ok, i just wanted to follow up now that i'm back on track. thank you all for the feedback. for full disclosure, i went through my own stages of grief. my first reaction was frustration that many of you were telling me not to use these curtains i was 100% planning to use and absolutely LOVE passionately when i was only asking for help on the means with which to hang them! then it turned to sadness that you don't like my drapes. then it turned to realization that i've had the same concerns about the formality and the length all along but didn't want to admit it because i love them so. then finally acceptance - these drapes have to go back. lol i more of the elements in the whole open space, and i think i'm on a much better track now. i'm scared to share my new plans because i love this new direction. :) i'm going to go with 1 panel on each window, hung all the way up near the beam at 120", side swooped outward and tied back with rope. i can't decide between opaque linen and textured linen, but i'm pretty sure i'm going with the spruce color from Restoration hardware. here's the look: but this is the color: unless you have tips for sources for lovely linen drapes in 120" length. i'm looking for something in a soft subtle minty green. these RH spruce drapes are more on the blue side. The RH ones are my max price range. any ideas for other places i should look? thank you all so much for your help in digesting the perspective i didn't want but desperately needed to see!

Antiquesilver - thanks so much, it feels good to be back ;) I had to take a break because it was getting increasingly hard to know how off our project was at the time and to stay enmeshed in reno talk. I loved seeing the FKB recently and recognizing many names. Luckily, we have been able to pick up from where we left off and much of the work on our end was already done. The tile, paint colors and counters were about all we need to worry about this time. Most everything else is already on our premises, lol. The tough part will be to dig out each element from all the collection of boxes all over our house. We had to replace our family bath's faucet and wanted to use the one bought for the master bath since it was just sitting around. Turns out, we had to buy another one because we could not find the mbth faucet. It has been another year or so and we still haven't found it. Our house will seem so spacious when it all gets installed and sorted out! Gsciencechick - I know the tiles you mean. I saw similar in HD for a contractor I am working with to help flip a house. I could not believe that the "Big Boxes" carried them and at such good prices. That is a great way to add bang for the buck! I will be getting the black accents from HD & Lowes and that will mean fewer pricey tiles. I woke up today and told myself to stop looking for tiles. We found the ones we really want and the $350 for the border accents may be crazy, but in the grand scheme of things, $350 is not so bad for what is admittedly a splurge. The field tiles in lavender only come out to $200 and cover a lot of space. They are not really a splurge since the tab is not that high. I know in my heart I could not replicate the look with anything less. It is not for lack of trying either. I was afraid dh would choke when he heard the amount, but he asked how much we'd save with something else, and when he heard it would be $100-150 or so, he said we should go for the ones we both like better since in time, that difference will seem petty. I guess there are some things one can compromise on such a single french door, not having a front porch added, fewer (but larger) skylights, carpet instead of fixing hardwood floors in master bedroom after extending, etc, but some we shouldn't, like cheaper tiles and counters (mid-range, which is our only other "splurge"). The other stuff we chose to do without cost much more than these items' upcharges. It is work to find the balance of saving money yet still making going through this all worthwhile. We technically could save more, but if we are going to spend over $150k to get the total project done and end up looking at it as ALL a compromise, then why bother? The other things we saved on will not impact our overall enjoyment by very much. I am just so grateful we are back to doing it before too long! With so many people losing their homes, doing any of this is a splurge.

I can't spare you some of the agonizing, but it might help you to separate out one type of concern from another and so maybe whittle down to the real priorities. Since it sounds like you are buying the piano to really play it, and you have the ability to detect differences in pianos and what you like and don't, I would first focus on that--the piano you would most like to play ( that fits in your house, of course!). Holding value (monetary value) has some importance but maybe less for pianos than for cars, say, since most people go through several cars for themselves, kids, etc. and get future benefits from a good trade-in. You might not end up buying the piano that you most love to play if it in fact is so expensive it would hurt your finances in some way. Everyone has some price that is too high--though the number of OO's might vary a lot! Or you might determine that you simply don't VALUE the very best piano. I bought a guitar a while back and I knew I did not need or want the "best" guitar and did not need to impress anybody with how cool my guitar was. Also I am a beginner and knew I might not become a real expert. I did buy a better guitar than I expected, and maybe I should have bought one much cheaper until I learned more, but the price was okay for my finances so I made a "match". If I were actually a good guitar player, I would not hesitate to buy a much better one than I did but again, I think the focus would be on what played the best, felt the best, that I myself got the best sound from, and that might be different for me than for another musician. I am sure that must be true of pianos to some extent. So if there is one single piano you keep going back to because you love how it sounds/plays and you "can" afford it, buy that one. If there are a couple that are sort of equally good but in different ways--and I mean in terms of musical quality, not prestige or later value ( I had that dilemma with guitars) , that is where I would get some feedback from another musician/piano expert. The car price comparison is fine as long as you look at in the right way--you don't value European sedans (neither do I) so you drive something cheaper and buy pianos. For other people it is the opposite and that is perfectly fine. You might enjoy reading some things by Amy Dacyzn (The Tightwad Gazette). She is or has been an extreme saver and re-user and most people would not want to do as much of that as she does. But that was not her main point or her greatest strength. Her mantra was, save on everything that you can that really has no value or benefit to you if you were to spend more; don't let your money just slip away on this and that. Don't buy things just because other people do if you really want something else. Decide what is really important and don't whine that you can't afford it, because it is likely that if you really focus and avoid daily spending traps you can afford a lot of really nice things--just not EVERYTHING. Her deal was empowerment to be in control of spending. Several posters above gave good examples of that. Typical examples that have been used in some budget/happiness books is a person who wistfully says they would love to take a trip to Europe,it's their heart's desire, but just can't afford it--said while sitting on their new sofa that cost $2000. So your situation is an extension of that--there are people who have your same income who actually cannot afford a major piano purchase because they have a huge mortgage and have bought cars, and furniture, and jewelry instead. Which is perfectly fine unless all they really want is a piano!

I love the look of a well done tower. I see no reason for multiple heights in vanity below. You have 108 inches in niche to play with........ Left to right, if you want the effect of your third picture: 3' "post", 30 inch door base, 3.0 post, 36 inch 3 drawer base, 3"inch "post", 30 inch sink base 3.0 post. is 108 inches. Tower above in middle 36 wide, 12 inches deep max with two doors, , and whatever inches high to ceiling. No raised counter, no lowered counter : ) Easy to work with three inch increments for all and stay with three drawers on the drawer base.. Use bins and divvy up the space. Note: Build a "base' for tower, use a 6 inch splash, and WRAP that tower base in same surface as counter top. The higher splash is more elegant, and it will keep wood OFF the counter surface. Yes you are fine on the 36 inch drawers. Yes, that's the width of a lateral file with a fraction of the weight inside : ) it's fine. Door bases are a black hole of junk behind, and I like the "weight": at the middle. As to "wrapping " that tower base.......here's what I mean. Not for your style just for tower base. With a six inch splash, pic below That arrangement will give you 36" wide spaces for mirrors/ frame included over each sink by whatever height you want. ,