Thanks treasureoftheday! I had to put my order in yesterday and the sales person suggested I stick w/Rohl 8" because I have a relatively small shower area about 32X43 and the polished nickel would be an exact match. I also went w/6" rod of ceiling mount because the rain head is about 6" and I lose an inch or two on the floor. With 8 feet ceilings, that's about 1.2 feet lost already. I am looking forward to hearing how your rain head works.

Apparently, I've been confusing you... sorry! Good insight on the "vibe" of that tile. There's something about it that has been keeping me from loving it. The only real pattern would be the accent tile... first or last picture as example. The field would be a solid color subway, be it glass or ceramic. Right now I'm looking at glass cause the ceramics I like are too expensive and I want a non maintance item so have ruled out too much marble I think. So I included pics of the soft green and soft blue. I'll try and get pics but it's so small you can't stand there and get it all in. It's 8x4 I think... no bigger. The vanity will be narrow depth, about 18" if I recall and the sink is that exact same depth. I should probably wait till my ideas are more streamlined so I can be clearer. Right now I'm all over the place but it is kinda fun to have a project to think about. Thanks!

We had existing white oak in the DR/LR/hallway, but not in the kitchen. We opened the wall between the kitchen and then-DR (now used as our LR) during the reno. We had thought to use a different wood species in the kitchen space, but our floor guy told us it would look better (flow better) if we used white oak in the kitchen as well. Our original floors are from 1967 or so. They were likely covered with carpeting for the first 30 years, and then re-finished prior to us purchasing the house in late 1998. They were refinished again in 2004 (we hated the finish used, so planned to have them sanded and refinished again along with the kitchen floor). The floor guys removed about 10% of the old DR floor, and weaved in the new white oak floor boards. BTW, the grade, color, etc. for the new floor boards were chosen by the floor guy to match the old floors. When the kitchen floor was first installed/finished, before the cabs, island, and LR furniture went it (think clear, empty floor space), if you stood in one corner of the then-DR and looked across the entire open space, you could just barely detect that the new floor looked a little fresher and brighter than the old (but newly refinished) floor. I am VERY detail oriented and notice a lot of the little things that others don't (blessing and curse!). Honestly, the only reason I could even tell the difference (between old and new floors) is because I was looking for it (and doing so when the rooms were completely empty). They looked, and look (even more so 3 1/2 yrs later) very well-matched and blended. If they didn't, I'd see it, and notice it every day, and this is not the case. My advice if you decide to try going the wood floor route, is find a good floor guy, ask if he can match your original red oak floors, and keep that in mind as a viable option. Good luck!

Renee you must be overwhelmed with all of these comments. Your countertops are GORGEOUS, so I do hope you keep them. Sophie's suggestion to stain the floors is well worth looking into. For what it is worth my suggestion for your backsplash is to go with a simple solid tile in a lighter color that coordinates with the countertop. I would suggest you not go too small with the tile- 3x6 to 4x12 would be a good size to stick with. You want to avoid too much movement in the backsplash as the counter (and the floor) have quite a bit of movement and you do not want them competing. Let the countertop be the star of the show. Good luck and let us know how it all ends up for you.