1) Favorite of all Thanksgiving foods? My favorite is a non-traditional dish - Cottage Cheese Loaf - I'm from a vegetarian family and it's our turkey stand-in. I only make it for Thanksgiving to keep it special. Leftovers make yummy sandwiches too. 2) Do you watch one of the Thanksgiving Day parades on tv? No. I can't remember ever watching a parade on Thanksgiving. 3) Do you have a special T-Day breakfast or is it every man for him/her self? If yes, what is it??? No set breakfast menu, but we do eat together. 4) Hosting or being hosted this year? I always do the planning/cooking even if we travel. This year we're staying home so it will just be me, DH and the kids. Not sure that counts as Hosting... 5) Dine in or out? In 7) Do you dress up for T Day or take the more casual approach? We usually dress up a bit. 8) What's your usual post-dinner activity (football game? walk? nap? chat with company? play a game?) Visiting if extended family is involved, no football, sometimes a walk if it's not too cold and windy. 9) Favorite Day After T-Day meal? Leftover pie, cottage cheese loaf sandwiches 10) What do you do for the rest of T-Day Weekend? Put up Christmas decs? Vegg out? We just like to hang out and relax. We try to avoid the Black Friday craziness, so no shopping. 11) Do you consider Thanksgiving the start of the Christmas Season? No. Thanksgiving is a much bigger deal at our house then Christmas. We even do our gift exchanges on Thanksgiving. Christmas is really low key, just a simple meal on Christmas Day. I do a little winter decorating but the only real Christmas décor is the Nativity that comes out Christmas week. Easy Peasy. 12) Do you start watching Christmas movies over the T Day weekend? If so, what is the first you usually watch? Nope

Bump!!!!!!! I was beginning my remodel at this time last year and i must have missed this.......it's so beautiful it deserves a second go round at the top of the forum for all the people who missed it. There aren't NEARLY enough comments on this kitchen. people must'vebeen outside enjoying the summer and not in the kitchen forums. Total eye candy.

I'm making my way through Sarah Susanka's "Not So Big Remodeling," and if it means anything to anyone, I just this afternoon got to a section in which she wrote, "A fireplace isn't generally something you watch for hours, as you do a TV screen. Neither is a view, unless it is a particularly dramatic panorama. So you can design the seating arrangement to focus on the TV, letting the fireplace play second fiddle and allowing the view to wrap around the seating more like a warm embrace than a focus." An important caveat: The picture she uses to illustrate this approach features a CRT TV that's 27" at most. I think the only large flat screen I've ever "seen" in one of her books was hidden behind a sliding door.

Yes, such a common problem. Imo, your space is so limited you should consider solving your problem outside the box. Outside the house box by putting the area where you first greet guests and make them feel they've arrived outside that thin, 3" thick front door instead of inside. To do this, of course, an outside "foyer" has to be created. Most homes front to public street, and their front yards are also completely open to the street, to windows across the street, etc., so that the thin front wall and door are very often the first and only transition from public to private space. Very undesirable, and no good architect-designed homes fail to make a much more emotionally satisfying transition from public to private. That's why people want an indoor foyer. It's a transition between truly public to truly private that makes finally arriving in the sheltered living area feel right. You can't have one, but you could damage the appearance and functionality of what could be a very inviting room by devoting a space that tries and fails transition guests... From it to itself. That's why I suggest creating a separation from the street and public yard outside. Presuming you don't already have one that can be further developed, of course. Think of, for instance, a gracious, paved outdoor landing or porch that guests arrive at by passing through a gate and/or under a tree or arbor to reach. Imagine a delicate tree perhaps, like a birch, that creates a gentle see-through privacy screen between this area and the street to increase the feeling of separation from public . It might be surrounded by low shrubs or a fence to define it an give a sense of separation. Planted pots or sculpture, a bench or pair of chairs. You now have a transitional middle space from public to private, a transition(foyer/entry area) that doesn't feel at all public from which guests can then move to a very inviting sheltered inner living space. If you google, you'lll find many landscapes that do this. They're very common in neighborhoods of what were once small homes that have become very expensive. People who pay $750k or $1,750K for an 1100 square foot home often bring in designers to fix their foyer problem, and this is a common technique. It's all about meeting emotional needs, and of course looking great, without cannibalizing those living rooms that need all their space for living in them.