Holy smokes! I LOVE THIS FORUM! You all are so great. mjsee, seems like you know a lot about plants. You'd be an excellent person to ask what kind of plants I actually have in the yard as I haven't a clue on most. We do have a japanese maple, is that the acer palmatum you're talking about? The front yard get lots of sun, pretty much all day long, especially morning and afternoon. It faces north, north east-ish. What I REALLLY want in a lilac tree. I'm from NH and I'm discovered a few in town, in very shaded areas. Any thoughts on best place to plant one? I know it won't thrive here like in colder zones but it's my fav. Goldie50, WOW!!! I love all the pictures you did, especially the one with the door panels taken off. Thank you for helping me to visualize this. You are very good! Justgottobeme, yes, that's what my mom said about looking for faded brick. Might be the deal breaker. Thanks for mentionning it. Oopsie, we live in North Carolina actually. Thanks again for your kind words. And I agree with you on removing the shutters from the door and picture window. For sure! Calirose, glad you liked the pictures. I personally love seeing everyone else's homes on here so that was my first sharing of mine. : ) Palimpset, yes, I agree that we should not emphasize the length. So to fill you in on how the house got so long...to the left in the picture was a porch that was walled in to make a mudroom. To the right an addition in the 90s of a master suite and home office. So not orignial to the house, but designed to "balance" each side. We have plenty of space out back so I'm not sure why they didn't add on that way. Thanks again for all of your insight into this. I really appreciate it. tryingtodecorate, (love the name, btw), yes, I agree the black shutters with a touch of brown will be the way to go if I do keep those 2 window shutters. And a red door is really exciting to me, though maybe not the best match. I can always change it down the road. I can't wait to paint it!

Deedles - Hm, Hm, HM! As I mentioned earlier, my partner prefers the glass range hoods while I tend to prefer the more traditional chimney if we have to have one (and we do, of course). I'm not really crazy about most of them and the ones I do get drawn to are too expensive and too powerful for my little kitchen. I also worry about glass cabinets, especially with narrow cabinets by the range and a blind corner. Those just tend to be messy, messy cabinets! If I had the spare room and they were big enough that I could display bowls/serving dishes, though, I could live with it. People keep suggesting I am going to need more space for spices/oils, though. It's great to see a rendering of this, though - and people can chime in. Does it help to bring the glass over to that wall or no? That was so generous of you to take time to mock it up for me! Thanks so much! Rococogurl - Well, it's validating to know modern cottage is tricky even for designers. I am constantly yanking myself away from too modern or too cottage. I just keep reminding myself to keep it simple overall. And, now it is worse because some of the cabinets I am considering are very furniture like for the lowers. Especially when they are used in applications like finished backpanels on islands and peninsulas. I really love the look but keep asking myself if I can have what I want or need to pare it down... or need to just pick different stains that don't interest me as much. If we go two-toned, I either want a stain as close to black as I can get, a dark brown or a walnut. The idea would be stained lowers, painted uppers. I like that wood tone. But, even if I nix the legs and fancy parts and just have the paneled peninsula, is that too much for a modern cottage? *sigh* Probably... We are sliding in the dangerous zone of materials, and I so hope you are around when I get there (and I need to start getting a direction on that like immediately!). The window IS generally very MCM, though my aunt has put it in 2 very traditional kitchens in Florida and it works for her. It would definitely be safer with the window to go full-out MCM. However, while I am in a 1950's ranch, I'm in one that has these cottagy/traditional touches) - some by us and some by prior owners. We have paned french doors to the den and traditional white mantels on our 2-sided fireplace. On the den side, it is flanked by rather traditional white cabinets on the bottom. We also sided the house in vinyl shake with thick white trim - and put in windows with a grid on the front. A lot of the interior touches could get ripped out, but the project is already so darn huge and I do like modern cottages so I have been working with that idea. A lot of the kitchens I am drawn to are far more traditional than I could pull off here, though, and I have been warned to keep it simple. The stacked stone is from an inspiration kitchen I considered replicating here, but people said it was neither cottage nor modern. And, then, of course, there's the issue of stacked stone so close to the range. lol Here's a pic: (I liked how the stacked stone played with the large format glass tiles so it didn't feel so cold...) Here's another kitchen that combines stacked stone with glass tile (and a slate, to boot, tiled under the island looking like stacked books IMHO - Marcolo had recommended I: "Think slate" at one point in this saga.) And, this is a GW'er kitchen that I think does a great job with modern cottage. I might be able to have tall cabinets across the den with glass on top like that - and I picked out a drum pendant for the DR sort of like this, but with a little bling. I'd go with a different BS and I'll have frameless cabs, but I think this is a great kitchen. Do you see modern cottage? If we went walnut/white, Majra's new kitchen is a great inspiration. Ultimately, though, I agree with you. The cabinets I choose are going to narrow down tile and counter options. It seems those 3 decisions are best made together. And, that's going to prove very challenging for me... I have a hard time finding counters I love, so am considering spending a lot of money for a basic quartz that I think would work with my house but is a lot of money for simple... Tile overwhelms me with the countless choices. And, I'm totally drawn to 2-toned kitchens but am not sure I should go that way in my small, dark 50's ranch! Bleh! I keep hoping I find an inspiration picture that just pulls it all together and I can point and say "I want that!". Problem is, I have that reaction to a billion pictures, and yet, none at all...

I'd go with a warm gray, possibly drawing a shade from the mortar between the bricks. Siding and garage door the same color, so garage doesn't become more prominent. (hit the downspout too -- siding color above and brown below the brick line.) I'd also paint whichever entry door will be the "front door" for guests a bright color to draw the eye and make a clear distinction.

Boy, I’m stuck Aphea - though the icy green colors appeal to me a bit more than pure white, they each have a very high LRV which to me equals high glare factor when looking at house while sun shining on it. I’m familiar with So Cal heat & do appreciate the heat reflective goal you have but, for me, I like more color. My understanding is an LRV of at least 50 is recommended to ”…reflect more light than it will absorb…” Of your icy green shades, Italian Ice Green has the lowest LRV of 81.91 so it’s still pretty high on reflective scale which to me equals glare. 50 - 100 is high reflective. As a compromise, I’d look for a LRV in the 60’s to low70’s range for body of house & a trim color for railings etc. in the 50 or lower range to get a nice color contrast. For sure i’d be getting samples & painting big squares on all sides of house before committing to a color. I don’t have the benefit of walking around in your neighborhood to see color combos others have & what works or not for your area! As I said, I’m familiar with your climate - as wll as AZ, but I’m currently in PNW! Kathy