"One immediate tip I'll offer is to remove the bottom limbs from your trees." I do agree. They've just reached the correct time of year for pruning and it's been scheduled with a local company. "A couple of things I don't care for about your landscape are the long, confining hedge along the front walk." Agreed. I'm in the process of hiring someone to move it for me. I am considering moving it to around the Maple trees in front (saplings right now). "And the rhythmically dotted shrubs marching across the front foundation." I hate that, too. I don't know whether to let it grow into a solid hedge, or remove it completely. "Some street trees would help with "framing the view" and the feeling of ultra-exposure." That sounds like what I want to do, but I'm too "structured" and am trying to make it look less contrived. But the harder I try to get that look, the more garish it becomes. I love your taste, Yardvaark. If YOU like it, then I probably do, too. What would you do if it was YOUR house? You probably can see the needs better than I can! I don't want a lot of plants that need dead-heading and constant pruning (some is ok, but not everything). I'm in my mid-40's and not getting any younger, so I'm looking for what will give great impact sooner rather than later. BIgger-picture landscaping stuff, not gardening stuff. Does that make sense? If I'm not explaining myself, perhaps you can ask me specific questions I can answer?

I have the north ceilings up so the walls are set. the little space below the bathroom door was to be the bathroom door but it would take a large chunk out of our bedroom, so the wife nixed it. The toilet/shower will be on the far side of the bath (after I knock the wall out of the middle of the bathrooom). I noticed if I put a cabinet in the planned door hole and moved the door south a few feet, I still had the same kitchen storage and i had a lot more room in the bedroom. The landing, kitchen and bath are the last ceilings to do. After I insulate the south wall in the kitchen, I need to tear into the landing, so I can get that ceiling up and windows in. I need some walk boards shoved thru the kitchen/landing wall for that, so I may as well make that mess before I clean up last weeks mess. The master bedroom will eventually be an entrance to an addition where the new bedroom will be, but that is a couple years down on the to do list. So, I'm land locked on my bathroom choices. either it enters beside my bed or beside the stove. The wife says the stove. I saw the corner oven on a recent post. I would lose some precious space, but I like the look

Aisles...42" will only "work" for a year or two, at best. By then, there will be more than one of you working in the Kitchen at the same time -- you + one or two children. Unless you plan to remodel again in the next the couple of years. Cheri, they key in your situation was that you had to make do with what you had -- a small Kitchen with many doors. And even you admitted there were issues ("inconveniences"). Forever Now doesn't have those constraints -- her Kitchen is actually at least a medium size Kitchen and she doesn't have as many doors, so deliberately planning a Kitchen with issues when it's not needed doesn't make sense. I would not do less than 48" b/w the island and perimeter -- especially since the DW situation will not be ideal. Keep a wide enough aisle to not only work around the DW but also to allow more than one person to work in the Kitchen at the same time -- it's really a one-aisle Kitchen, so that needs to be accounted for as well. My recommendation is to: Move the island toward the window by 3" or so -- as you said, there won't be much traffic there and, besides, 33" is around the width of a standard interior doorway. Granted, a doorway is only a few inches thick, but I think it will still work, assuming the windows aren't an issue b/c they appear to open inward. Reduce the island's length by at least 2" -- that would still give you plenty of workspace if the DW is moved to the other side of the island sink. Reduce the 9" utility cabinet to a 6". If you keep narrower doors, you may be OK -- that just means french door or side-by-side refrigerators. See below -- you know have a 48-inch aisle. If you cut off the corner as in some of the layouts above, you might gain an additional 2" or so. Just be careful on the left b/c the front door is also in the Kitchen on that wall. BenjesBride...unfortunately, I don't think there's room to turn the refrigerator 90 degrees and place it on the exterior wall. There's not enough room for the refrigerator itself b/w the bathroom wall and the sliding door, let alone the necessary 9" or so needed b/w the wall and refrigerator to allow the refrigerator doors to open fully. Layout #2: With the 21" sink base, you can probably do all your dish rinsing at the island -- so not much, if any, dripping to the DW. . Layout #2 Zone Map: . In the end, it's up to you -- I'm just trying to get you a Kitchen that will work for several years to come while you save for a gut remodel. [It took us about 12 years or so to save up to do a gut remodel of our Kitchen, Foyer, & Powder Room (& replace all water pipes in our house), so I know it can take a while to save money for a remodel.]

Hi Ayana - I've not personally dealt with ledgestone. But I've seen some pictures of installations with a pre-manufactured product that shows regular block-sized seams. The seams killed the whole effect. I don't know if that means the installer didn't do a good job or the product was a cheap knock-off. Before deciding on a product and installer, I would ask to see an example installation. A blank slate can be intimidating! It's helpful to have an overall picture of where you're headed. (The same is true for me!) So let's assume that you like the whole look of the inspiration photo you shared. The non-accent walls are white - crisp, clean, and set off the subtle coral-reef like pallet of the rest of the space. All things being equal, the accent wall could be several other colors and textures. These might be things you could consider for your space: They could have created a wall unit in the medium wood tone of the trestle framing above and the low cabinets along the wall. Bamboo could give an interesting texture and warmth to the space. A wall unit could include a fireplace (electric), TV, display shelves, and bookshelves. They could have pulled the pea green from the chairs onto the accent wall as a paint color and created just the fireplace in maybe a limestone or soapstone. In that case, they might have used large art on the walls rather than shelves. They could have used a grasscloth wallpaper in a similar offwhite color to the ledgestone. (Talk about outdated! But I just put some in my bedroom.) There again, the fireplace bumpout might want to be a different material. Hopefully that gives you a few ideas you can jump off of! Best of luck - Doug