Patty_cakes, I debated doing the trim in black, but instead went with a nice clean glossy white. I do love black though, so I painted my staircase and foyer in the black and I absolutely love it! I'm leaning towards the idea of painting the bedroom and sitting room furniture black (with crystal knobs..for a little "bling") I adore taupe, and I could easily have painted my whole house in taupe but I am trying to break out of my "taupe shell". I'm halfway through painting the sitting room right now (dark sagey green) and at first I thought it was too dark, but now I'm feeling all cozy in here..and the white trim makes the green pop. I need to find a fabric or drapes for the windows...and definitely need new accessories. My kitchen looks like the Cracker Barrel decorator threw up in there, but it's appropriate for a farm house kitchen and everyone that comes in loves it. I really do want a warm cozy feel for the sitting room and bedroom..but I also want it fresh..maybe not so down-home country (definitely no roosters! lol!) I want to break out of my rut a little...but still stay in my comfort zone also so as not to have the rooms look like they belong in someone else's house! Oh the decisions to make..LOL! If anyone has any suggestions for fabric or drapes for dark sage green walls, that will also maybe bring in blues, reds and golds please share with me, it also needs to go well with bright white trim and black furniture, please share with me!

Youngun, how in the world are you keeping sane with the remodel going on since November!! That's almost 7 months, and you pregnant....La, la, you have a much better disposition than I have. DH is just putting up crown molding in two more rooms, and I'm going nuts. But, that said, I can see how new it is looking, discounting the need for a few corrections. I'm sure it will move along much quicker when the contractor starts closing things up. A new kitchen and a new baby, how cool is that!!

Wow! Glad to know I am not alone. I have had delays but no disasters and for that I am grateful. The kitchen is looking wonderful! The addition of the appliances really changed everything and then last Friday, they installed the soapstone and now it is really beginning to look like how I imagined. I would take photos but the guys had to cover the stone so as not to scratch it and I was not able to take any photos prior to that. I am hoping that the kitchen is done in the next 10 days. Popmom2- Yes, it is only a kitchen-- but it is also my baby. I have never spent this much time or money planning anything (I mean next in line was my wedding!). Northcarolina- Still too early-- since my kitchen is not yet up and running. The fridge is super close to my prep sink and close my main sink so that is not the problem. I did not have much prep space before-- so I am not sure if the new set up will be too tight. I like to prep near the sink and a U-shape kitchen was not possible--so my layout was the next best thing. I am looking forward to being out of the way of the main sink/dw when I am prepping/cooking. I will post more once I am able to try out the space. Swimmmer- At least you knew what you wanted. I would probably have stuck it out until it was too late too change it. Luv2laf- I hear ya! Everyone has been telling me to take progress photos and I kept thinking-- photos of what?! Walls? Floors? New copper pipes? I mean all are very nice and much needed but do not exactly make for the most exciting of photos.

Maybe that's the way you tell old money from new money? Very much so. From Vanity Fair in 1995, the year after she died, Even if Jackie had a limited amount of money to spend when she moved to New York in 1964, New Yorkers more accustomed to lavish displays of freshly milled chintz and newly quarried marble didn't understand her classic American style, which values comfort and continuity over the whims of fashion. They seem disconcerted that she never traded up: her library carpet was threadbare, the fabric on the dining room walls (originally bought for a dollar a yard on Orchard Street on New York's Lower East Side) faded, and her kitchen, in the words of one friend, "deplorable." They find it peculiar that she engaged a succession of decorators over the years—notably Albert Hadley, the late Harrison Cultra, the late Vincent Fourcade, Georgina Fairholme, Mark Hampton, and Richard Keith Langham—but the look never changed. (The last refurbishing was done, eerily, in the bedroom where she was to die. Only months before she became ill, Langham replaced the bed hangings with Scalamandre glazed cotton in "Tuileries," a lavender and salmon pattern of undulating vines and small flowers. Says Langham, "It's almost as if she knew what was going to happen.") One friend with an expert eye recalls that one of the few important pieces of furniture in the apartment was a subtly painted Louis XV table with a marble top, on loan from Bunny Mellon. The rest was French and Italian decorative painted furniture, souvenirs from Jackie's travels (an obsidian sphinx said to have been given by Anwar Sadat, Greek worry beads of blue glass), stacks of books, her collection of drawings of animals dating from the 17th century onward, and overstuffed sofas and chairs. A drawing table where she painted was set up in the living room. ... Those with refined sensibilities found it admirable that Jackie seemed to have remained immune to the decor mania of the late 70s and 80s and that she preferred to spend her time working as a book editor, riding, and playing with her grandchildren, rather than pondering species of fringe or the intricacies of upholstery with a decorator. They see in it a reflection of the uppercrust values of another era (benign neglect) and a reflection, as well, of her private self, as opposed to the immaculate public image. "Her tastes were very French," says art critic and lecturer Rosamond Bernier, who adds, "I think of a warm place, with a fire burning." "It was," says designer Carolina Herrera, "an apartment of someone who comes from an old family. Not a showplace full of marble like the homes of all these new people. It was her taste."