mobrien24, We also installed 8-3/4" eastern white pine, probably close to equivalent to what you are calling "frontier" grade, if that means that there are more knots per board than more expensive grades. Like kimberlyinva we used Waterlox also. With Waterlox, if you use an oil-based stain like Minwax, you can mix a portion of the stain with the first coat of Waterlox and stain it at the same time. Adding the stain to the first coat of Waterlox also helps to even out the stain absorption in soft woods like pine. We used a mixture of Minwax Red Chestnut with a little Dark Walnut mixed in. We used the original Waterlox Sealer for the 1st two coats and switched to Waterlox Satin for the next two coats. If you want the knots and soft spots to blend in a little better in sheen in the final coat, after the 2nd coat, spot finish with a brush dipped in the Waterlox sealer any knots or soft spots where the Waterlox is soaking in a little more. You may need to spot finish those things a couple of times before continuing to the 3rd coat depending on your taste. Not a big deal, don't worry about being precise - just slap it on and smooth it out. The spot finish areas blend right into the 3rd coat. You can spot finish these areas in 15 minutes per room. The idea is just to let those areas catch up with the rest of the floor so the floor takes the 3rd and 4th coats pretty evenly, knots and all. Waterlox is easy to install -just follow the directions on the website and restrain yourself from trying to work the finish. Just apply it evenly with a lambs wool applicator and walk away. Applied properly, the finish self levels and nearly all imperfections you think you might see in the finish as you are applying it disapper by the time the coat is cured. Once I got the first coat on the first room it felt more like I was mopping the room instead of applying a finish - that is, stress free. Waterlox is very forgiving. We installed about 3000 sf of the flooring ourselves after purchasing it from Lumber Liquidators. We even put it in the kitchen and the powder room. We like the dark color. We like the glossier finish, but chose the softer sheen of the satin finish and are pleased with it. We didn't even sand the boards, they were milled with a very smooth finish, and any slight differences in thickness just add to the casual look. The Waterlox finish is slick when you have socks on. If you go click on "My Page" there is a link to our pictures on Webshots. I would insert the pics here, but for some reason I cannot pull up Webshots from work. Good Luck! Don

El...that's very very kind of you to do this for our wonderful and loving friend Bjorn. I am going to have to figure out shipping costs as I think it will be very expensive however I'm guessing at that, I really have no idea..if its not to expensive I can get package in mailer sooner than I'd hoped to..but it's going to be at least weeks before this happens. I was just thinking about how Bjorn is left out of all of this fun, do to him living so far away and with him not being well it can't be easy for him. And he had a heart of Gold. Apparently El, you also have a heart of Gold...which so many here do. No wonder this is such a wonderful place to spend time!!

pipsmom, you might enjoy some of the cross stitching groups on Facebook. There are a number of cross stitching artists that have wonderful designs - Mirabelia, Nora Corbett, Joan Elliot, HAED, Silver Lining to name a few. There are general cross stitch groups too, like Cross Stitch and Discuss, or Cross-Stitching It's My Thing. And groups for specific topics like Christmas and Halloween. I've learned about hand dyed fabric, railroading stitches, various lap and floor stands, loop method of starting a thread, using a tablet to search and highlight symbols on a pdf chart (especially good for confetti stitches), copyright infringement and just a lot of good discussion with needleworkers from all over the world. If you are on Facebook you might want to take a look-see. This is the piece I'm starting on: Witching Hour. Artist is Lisa Parker. 229,600 stitches, full coverage, no backstitch, no fractionals. Um, make that 2 years! One stitch at a time... The Witching Hour - artist is Lisa Parker

Thank you all! For the tile lovers, there is a story behind it. I always had a strong vision for this kitchen, and part of the vision was the absence of upper cabinets and a wall of statement tile. I am obsessed with Moroccan mosaics, but when I priced them out, the real mosaic, i.e. the pattern made up of actual small pieces of tile, was prohibitively expensive. Lookalike tiles produced here that are just a stamp of the pattern on tile were cheap but looked cheap, the printed pattern began to peel off in a very short time. The tile I ended up with, I first found online here at like $30 PER TILE. And I was ready to buy it! My DH, though, who is of Arab extraction and very wily, saw the stamp on the back of the tile that read "Doremail" in Arabic, and told me to look for the factory online first. Lo and behold, not only is this factory online, but when I wrote to them, they were perfectly pleasant and professional. We bought this tile https://doremail.com/en/andalusian-tiles/719-sevilla.html and this tile https://doremail.com/en/oriental-tiles/895-fares.html 150 sqft airlifted to Dulles airport was only $1,500, which is basically the price of midrange Home Depot tile! And there are so many other gorgeous options. So very happy to give them the plug. Re: breakfast nook, I wanted to buy specifically from the restaurant supplier because the benches/booths you get in regular furniture stores are not designed with the same level of quality and detail. People who make furniture for restaurants understand that the goal is to make the customer so comfortable in the chair that he/she will want to sit there for a long time and order more. So if you look at your standard diner booth, you'll see that it is angled in the seat, in the back, in the shin area, and that makes it much more comfortable than your standard 90-degree angle bench you buy in "regular people" furniture stores. And it's not THAT much more expensive, and you can get it made to custom size very easily because they are used to it. I mean, try telling Wayfair: "oh, this one is fine but can you make it in gray and four inches longer".