You all are so much fun! I have been a member of GW since 2003 and have never found a forum I like so much. I have enjoyed just reading straight down through the thread. Nancy and BBH, thanks for the warm welcome. Annie, I loved what you said about enjoying your berries now because you never know if you or your berry plants will be alive next year. That's la joie de vivre! Living in the now. Sharon, I think I'll be trying the cobbler recipe when I get a crop. I have never tried blueberry cobbler, but I know I would like it since I LOVE blackberry cobbler. BTW, I liked when you said: "*Tip-toeing back in to Arthur's thread and waving hello at him*"! Nell, I don't know whether you'll read this, but amazingly, the hyacinths that were in my basement all winter ARE ABOUT TO BLOOM! I can't believe it. There are purple clusters coming out from the centers of the leaves. I think the stems will be short, but just the fact that I'll get to smell my own hyacinths is wonderful. Memo, thank you for the kind welcome! Wow-- I can't imagine living in zone 4. I'm sure you can grow the best imaginable lilacs! (Those are my second favorite flowers after old european roses.) My lilac bush has begun opening it's flowers today after the rain, and while I was laying pinestraw around the border, I enjoyed the fine, soft perfume. : ) Hi Natalie, thanks for calling me "friend" (without having ever met me). That in itself makes you a friend to me. I read the link you posted, and got a few laughs. I also disagreed with a few points (like you did), but it was amusing. God bless all of you and may your gardens always flourish!

I do agree that the tall cabinet is probably mroe of the look you are after. It seems more Scadanavian or contemporary while a hutch more often tends towards traditional or country. You could design a hutch to be more contemporary, but that's not what any of us were seeing when we looked at the drawings. I don't like split tall fridges here. The one on the snack end looks unbalanced to me and closes up the space. If you really want it, try it where the DW is -- although I think that will close up your doorway. Maybe it's wide enough to handle it? I'm not crazy about the way the other one looks next to the fireplace wall either. Think about opening the fridge right next to the wall when there's a fire burning. I think having the fridge by the bumpout gives you reasons and ways to hide the bumpout. It also seems to have a good central location. It's easy to split drinks and certain snacks from the rest of your fridge items, but where would you put something like salad dressing? If it's at the snack end, it would be a haul to the kitchen and back to dress a salad for a group. If it's at the far end of the kitchen, then it's a haul for the salad for one at the table. I think the rectangular table is good -- oval would be okay too, but I think round would look small and unbalanced. The long table fills a long space in a longer room. The look you want is more about clean lines and works well with a series of rectangles. Also, you don't have any other circles or curves to play a round table off of. Just my thoughts... You think you're almost there and it just keeps on doesn't it? You'll know when you have it right -- so just use what we say to think about and test your ideas. It's still your kitchen. ;-)

Allison, I love your laundry room! I wish I had a bigger laundry room but just having one across from my bedroom and not in a tiny little closet and not having to go to the laundry mat is one of the nice features that sold me on the townhouse I bought a little less than 11 years ago. Where are your hampers? I just love your taste of knowing where everything should be in a room to create rooms with both class and beauty. I just bought two white wicker hampers with two compartments at Fran's Wicker & Rattan Furniture Store and were amazed at the just about no smell. They have velcro cotton drawstring bags inside and are very well sealed. I aired them out for a week so they will have no smell at all. I am glad I went with such pretty hampers that were reasonably priced for the quality. Now I have to take the suggestions I got from others on making the rest of the room nice when I have time.

1. Your house has great bones. It would look beautiful in any color. I'm advocating preserving the brick, though, because using that brick color was integral to the design of the house, is more appropriate for the era, and also because you can't get that brick anymore. It's historic & perhaps even rare. It's a golden color with a lot of depth & character, looks good no matter what the season, has a natural earthiness to it, and makes the house fit in with the land. And when the sun shines on it, it exudes a warm glow that's just so homey and lovely. 2. The Great Painted Brick Debate: caroleoh brings up a controversial post from last year about a house with gorgeous brick that the owner wanted to paint. The issues with that house were different though. The brick was only on the front, with vinyl siding on the rest of the house. The house looked nice...from one angle. The house looked disjointed from all other views. Also, the windows on that house were awful: unattractive vinyl windows, placed badly too (a lot of tiny windows on a massive facade). The owner especially didn't like how the windows were so prominent. The dark brick, though lovely, just made the bad windows jump out at you. She wanted to paint the entire house a soft, light color to unify the sides and downplay the ugly windows. She did, and it worked. There was a lot of heated argument about painting that brick, though. It was beautiful brick, but it's like the builder tried to cut costs elsewhere by using lots of vinyl, and the house ended up looking awkward for it. That pretty brick juxtaposed with all that vinyl didn't work. 3. Your example, snagd, is gorgeous. Your house could probably wear those colors & accessories very well, and I really can understand why you'd want to "update" the look of the house. In lots of cases, that works for the better. But I feel strongly that pretty old houses like yours are a dying breed. People "update" them or tear them down merely because of fashion. Here you have this exquisite historical home with authentic colors and design, all of which are still fabulous & beautiful. But you want something else, and want to make superficial changes that will destroy the historic character of the home, and perhaps the neighborhood too. (I'm saying all this without anger, btw, just trying to present a reasonable case for historic preservation.) Besides, if you clean the brick instead of painting it, you'll have more $$$ for the interior & landscaping :)