This is a link to a website (hope it comes through) for the request for rustic tiles. I found Ken Mason Tiles in a magazine. They are beautiful hand-made, hand painted tiles from California. Using them for my entire backsplash turned out to be "beyond my budget", but they do have a slection of "Overruns" on the web site for 1/2 price. I was able to pick out individual 3 x 3 tiles from the overruns to use as accents in my 4 x 4" tumbled travertine marble backsplash. They make me happy ever time I look at them. I love the "culinarios" (fruits and vegetables) and, especially, the cherub tile that is next to my sink. Here is a link that might be useful: Ken Mason Tiles

IÂm an artist and my sales last year were dismal. My income was 1/3 of the usual. My husbandÂs company is laying people off and those who are left have to work harder; even so, thatÂs no security. I had a lot planned but just decided to be more creative at home. In the past we hired people to do some big things because we were too busy. IÂm going back to doing more things myself. DIY is still kind of new for my husband but he is learning fast. For example, we installed some new doors and woodwork, all of which I stained and varnished myself. My husband just installed a new parquet floor in our daughterÂs room. We borrowed a chop saw from a co-worker of my DH and spent a marathon week cutting pieces out for various projects that will probably take me all winter to assemble! I added tiling to my skill set last summer, now IÂm making trivets from the leftover marble mosaic and wood. The materials still cost money but I shopped around enough so that they didnÂt cost much. I want to re-do a huge bathroom base cabinet, I have not figured out how to do that myself but IÂm looking into it. Growing up, my family never hired anyone to do work for them, if they didnÂt have a skill they asked around among their friends. ThereÂs more than one way to be creative, and itÂs a huge boost to self-esteem. Brings to mind in a positive sense, my grandparents and their depression era, "make-do" philosophy. As part of my renovation IÂm planning to get rid of clutter and sell some old furniture on CraigÂs list. I sold a table today, one down! In years past I donated everything, now if I can I will try to sell it first. Good luck to all of you!

When I was "oldifying" my previous house, a 1994 Cape, I shopped at Bradbury & Bradbury (bradbury.com) for wallpaper, Rejuvenation for lighting, vintagetub.com (FANTASTIC customer service) for plumbing fixtures, ebay for accessories, Horton Brasses for door pulls. Now we've bought an old house (1900 Eastlake Victorian, albeit stripped naked and modest to begin with) I'll be back to all those companies, and soon I'll be headed down to Architectural Salvage in Exeter NH for parts for our broken mortise locks (I may have to buy the whole lock and scavenge the parts we need; it would probably make more sense to replace the whole thing but I'm sentimental about the parts that have been there for 107 years). He's a little expensive though. In a few months I'll go up to Old House Parts in Kennebunk ME, and check out the rumors of a Habitat ReStore in Portland (Maine, that is). jfpegan.com (who also sells on eBay as jfpegan) sells restored antique and handmade repro lighting at good prices. I picked up two slightly battered pan chandeliers at a yard sale this last week (15 bucks for both!) and when I'm a little more flush I'll send them off there for repair and restoration, which they also do. I'm not sure if I've seen anyone mention Bathroom Machineries (deabath.com). Sort of a mediocre website but they have things no one else does. Sadly, where I live (SE NH) the Arts-and-Crafts-that's-not-Mission ;-) furniture I love most is a rare critter, at least on the lower budget end. I've heard the Skinner "Discovery" auctions in Bolton MA have cheaper, less-fancy things; it's about an hour and a half drive but I'd rather bring something wonderful home from that than something from Ikea, which is the same distance in a slightly different direction.

Please do not trim off the mantel! It will then look odd for the fireplace wall, and the drapery will still look like it is crowding the space. Having a single panel pulled to the left side is hard when you are 'symmetry-minded', but I think will be very pretty once it is hung. I think it will actually create a visual separation between the dining and hearth areas, and make that end of the wall feel less bare. Make the panel full enough that it looks like it would close over the whole window, and hang it outside the window space enough (yes, cover the switches) that it doesn't appear to crowd the window. Just for the heck of it, try using blue painter's tape to tape a bedsheet up on the one end of the window, as a panel might be hung, and leave it there for a couple of days. It isn't going to look the same as the drapery fabric, of course, but it will give your eye a chance to adjust to the 'unbalanced' look. FWIW, I would also move the panels on the other window up so that they aren't breaking at the floor, but are about 1/2 inch above it. I think they would look nicer if the tops of the panels and the rod were above the top of the shade underneath, rather than right on it - and it will then match what you hang on the big window/door. Oh, yeah, one other thing. Try hanging the fruit pix offset from one another - so that the one on the left is about 1/3 to 1/2 the height of the frames higher on the wall than the other one. You will probably need to move one up a bit and the other down a bit to split the difference. I think that will help the feeling of emptiness that lmhall2000 was addressing, as will having the curtain panel hanging there. I don't think you have enough room for a furniture piece on that wall if you want enough clearance for people to sit there comfortably. Then seat cushions for all the chairs out of the Provence Check- Bleu. A runner out of the Saison fabric, with banding in the check. Pillows for the hearth chairs in the stripe on one side, check on the other, pulled in at the middle with an oversized covered button in the Saison fabric, welted with that as well. Oh, and I love the lamp on the sideboard, but the shade is sitting up kind of high - can you try a shorter harp on there? It appears it is the correct shade for the lamp because the shade matches the body of the lamp. But the switch and base for the bulb shouldn't be visible - it looks odd. A shorter harp should cure that.