You guys are so sweet! Onedogedie, I love that visual. It will be interesting to see whether I grow to love the little path or whether I come to despise it. Knowing me, I will grow to ignore it. If it ain't broke... The old kitchen was fine functionally, but up-close it was showing its age in a way that the most upbeat person couldn't classify as patina. The painted edges of the counters were chipped and yellowing (all the paint was yellowing), the counters were burned and stained, and the floors had some enormous weird stains that turned out to be adhesive that had wicked up from below. But the real reason for the renovation was that I hated that island and the drop-in sink. Hated. Really very virulent with the hating. The tile was a compromise. DH wanted the green tile and I wanted the blue, he wanted the 4x4 and I wanted the 2x8. He felt strongly about format and I felt strongly about color. He was right - I think this format is really great, it has a strong reference to the 50's and the color matches our pool outside those windows (which is covered right now.) I posted the tile on a separate thread, but here's a closeup. The engobe is really subtle. I thought I'd see more color variation, but am happy enough with the final result! Ignore the old coffee grinder, it was replaced with a fancy one at Christmas! Louisiana, can't wait to see what you do with your space, I love these old ranchers. So fun to see them come back to life. The roaster is up there because WHERE ELSE WOULD IT FIT? ;-) It's a great pot, though...people ooh and aah over it. Best pot ever for super bowl chili. Munchlady, our fridge is a 3-year-old glass-front JennAire. I'm pretty sure they still make it. We love it, although the icemaker is on the fritz right now and the rubber gaskets in front have required some duct tape. Hard to know in our house how much of that kind of thing is rough use by shorties and how much is manufacturer planned obsolescence. I can't tell how often I walk in there to find a 60-pound kid hanging from a fridge door or practically doing pushups on the freezer drawer. (And yes, I tell them not to several times a day. That and everything else I repeat several times a day. This is why I am A Drinker.) Can't take credit for the rolling peninsula, it was here when we bought the house. It's super practical, takes up a lot less space than a table and chairs and allows us to have traffic flow around the island while we're cooking. Which we need, since it is a classic Barrier Island. Thank you all so much again for the lovely compliments. We are really happy with the results and I am happy to take a break from reno for a little while!!

@visualizemaven Thanks for your response, and those photos are gorgeous! Love the earthy/industrial vibes and the stone. We might one day add stone to the bottom half of the exterior right below the midline trim, but it's looking like it's out of our budget for now. All we have planned at the moment is paint/roof/landscape. Metal roofs are very uncommon around here, but I'll look into it. Also appreciate your thoughts on colors; I'll admit that I'm a bit color-challenged. Any ideas on what would be better?

We have a side yard. This satellite image gives you a better idea of the house position. The road to the left of this photo is technically the front of our house, but as you can see, our carport is off of the little alley that ends at our house. That is the only way we can get to our house since the front of the house is a hill.

Curious as to what you ended up doing if you happen to see this comment. I am in the same situation except my door is in front and I’m not on a lake. I also have 1/2 of my house front entrance to huge garage that wont be moved. Thanks for answering if you see this and have time.