My understanding is it's an old english reference. Horses used to be kept away from the main house in the stable, but I think it was around the Victorian era when ponies became cute little pets to be kept closer to the house. A "pony wall" is a half-height wall, a wall just high enough to keep a pony outside of the formal gardens. Low enough to preserve the view through the gardens, but high enough to keep the "pets" out. True? False? I have no clue.

Alina - we didn't do a careful job at all. I just asked a kinda slap-dash guy to throw together a bookshelf made of 3/4" pine I think. maybe even 5/8". I'm not recommending this, certainly not over what am actual cabinet maker constructs. Only, this is just not something I fussed about at all. Course, this happened early on in the experience when I knew -8b. I know more now and might be more careful about all this. And I'll show pictures because I want folks to see but ... it doesn't look very good in pictures, neither of my bathrooms does! The colors are wrong and you just can't get a sense of the feel of the room *at all*. One of my bathrooms I posted because of a problem with the vanity top and I got a little sub-enthusiasm because I know my "Style" is no way-no how GW's! I wish I *could* convey with a photo what the room actually looks like because I do really like both and think you-all would too if only I could depict it fairly! As well, over in kitchens I once set off a mild scandal-storm by showing a picture of another bathroom that contained wet footprints in it, and of my kitchen once all overflowing with a typical day's worth of chaos from a really, really busy household. I am just not living the GW life here. So - all those mea culpas aside, please understand that I do recognize my life style is perhaps a little shocking to some on this forum. As they say on the net, no one knows that you're a dog. All I can say is -- it works in person! So here's a closeup of the shelves that are smaller because of the room's configuration in one of the bathrooms. This is unfinished and unused, but we're getting closer! Darn it, I should have removed the offending personal items and put the toilet seat down for this photo, but it's now beyond a waking person's reach, if you follow: And here's an overview of the space if it helps. Please know this wall is no way so blue in reality. I'm thinking the glossiness might have caused the flash to bounce and change the color a lot? It is a little bit blue but in there it looks grey-blue: The serpentine in the niches was supposed to go on the floor, but when I went to order it, the warehouse said a hotel chain in Arizona had just bought hundreds of thousands of sqft of the stuff and it was now all gone. I was really disappointed! But I got to keep the sample and that's where it ended up. The replacement floor is more muted but it's OK, particularly given the top I was therefore able to "afford" (in the wild-stone expense account that is). For your interest, here's a shot of that wild-stone: And here's the shelf in the other bathroom. These shelves are bigger but obviously not being used to great affect at the moment. If you cared about use, appearance, efficiency, etc, you should just build the pony wall to a height that will give your bookshelves the height they want or you need. I didn't do that, just sort of fit them into a random height built to contain the tub. That was silly I suppose, but designing this was not on my mind at all at the time: Here's a shot of that space for reference: And because I posted about this problem sink of mine earlier and showed some shots of the bathroom at the time, I'll show the other wall and the new top to that problem vanity. The old problem sink is, sadly, gone (broken) and everything works *way* better. BTW, at the time someone (well-meaningly) criticized the diagonal tiling backsplash as not representing a angularity anywhere else in the room. That's not actually true, but you cannot really make it out in the photo; the entire white tiling behind the tub is on an angle and the spots are set in, therefore, at their junctions, also as an angle, a sort of "diamond on the side", as it were. What can I say -- I think it works in person. If you stare hard you can just make out the white-on-white diamond pattern of the tub. So that has white grout, the sink area blue to pick up the transluscent tiles. That luminescence also doesn't photograph well: And finally, because there was a discussion of "boob lights" elsewhere which I personally found just hilarious, I show here a shot of my decidedly not-boob lights. I can't get what they look like when turned on, they emit a slightly red and blue-green streaky white color -- it's pretty wild. Unanticipated, but really looks very cool. I picked them in large part because they worked to the *left* of the electrical box. Those got put in in the wrong place and I just didn't feel like moving them. Decorating-by-sloth. :) OK, please understand this all works better in person than in photos. I know it's a real faux pas around here to show traces of life-with-teens but I just don't have the energy to clean up behind them or for a photograph. Mea culpa!!!!

The cold and wet depend on the size of the shower. I have a 36"x60" shower and the controls and head are at one end, the controls under the shower head. I just reach in and I do not get wet. Now if the shower was a larger area where you would have to walk in to access the controls that would be great to have controls near the entry. But a 36x48" shower will be just fine I would think with the traditional set up. @mayflower, are you the one with the 36x48 Kohler pan? Or is that Cat-mom? Here is my 36"x60" shower with glass doors, not problems with the shower controls under the shower and I don't get wet reaching in. This is before the porter was installed to hold the handshower, that is seen on the floor.

Oh, FYI...I'm currently re-doing my kitchen, and I'm having my cabinet doors made by Scherr's. Their door prices are very reasonable, IMO (less than Semihandmade, I'm pretty sure), and they will finish the doors in any Sherwin-Williams color you choose (as well as doing any door/drawer front in any size). I'm finishing mine myself, because I'm on a rather tight budget, but it's something to look into. You could add brighter-colored doors here and there if you want, or maybe have your peninsula doors be a different color, if you're worried about too much gray and white. I'm doing IKEA cabinets, and Scherr's is making me doors that look just like the Hittarp door (with grooves up and down the entire surface, no raised frame around them). Hittarp comes in off-white, so this way I can do white doors, and I built a shelf peninsula that's painted in S-W's "Oceanside." My toekicks will also be Oceanside, for a bit of fun and color in all the white. Orange is my accessory color--all of my countertop accessories (utensil holder, coffee crock, sugar bowl, knife holder) are Le Creuset's "Volcanic." I just haven't decided yet if I want butcher block countertops or black or white (or some other color, hee; I could paint laminate any shade and then seal with polyurethane or acrylic. I did that in a previous kitchen: the walls were pale spring green, the cabinets white with bright yellow doors, and I painted the old [1960s] laminate countertop a cool blue-gray and sealed with several coats of clear polyurethane. It looked awesome, especially with pale wood flooring throughout.) I hope that helps! Your kitchen looks gorgeous so far!