Kali- very clever! You don't even notice the vent unless you're crawling on the ground. Speaking of...the bathroom is so small that I can't get a head on picture of the sink & toilet area. I'll sketch a mock up of how it is, using graph paper. Correctly this time, because... I made a major, major error in the floor plan that I posted. I have a total of 46" of wall space from the corner to the edge of the tub. 46" for toilet and vanity, not the spacious 62" that I have in my sketch. I was basing my bathroom measurements on the upstairs bath...which was based on the downstairs bath but only in theory. In reality my downstairs bathroom is more like 6 1/2' deep, not 8'. Glorious. BTW- boy do I like the shower pic that you posted, Kali. Exactly what I have in mind. Marble (or marble-esque) shower walls, marble floor & saddle, white fixtures and dark grey walls. Will dark grey make the room look smaller? Is it even possible to make the room look any smaller? Do I even care at this point? The good news is that my better half and I have had a chance to discuss things and he's talked me down from the ledge. As long as we don't use the tub (he has "silenced" the leak) the downstairs bath reno doesn't have to be done immediately. I can have a few months to research, shop sales, use coupons, hunt for prices, etc.

I really enjoyed reading your reveal. Read it on my iPad this morning lazing in bed and pored over it for a good 1/2 hour. It was more engaging than a book, lol. I totally LOVE your new kitchen, and this is one of the best reveals I've seen. Enjoyed reading the goals you had for the new kitchen, seeing how all your choices came together, the peeks inside your drawers and doors, and reading about the things you decided that others might consider crazy. Not crazy at all! The whole point of doing the research is to consider the alternatives and then choose what works for YOU. While I might not have made all those same decisions, you wouldn't have made the ones I chose either. That's rather the point, right? You don't live in my kitchen and I don't live in yours, LOL. There is something very freeing about deciding what works for you and just going regardless of trends. And I totally get where you're coming from on the slide in range with glass top. I've had a glass top range in the past and really liked it. Not everyone needs or wants a spendy induction or gas range so I say good for you!! Things I particularly admire: The new layout moving the fridge wall and getting a wider opening. The great new views from your sink and peninsula area -- what a difference that makes. Your drop-dead gorgeous cabinets! Your lovely granite. Drawers and the use of space -- the mostly 4-drawer bases without a lot of stacking was a wise choice. The new fireplace wall (wow, what a difference the black paint makes). And a small thing, but I like that you carried the toekick past the dishwasher, it looks really nice. Great job. Enjoy your new kitchen and may it bring you many years of new and happy memories!

Emmers! Welcome. I cannot imagine moving my 5 cats without serious trauma .. for ME! Good luck with this new home, new place, new people, new everything! It's a wild ride!! Shicksal, what happened with the builder and his estimate? Did you have conversation? I still have a feeling, as someone else mentioned, that the house will be a wreck before anything's done, then what the city will do? require? Who knows. I, too, like MTDoug's philosophy. I am also one of getting rid of crap. ' Texas_Gem, that's wild. I'm willing to bet this weekend you'll be showing us the entire place closed in and ready for insulation! Unfortunately it quickly packs up with new crap. The difficult thing is, too, that I have purpose for the crap. In the last month, I've made several things out of crap, without having to buy anything. Well, the raised garden bed was a bale of hay ($6.00), the potting bench a piece of corner bead ($8.00) and today, inside, my apothecary drawers. I find these spice/apothecary drawers to be the most useless pieces of crap in the world. Almost as useless as base, reach-in cabinets or 12" wall cabinets. However, on a 16' run, they give the eye a break. Plus, I have 4 sets of them. Don't ask. But, I'd already bought the corbels from a true artist on Etsy. Absolutely lovely. No idea what I was going to do with them. I've used primer I have, I'm going to use a SW sample paint for the bottoms, sealing it with the dark, paint base I already have. So, crap already here. I also came to a roadblock with the lovely oak I've been planing. It's dimensional, with live edges. I mean, BARK on the edges!! What can I build to showcase that, since it's incredible? I was planning cabinet doors, probably, but I'd have to joint that off. Noooooooo... Ideas? Hmmm... No phone. Pizza and Martinis? I'll take the latter. YEAH! Martinis and pizza!! What could be better, except talking on the phone with someone about how great it is. Sorry for the inconvenience. I hope all is uploaded somewhere. Shicksal, the reason for stealing the phone isn't to use it, it's to sell it. With a SIM card, anything's possible. Interestingly enough, many phones now have GPSs or programs to shut them down, so even that lucrative activity is slowly thwarted. In the meanwhile, Crap of a different sort. Ok. Off to sand and paint. What can I make with that gorgeous oak? We're talking 6-8' boards. 9-11 3/4" wide.... I have hung 90" of upper cabinets in the last 2 days, though. Gotta put the doors on, but oh, so pretty. And OFF the counter. Cal_quail, I'm so relieved for you. I was holding my breath.

Thanks both. mvcanada, we were thinking of buying a vanity/sink combo online so not necessarily able to buy extra material for backsplash and counter shelf, though if we go with a basic white it shouldn't be too hard to match, right? I can't decide if I would prefer a shelf that extends from the sink countertop, or one that is separate and between the sink and mirror. Might depend on which vanity we choose (still looking, as evidenced by my other post). But good point on running whatever we have to meet the large mirror. pamal66, can you clarify your last bit about the metal strip or pencil liner? Is that for the end of the backsplash on the edge of the sink so it doesn't feel like it just ends by accident? We did consider tiling the wall with the sink/toilet but we were feeling like the current half wall of tile was making the room feel smaller, and with the layout, we'd have to tile everything or just the tub (because tiling by the sink/toilet plus the tub but not the last wall where the vent is would just feel unfinished). We haven't decided on wall or floor colors yet, though the fixtures and tub tile will probably be a basic white. We love this floor: And these are some of our vanity inspirations: (this last one with a white top instead) One thought I had about the tile border was that if it doesn't match the tub tile, it could match whatever we put in the shower niche, but that's as far as I've gotten in finding an actual tile!