Flyleft - It's finished with beeswax because that was the architect/GC's plan all along. I had expected it to be stainless steel (when he said a steel shelf I just naturally assumed SS) and my husband, somehow, thought it would be finished in wood. By the time we had realized our misconceptions, it was already cut and installed, and it's not like it wasn't as promised. . .anyway, it is fine though not what i would go for with full knowledge. I like the function of it though - handy for putthing things down while you are doing bathroom things in the bathroom, like contacts, makeup, teethbrushing, etc. - not that putting things ALL THE WAY down on the counter would be the end of the world either. Now that you ask, though, I remember - didn't like the beeswax coating as it was (it was liquid beeswax and never did stop being greasy) so they recoated it with a spray poly. Looks the same as the beeswax did, though. Kulagal - I do like the Silestone leather finish, though I wouldn't say it really looks like leather. It gives it more of a stone look though - kinda concrete-y. Because it is dark and matte, it does show greasy fingerprints and coffe cup rings such but only until you wipe it off. No problems so far with any staining or anything like that. I would say the color is more of a dark brownish-grey - pretty much dark grey with a little brown in it. We found a sample for it at Lowe's so you could probably check it out there. (Oh - little tip - the samples are nice and square and simple, and make wonderful coasters to keep those coffee cup rings off the counter. . .but since they match the counter you don't really notice them sitting there, which keeps the counter uncluttered, and I like a nice bare counter whenever possible. So grab a couple samples in your color while you are there. . .)

Varied a little bit from room to room but we stuck with either antique brass or ORB. Mostly I tried to get the lighting and towel bars and plumbing within a given room to all be the same finish... but I didn't stress too much about it. With ORB especially, pieces from different manufacturers will have very different color. Master bath - antique brass light fixtures, towel bars, and plumbing EXCEPT that the lion's paw feet on our cast iron slipper tub are ORB because we couldn't find antique brass feet anywhere. Bath 2 - antique brass lights, plumbing, towel bars but I decided to use painted porcelain knobs on the vanity instead of antique brass just to give the vanity a little more oomph. Bath 3 - ORB thru out but everything came from a different manufacturer so the plumbing fixtures have a slightly reddish cast, the towel bars and toilet paper holders have more of a yellowish cast and more of a matt finish than the plumbing, and the light fixtures are a very dark ORB that sometimes look almost black. Still, it all looks really good together. Kitchen - ORB light fixtures, plumbing and cabinet pulls. Again tho, if you look closely you can see that all the ORB pieces have a slightly different cast to them. Even the pendant lights and center ceiling light are slightly different because they came from different companies. But again, it all looks fine together. The point is to get things that look good together, not to be "matchy matchy."

Same story. I picked out a dark grey I think it was Pearl Grey Maipei to go w Cle Tiles Slate plank floor tile. Grout looked awful - like 2-3 shades too dark when I wanted it to match. Thankfully my contractor is lovely, he said if it wasn't what I wanted he'd make it right. He filed out the grout by hand (tile edges are slightly chewed up, but he warned me) and regrouted w Custom Prism grout color Charcoal. I was much happier with the results. Now planning for my kitchen backsplash and this thread is making me reluctant to go with Maipei again, even tho on paper 77 Frost looks like it should be a close to perfect match to my Bedrosians Clara Matte Grey tile.

Thanks Sparklekitty - It was a lot of work and the backspalsh was probably our toughest decisons. Thank you for the kind words. I love, love the dishwasher and I would advise for anyone reading this...I know it is not cheap but trust us...get it..it is amazing. I can't hear it a bit and the dishea come so clean! Also I forget who posted the discount at Sears for Kitchenaid dishwashers but I really wanna thank you because you saved us tons of money!!!! Chris45ny - hahahhaa...I was searching for the towel pig...you knew what I was going for!!! I love it....both you guessing it and the cow! The cow is really cute for me and I am happy with my towel cow! Thanks rjr20 - Those stairs were such a pain...now they seem so nicely integrated....Thanks! Thanks Vamipressrn - hahahaha....love the black and tan both in the kitchen and in the fridge ;) Thanks bmorepanic - It has been all due to the ideas from all of you! Thanks Therese - We did not want to go with the standard round knobs so it took some time and can you believe that everyone told me that maybe we should color that corner pantry same as cabinets or even white....I held my ground ..hehehe..so thanks for the support! Thanks Tarab - that has to be the best praise for our hard work....DH agrees!!! It means a lot..thank you Thanks flwrs_n_co - Surprisingly those windows are just painted over...just a fresh coat of paint :) hahaha...the kitchen has already been an excuse for probably a few bottles of wine....