the wallpaper has a LOT of colors on it so I have a lot of options! But ixnay on the roman shades. Sorry. :(

Thanks again everyone! I was sort of underwhelmed finishing this one; partly because the "thrill" of remodeling isn't as great the 2nd time around, and partly because it didn't feel like a "new" kitchen because the cabinets and floors were basically the same. You all are helping remind me that it is a new space. And don't get me wrong, it's not that I think the kitchen doesn't look fancy, as but that's only b/c I put a few "bling" items in to make it look fancier than it is. The sparkly chandeliers, sink, and wood hood and backsplash (hopefully) draw the eye away from the older cabinets and older floors. Igloo, I think you could still pull off a farm sink. You'd LOVE it! Celticmoon, I thought the same thing about the FKB! What do you do when you have 2 kitchens listed under your name? (Aside from getting a therapist, that is.) Chiefneil, I can see where it looks like the stacked crown is thicker over the sink, but it's the way the carpenter made the hood. It's constructed as sort of a box, then the box indents down to the arched part. The way the crown is sitting on the upper part of the box makes it look like it's really thick crown. And the hutch height was designed solely as the "clutter zone". I learned a good lesson from the last kitchen; the busiest corner in the kitchen will quickly become the "drop zone" for daily mail, keys, cell phones, etc. I raised the height so that there would be no chance of that corner meshing with the cooking part of the kitchen. Socalthreems, I LOVE the actual stone. DH was super nervous about using dark counters, as we had light granite in the last house, and it never looked dirty. He was afraid it would show everything. But there's so much white, gold, etc, that it doesn't show any dirt at all. I don't see fingerprints or smudges either. I really really like the stone. Nellie820, I'd LOVE to see your plans! Now that I'm done here, I need to find something else to channel my energies into! amck, I hope you like the range as much as I do. I LOVE it! muscat, the floors are so weird. I really like them, but a lot of people don't. I wanted the kitchen to be a "refined rustic with a nod to the traditional". I just don't think any other flooring would give me the same look. rmlanza, I found the sink at a local builder's supply warehouse. Since I'd wanted a copper farm sink, and knew their price tag, I was shocked to see the prices they had on their granite farm sinks! I normally hem and haw about such purchases, but I bought it on the spot. It ended up being the star of the kitchen! caminnc, I think all together it was around 2-3 months. We started before we lived here, and were trying to get it all done before we moved out of the old house. That didn't happen, but we at least got the major stuff done. We were simultaneously selling our other house, and had LOADS of projects we were finishing over there as well. For about a 2 month period, we were working non-stop. Ugh. Don't EVER want to do that again. And thanks all, for the kind words about the backsplash. I'm surprised at the responses about it, and I was surprised that I picked such a simple color/design (esp. after my last backsplash!) I only recently realized why I kept gravitating toward plain white. The upper cabinets are *so* close to the countertop. My tile guy said the normal height b/w counters and upper cabs is around 18". My height is only 14.25 inches. My coffee pot barely fits! Somehow I think that I kept wanting white to help visually extend the cabinetry, so that it didn't look choppy. Claybabe, I loved my last house, until my kids started getting bigger. We really outgrew it. And I mean it when I say I *hated* cooking toward the last year we lived there. 'Course I'll probably say the same thing here, when the kids start leaving home in a few years! LOL!