Sherry, yep we back up to a forest, which I love - both for the view and for the privacy! We already have faux wood white blinds on the windows so after we paint the terra cotta, those will really pop. I was thinking of eventually having some cornices made - very tailored and simple. I also have 2 window seats in the kitchen, so I need to get some cushions made for those. I want to get coordinating fabrics for the cushions and the cornices, but I'm thinking I might have to wait a while on that. I just have too much to do at the moment LOL! This house needs so much work to make it a "home"! Oh about the glass fireplace window...I am going to shop for some colored glass this week and see what I can find. I want to put a large vase of some sort in the middle with some tall reeds or natural greenery, since the ceiling is high and can handle that. I'm thinking that once we paint (I am getting my samples today, yay! so I'll be posting pics later to get opinions...) and once I put the 2 panels on the other windows to add color (I found some crimson silk panels that will add some pizazz), that that center window won't need a treatment. Eventually we do want to get a stained glass treatment there but the quotes we got were too expensive for us to swing right now. Agh, so much to do LOL! Thanks for your help!!

Wow, I painted several reds and terra cottas on the kitchen walls to test and it's going to be a huge change from khaki LOL!!! I'm hoping it doesn't darken the kitchen too much. I want the color in there but now I'm getting scared! I initially loved BM Spanish Red but now I'm thinking it might be too bright... BM Georgian Brick is gorgeous! Definitely a true terra cotta; not a whole lot of red in it, and I think I want a bit more red than brown. SW Fireweed is really pretty but very dark. I still need to test SW Flower Pot and SW Bold Brick though. Ugh how am I ever going to pick just one LOL?! And my husband broke our digital camera so I can't post pics! Grrrrrr. I'm going to borrow my neighbor's camera tomorrow so I can share my test pics and get some votes. =)

Whoa - good call skippack! I just slopped some sealer on my practice board and the tile was unchanged, but the grout changed dramatically. I’ll see how it looks when it dries. I suspect it will go back to the same color, but I definitely want to make sure. Everything going into this kitchen I have copied from some other kitchen I like. I want NO surprises. Blueberry Abode, thank you for the advice on mortar. That is exactly kind of feedback I was looking for. I didn’t know there was “mortar” and “grout.” But now that I have three potential grout choices, I’m at the point where I want to keep things moving along. So in the interest of time, I am not going to investigate your suggestion. But I bet it will be of interest to others.

I would leave it alone. It is very expensive to remove (terra cotta is normally laid with mortar = difficult to jack out). I would not do anything to the window trim until you decide on your future renovation. I know you are feeling like you want/need a change, but anything you do today can and will cause ++more costs later on down the road. The wood trim looks great with the wooden furniture. I wouldn't do anything to the trim until you decide what to do with the rest of the space. Area rugs are awesome, easy to find, DIY and can be low-end 'cheap and cheerful' or high-end and massively impressive.