I made the move from a Traditional house in Virginia to a more relaxed style in Florida. So, now I thought I would redo everything I had in Virginia, we sold a lot of the furniture and now I have just the few pieces I need to accomplish a more relaxed style. The trade off? The stuff I kept needs refinishing or repurposing or getting something similar but smaller or larger. It will take me a while to reuse my things. If I had it to do over, I would have taken nothing with me, that way I could furnish the downsized house with what really fits here. Harder to take things with you and repurpose than it is to measure and fit what actually goes into the newer home.

Woodnymph, re Middlemarch: She [your friend] claims it is the greatest classic in the English language, and an early feminist work. Do you agree with my friend about "Middlemarch"? Your friend agrees with Virginia Woolf who famously said of George Eliot's magnum opus that it is "one of the few English books written for grown-up people." AS Byatt, another writer who admires Eliot, says "it's one of the greatest novels of all." It has undoubtedly been interpreted as an early feminist work -- at least it was later adopted by feminists who have chosen to see the feminist angle as Eliot's main intent. I don't necessarily agree with your friend or Woolf or Byatt or the legions of readers who subscribe to the feminist interpretation. While it seems to be true that Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) chafed under the strictures on women during the Victorian era, there is also good evidence that her political and religious stances were just as important to her in her writing. Mary, I've had problems with everything I've tried to read by Eliot. Her style is didactic. She also tended to get preachy, although she eventually disavowed formal religion. Many readers during the nineteenth century had a higher tolerance for slow development of story/plot, minutiae, and flowery phrasing than many readers have today -- I'm one of them. To me Middlemarch is a slow soap opera. Another problem I have with Eliot's style is it ignores the writing dictum of "show, don't tell." For instance, Eliot tells her readers (in third person) that her character Dorothea Brooke is a paragon -- over and over she reminds us readers, lest we forget -- but I don't think she shows us very often how or why Dorothea is an exemplar. Eliot makes similar pronouncements about many of her other characters. Middlemarch is long and it has so many characters that I have a hard time remembering most of them. I suppose it might be a worthy book to study -- taking notes, drawing up lineage charts, putting certain aspects of the development of 19th century British politics, cultural mores, and the Industrial Revolution in rough chronology. I didn't find, however, that Eliot's style (by itself) made these things clear enough. It didn't entertain me enough to help me find those subjects memorable, either. Of course, it's a matter of an individual reader's taste and mood. I don't particularly want to be told that a work is classic, when I want to make up my own mind about it.

Thank you for all of your advice. I talked to my husband and we are going to look into having the hardwood extended through out the house. There is a small toilet closet off the remodeled kitchen, but we will just leave the old tile alone in that room (obviously it has a door because it is a toilet room). That way that room does not have to be part of the renovation. The contractor told me that I did not have to pick the backsplash until after the cabinets and countertop are in; we will have a better idea of all the tones for the paint and backsplash and don't have to worry about a clashing floor tile. I had wanted tile for the spills, and the combination of wanting the right look and being concerned about how the tiles would affect my bad feet (and the fact that it seems like tile patterns become dated much more quickly than wood floors) all seemed to push me to hardwood. I don't want this blue on the walls but I do think that countertop, floors and cabinets work on this kitchen: [houzz=https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-traditional-kitchen-dc-metro-phvw-vp~87227] I thought this backsplash really complemented the blue pearl: [houzz=https://www.houzz.com/photos/kitchen-webster-traditional-kitchen-new-york-phvw-vp~2370442] I think this may be too modern, but if the marble is not the right thing after it is installed this frosted icicle tile also linked stunning with the countertop sample: https://www.msistone.com/glass-tiles-8mm/frosted-icicle-glass-subway-tile-3x9/

Our builder quoted 18.5% increase for the construction and finish of higher walls and to scale trim, doors, windows, garage doors, etc. That's a huge house that'll come with a high pricetag ... and you're talking about adding nearly 20% more just for extra-high ceilings. There's a reason more people aren't building this high. It isn't that people haven't thought of it, and it isn't that people aren't willing to throw money at it. Seriously, rather than building these super-high ceilings throughout the whole house, consider doing a high cathedral vault ONLY in the living room. This'll give you the wow-factor you desire, and the difference between the living room and the adjacent rooms will have more impact than extra-high ceilings throughout. You can do some fantastic things with cathedral ceilings -- take a look at the various beams, etc. that are possible. Your kitchen cabinets will end way below the ceilings as will any other wall furniture (book cases etc) unless you go custom, and cabinets/shelves that go 12' up the wall will be impossible to access without a full on ladder. Changing lightbulbs etc will always require a huge ladder. These are practical considerations. And I just think it lacks coziness and is a lot of extra cost for space you can't actually use. Yes, the only thing you'll get from this huge price increase is a wow factor. Remember that when you have rooms that aren't human scaled it has the potential to just make people feel vaguely uncomfortable without knowing why. The ceiling height needs to be in proportion to the size of the room as well. I know someone who also has a double height ceiling room like my living room, but that room is narrower and it ends up looking disproportionate and doesn't work. Yes. Do your best to go see some houses with these proportions. I really think you're unhappy in your current small space (I remember those days), and you're swinging the pendulum too far in the other direction. With 10' ceilings in the kitchen, I'd seriously consider a stacked cabinet arrangement. Like this: Do look at the prices of stacked cabinets. Like your having to walk through the kitchen work zone to get to the master bedroom. Or having the pantry on what should be a window wall. Or where you'll put your bed in the master. Or why you need double doors into the master bath. Yes, this house's layout has some problems. I would not trust an HVAC guy to give me an estimate on monthly heating bills - that is not in their wheelhouse. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Your heating /cooling bills will depend upon the quality of your insulation and windows + a number of other things, which your HVAC guy can't predict about a house that doesn't yet exist. Want your guests peeking into your master bedroom when they use the loo in that powder room.....? I think this powder room was placed for back-yard convenience, but it'll be a pain for other use. In closing, definitely consider doing a cathedral ceiling in the living room only.