OK, I think I'm following you: The ceiling on the sink wall is going to have to stay at 7.5 feet. The cabs with molding are 3.5, leaving only 12 inches from the cabs to the counter. For me, this would be unacceptable. First, I'd pull off the crown molding, which would get you back to 15 inches of free space. Then, depending on how short you are, I'd use shorter legs on the bottoms, dropping the counter height to 35 inches, increasing the space to 16 inches. Now, if the window is wide so that there's plenty of space on either side of the sink to stack dishes, this would probably be enough. But if the window is narrow, it would still feel pretty claustrophobic to me. So I'd call a local cabinet maker, inquire about having the cabs for that area modified. Essentially, cutting 3 inches off the top. The doors may or may not be able to be moded, may have to be replaced. If the finish can't be matched, I'd change it to a different color entirely in this area so it looks more 'on purpose'. This won't be cheap, of course, but it would be better than tossing the cabs out and starting over. In areas where the ceiling is a full 8 feet, I'd leave the cabs alone. I'd try to reduce that 42 inch protrusion into the room, though. At that width, it's going to look like a mistake, not a design feature. Just raising the former florescent area makes the problem worse, since all the cabs would be wrong, then.

I very rarely like the look. In pps's first pic, the drapes are hanging from the ceiling, and no way related to the window. It looks odd to me. I love what she did in the bedroom, where she's given the casing some space, but still kept the curtain rod within the orbit of the window. In jeannine's picture, I can't see the rest of the room, but it looks like the window goes right to the ceiling. I think that's the intent when they cover the wall above the window. But rather than making the room feel taller, it looks like the ceiling is lower. Unless your ceilings are a 12' high and not in portion to the rest of the room, why would you want to make the ceiling look lower? I do like it in Annie's kitchen, though. There are enough other architectural details going on that it's clearly not a low ceiling. And by having the light colour all the way up, instead of a band of orange paint visible, the window actually looks taller.

Thanks everyone! Seems like there is an okay chance the whole plant won't go down the same way as that branch/stem. My hypothesis is that it's sensitive to changes in its watering schedule. The first cutting I had was 3-4 leaves in extremely wet peaty soil, after repotting to granite/perlite/floor dry, that one shriveled up within a week. (After seeing rina's experiences, maybe it was just a living dead). For this one, I watered it a little late... Nicholas- That makes sense, I will probably rot it if I suddenly drown the semi-dead roots with tons of water. I'll try to figure out what moderate water it needs (e.g. pour it near the affected stem or not). I see why you're guessing fungal, this plant did come with some iffy brown spots that I ignored after I didn't see them spread/didn't see any creepy crawlies but who knows...I should make sure they actually are not spreading.. Christopher- That's a smart move, this is my second try at the tricolor...Not sure I can bear this one shriveling up on me as well..or rotting..ugh. Especially after it was making all this nice new growth. Fine line between neglect and too much neglect. I feel like nurseries with the gigantic potted specimens hardly take care of theirs... Oo that reminds me of this one I saw in NJ: rina- That is just really cool, I did not know this jade could continue to do so well after falling off. I do still have 4-5 leaves from my first try and they are technically still alive. Two of them (with a short stem) have rooted, the other (stemless leaves) ones are getting pinker...but not dead yet. It's intriguing to see in your first pic that it grew roots even though you didn't tuck it into the mix, and your mix is gritty too. I think I remember you said you don't really spray your cuttings either. Did you water/avoid watering that semi-shriveled cutting? I can't believe that stem budded in your second pic...that gives me a lot of hope. Sorry, many questions..! What is RH? (Room heat?...I know I'm going to feel silly once I find out the answer,) Do you continue to water with that method (until water comes out) even in winter with central heating on? kevin- But it's cool isn't it to see the new set of lithops leaves emerge from under. Very cycle of life/renewal.. When you say your older leaves drop first, did you mean your older tricolor jades leaves become crystallized/shriveled/absorbed first? Not that they also fell off like mine did? Now that I think about it...I don't think I've seen my tricolor absorb any old leaves yet...o_o hmm. My C ovata minor does it, but not the tricolor. That says something...

I don't think tubes are going anywhere in the near future, just look at the number of commercial establishments that use them. Sure an LED tube, but it's the same fixture. It's just a bugaboo of mine but I see, what I call, "boob lights" at the local home center that have all been "converted" to LED. The LED is going to fail at some point and what's the average homeowner going to do? Replace it with another boob light? How about just replace a $2 bulb? Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor a new technology, when the technology is beneficial. Those flat LED panels meant to replace a traditional troffer are great if you doing a basement with a drop ceiling and every inch of headroom counts. Otherwise, why bother?