I am so kicking myself for not buying the Ballard's bench on sale before Christmas. The area has been bare for a couple of years, so a while longer won't hurt. Maybe I should just wait to see if they will restock. I just don't know how hard it would be to repaint the white for the $250 savings. While the white is beautiful, I'm sure it won't look as nice as the black in that space. I do like the antique reproduction from the Windsor Chair Co. too, so that's still an option. It looks like no matter what that I will end up paying more than I had hoped though. But, I've learned it's better to wait, save and get what I love than to buy something as a substitute that I'll be less satisfied with in the long run. Jan

Hello iris21, Thank you for your compliment! If I can paint on glass or anything else for that matter, YOU can! My husband and I bought an old schoolhouse and turned it into our home. We had coatrooms in each classroom and in one room we set our counter, stove and fridge back into the coatroom, and above that work area we were installing a wall up to the 11' high ceiling. He set the window into the wall above my work area. (I found this window in someones garbage it is 6' wide and about 24" in height, I placed a florescent light behind it and we use it for a night light in the kitchen at night or just turn it on when company comes for a wonderful effect. (I have other pics of our home if you wish to see them) We all love renovations! The Sea Trout pic is coming up in a local auction in my town on Sept 4 & 5. I taught myself how to do the gallery glass painting and love a good challange. Nothing less! You should invest in a few bottles of the paint and give it a try! This is only one of the many, many crafts and ideas that I have, and love to share! Thanks for asking! Deborah

There is a lot of natural light in the room and also plenty of artificial light available for night. The almost all of the family room wall to the left (West) of the fireplace wall (North) is glass. It is about 8 feet of fixed pane floor to almost ceiling and 4 feet of sliding door. Also, we will be adding a lot of painted surface. Currently, the part of the walls not covered by the rock fireplace are covered with pickled redwood. We will be taking that out and painting the walls so the East wall and the area around the TV and above the fireplace will be painted. I have trouble seeing painted cabinets there. Also, it is the room is the main play area for our grandchildren who are here frequently. One purpose of the storage in the cabinets is to give a place for their toys. I think wood will hold up better there. Breezy, we have a sketch of the area, but it's too big for our scanner. I'll try to make a smaller one and post it later. You have the general idea correct. The North wall is a bit over 17 feet. Left to right it will have (tall cabinet means 92" high and low cabinet means 30" high - the measurements below are widths): 42" tall cabinet - holds left speaker 24" tall cabinet - middle holds components and media computer 66" low cabinet - flat panel wall mounted above 48" fireplace 24" tall cabinet - holds right speaker The width of the left hand cabinet will be adjusted to fill the space available after the fireplace is framed in.

I'll leave it to others to offer you aesthetic advice but I hope you don't mind my 2 cents' worth regarding your proposed kitchen lay-out. You have a large space to work with - how wonderful! - but I don't think you're making the best use of the space. Is your island positioned as far from the perimeter as the overhead plan view shows? That aisle looks to be nearly 7 ft. That's a ridiculously wide aisle between your cook top and island and prep sink. Move the island closer to give you a 48" between island counter and perimeter counter. That will also make it easier to arrange table and chairs in your breakfast area.How do you plan to arrange a table and chairs in the breakfast area? The door into the space could cause issues. The space looks to be 10 ft wide. If your table is 42" wide, that gives you 39" aisles at the top and bottom. If you plan to position the table towards the left end of the breakfast area, the door's swing will come close to the table (most exterior doors are 36" wide). Whoever is sitting near the door will need to get up and move out of the way. Do you have pantry cabs as shown in the overhead plan? I don't see any in your elevation drawings. If not, that means your fridge is all the way to the right with the oven/MW column to its left. What counter do you intend to use as a fridge landing area? Where do you intend to set grocery bags to unload into the fridge? I strongly recommend that you place the island's prep sink at the end closest to the clean-up sink so that you can use the island counter closest to the fridge as additional fridge landing space. It's still going to be farther than NKBA's recommended 48" minimum distance but at least you won't have a sink in the way. Do you have plans for the wall area opposite of the fridge and oven/MW column? The overhead drawing doesn't show any cabinets here. Seems like a lost opportunity and a great place for pantry cabs, a drop zone and/or a breakfast station/beverage/snack area.