hi there, and yes we are using the weathered gray nichiha with eldorado stone. i think i posted a pic a few weeks back for you. either way, the stone is not up yet. it's one of eldorado's stacked stones in a color called olive grove. i prefer the stone (obviously!) but i have seen gray, shingled houses with red brick which i thought were stunning. i think it depends on the home really. do you have any drawings? this is the front elevation showing the stone placement. and this is the house in progress; we need a lot of grading:

We drilled a hole up through the cabinet (can't see it - it is behind the frame,) hid the wires and the transformer there (ours is an open cabinet, but high enough so that we do not see the wires to the side) then a small hole in the back to bring the plug down to the outlet. I do not know if it can be hard wired. Before I cut a hole in my cabinet bottom, I made sure that I really liked them. Ikea is pretty good about taking things back with a receipt if you don't like them. Plug it in and check it before you drill, as the light can be different - we had to experiment with different types of lights to find what we liked. I wonder if having the light on the tiles would put the focus on the tiles instead of the showing cabinet edge?

Hi We have had a copper farmhouse sink for a little over a year and we love it! The sink is built like a tank and will most likely outlast everything else in the kitchen. The cleaning of this sink is really easy - just soap and water. Âthat's it with an occassional (maybe once a month) wax to protect the surface. It's the easiest kitchen sink in terms of maintenance that we have ever owned. Besides longevity, one reason we chose this over fireclay was the living finish. We love how our sink has sort of a "personality". It doesn't change much - but it will change somewhat. That is part of the beauty of these sinks. Ânot to mention that they are individually crafted and every one is a bit different. Âand there is just something about the warmth of copper - much more inviting than what we considered the "sterile look" of a white fireclay sink. Although we didn't choose the bow front, I don't think that would be an issue at all. In fact, in the right kitchen, I think they would be stunning. We purchased from Copper Sinks Online (I'll include a link). They were recommended by several folks on this forum at the time and they were certainly outstanding. We had no problem matching a faucet to the finish (Oil Rubber Bronze) and the faucet/sink combo came with a discount. I'm not sure they still have the special going but you might ask. One thing you might check out on their site is the photo gallery. They also had a lot of information there about copper sinks in general. Hope this helps! Here is a link that might be useful: copper farmhouse sinks

There is no topic heading for driveways, and most new homes do need them. Thanks for the estimate on materials, Brian. We live in a 'high address tax' place, but at least I'll have some comparison *between materials* for an apron. Are you saying cement is X and blocks would be X + $1000? bpathome -- Ah, good point about future disruptions. Yes, this is just the apron. The driveway is bluechip. I don't like two materials mixed on the driveway itself. I love being able to hear a car approaching over the gravel. Anglo -- Our terrace and patio are not rough-surface and are tightly laid and level. We wanted them to be water permeable. I see some brick/block surfaces that have held up well, and some that failed the day after the crew left. What should I look for regarding installation?