Kat - I'll look forward to seeing your other photos! Lisa - thanks, I'm sure a coffered ceiling would look great in your house! I think it can be tailored for a particular space depending on how formal or informal you want it to look. I have to give the credit for the ceiling to our architect since he suggested it and I'll admit that I wasn't so sure about it at first. Our house is around 70 years old, so I was a bit worried about how it would look, but I think it fits in with the rest of the house pretty well. Honestly, I wasn't sure about it though until it was completely done and painted and then I loved it! Eliz - thanks! Hope you are enjoying your beautiful kitchen. I can identify with your comment about your basement being the "dungeon" - I am beginning to wonder if ours will ever be clean or usable again! I think we may just have to section it off with the yellow tape you see at crime scenes and just forget it exists - haha :) Right now, there isn't even a foundation in part of it, just red dirt, due to being torn out for plumbing! It's horrible! Hostagrams - I love the gray and would use a version of it in every room if not for my husband objecting! He thinks there needs to be more color, regardless of whether the colors look good together! Wow - I can't believe you have been taking care of that many hostas for a year - I wish I enjoyed gardening more. Good luck with your move into the new house - I hope everything is done for the deadline of May 1st!

Thank you, everyone! :-) jerzeegirl - yes, the cabs are custom. The man who demo'd and then rebuilt our addition is a cabinet-maker by trade, so this is his "thing". He has been great - I must have changed the layout and the cabs vs. drawers about 10 times, and he never changed the price. His original rendering/bid had all cabs with just a few drawers - we moved it to all drawers for the lowers. No price change. I asked for pullouts - no price change. Under-sink "drawers" that look like cabs - no price change. The inside of the drawers are made of maple, with rounded edges and dovetailed joints. We're so pleased! The hinges on the cabs are soft-close, as are the drawer slides. Awesome! :-) sochi - it's a plain wall on either side. I wanted to highlight the cooktop/vent area and not compete with the somewhat "busy" laminate countertop on either side. I've always liked plain painted walls, so we'll stick with that for now. mtnfever - yep, used Circuspeanut's instructions exactly! It was a lot of fun, and it's really interesting to see it change each day. This morning when I got up, there were "patinaed" lines that represented last nights wipe-down before bed (sometimes I follow with a dry cloth, but I'm trying to train myself to just "live" in the kitchen rather than baby it, cuz we're not the type to baby our belongings. Might as well get it worn in now! Closer pictures of the backsplash - but the quality isn't great. My camera battery is dead, so this is cellphone quality again... From Temp From Temp The lightskirt still has to go on the upper cabs, but you get the idea.

Followup question: In my quest to lighten up the LR I've long planned on inserting a panel of lightly aged mirror over the fpl. But the GC and the glass guys were very very slow to get around to quoting it. They finally have. In the interim, the surround is almost done (need grout, and also darkening the marble a tad with coffee). I have begun to feel that if I have it light below, and a light above, it will leave the woodwork in relief, and look like a big brown "H": KWIM? I think I shouldn't bother with the mirror at all. Note; painting is for somewhere else. Also note: bought an "off the rack" rug from Pottery Barn, chenille jute style. Happy with it at a 10th the price of a custom one. PS found an old before PPS I traded out the too wimpy lamp for one with more weight, and I really like it. Sorry my only photo is from a distance.

CML, did you get the backsplash from Tree's place? Our house build won't start until Spring, we've had some bumps in the road but now we're back on track. And like you, When June came I cemented my feet in at the beach and refused to think about anything to do with house projects! Your place is looking great, I can't wait to see the finished kitchen and I adore that Sea Urchin light!!