Thank you Lisa for Sharing!!! Sheri ~ if u don't have enough, its okay if I don't get all of them. Sharing is caring :) Mammoth Yellow Sunflower Luna White Hibiscus zone 5-10 Balloon Flower Sentimental Blue Helenium "Helena Red Shades" Liatris spicata Purple Blazing Star Liatris floristan White Herb: Spilanthes oleracae HAVE A WONDERFU WEDNESDAY!!

How exciting for you! It sounds like a built-in will serve many purposes and afford you a lot of new storage. I definitely like the first option much better because of a number of reasons: (1) unless you buy and store a huge amount of wine, the second area pictured will end up looking very sad with many empty wine spots. Think about how much wine you would realistically be storing there on a daily basis, minus the wines you'll be storing in a wine fridge. and plan accordingly. (2) The first built-in will give you a better mix of storage options. I have a somewhat similar set-up and use the shallow drawers for storing my napkins, napkin rings, placemats, and silver flatware. Very handy! In my dining room I also have deeper drawers where I store tablecloths, runners , candles and various candle holders, etc., as we eat there six nights a week, plus weekend breakfasts and I like to set nice tables every time. (3) The continuous counter area across the first will definitely come in handy when entertaining. (4) I'm not a big fan of TVs in the dining room, but the space there would be great for a nice piece of art or perhaps some open shelving if you're not putting in a TV. A couple of other things to think about: * The door frames on the first are quite wide, which limits displaying crystal barware or china inside very effectively. You may like that or want to go with glass doors that allow your pieces to be more visible. If the second option is preferred, lights inside the cabs, glass shelves so that the entire cabinet is lighted and even mirrored backs inside the cabs will greatly help that. * Install electrical outlets, at least in that middle area, if not also at both ends, to plug in a lamp, blender for drinks, warming trays, etc. They really come in handy when entertaining! * Think about what exactly you want to store and display before deciding on drawer sizes and cabs. It looks like the middle bottom cab in that first pic has a solid door, which is great for storing items you need in there, but don't necessarily want on display. * I opted to have bottom cabs with solid doors and slide-out shelves in mine. I love that I don't have to get down on my hands and knees to access things down there. If you go that route, just make sure there is a nice size lip around the edge to keep your things from falling off the back. I use mine to store another 2 sets of dishes and many of my serving pieces. Gosh, is that handy! * Last, my advice is to go with a wood tone that will stand the test of time . . . and be resale friendly. Get your color from what you display there and any art, linens, upholstery, etc. you use. These can be changed much easier than cabinet colors. Keep us posted on your progress. Lynn

newhomebuilder - Thx for your input! Yes, we will add 8 ft off the end of the porch. My DH put in the planter around the porch; he will redo the section at the end after it's enlarged. We'll need to move the roses & perennials. Our yard on the side of the house where they'll bring in equipment needs re-landscaping anyway, so no biggie if they trample it some. But yes, it's work! Our screened porch needs repair, so we figured it's a good time to upgrade. Yes, we will open the porch during the summer. No a/c is planned for now. We will put in 2 ceiling fans. We have one now; it provides a lot of cooling. The plan is to have some kind of heating (perhaps simple baseboard) to extend the usage of the porch into the late fall & even winter (we are in the Midwest). The plexiglass option is a good one. It will be nice to extend the usage period of your porch! I actually wanted to use stock storm doors to enclose the porch, removing the glass in the warm seasons. But DH doesn't want to remove/store/replace the storms each year. So, we're going to bite the bullet and add the windows. We have a good contractor who is very reasonable, & the windows are on sale now, so that helps. But still a sizable chunk, and I'm sweating the decision about the grilles!

JanniferPA, go for it! My MIL bought me a sewing a machine for my birthday a couple of years ago, specifically so that I could sew curtains. I had literally zero experience with sewing before that. She showed me how to use my machine to do a straight stitch, which took about 5 minutes to learn. That's all I needed. I simply take a bolt of fabric and fold over and sew in the the unfinished edges all around. I have once lined the curtains, but generally skip it bc all the curtains in our house are dummy panels that aren't meant to really be functional. I have roller shades in most of the windows. I don't like the look of a fully closed curtained window. Sometimes, I just leave an opening at the top to let a pole slip through. With these I sewed on a pleater tape at the top and attached curtain hooks and rings. It was super easy. We have a 12 foot window in our great room that I made curtains for by buying PB windows and adding a contrasting fabric on the bottom to lengthen them. My projects are by no means professional looking, but I think that to me and 99% of the population they look great. Plus, I think they are more interesting and cheaper than most of what I could find out there to purchase. Anyway, good luck!