I'm not a red oak fan. I don't like its smell, its stringiness and its lousy burn. I much prefer white oak or choke cherry. I had a fire going in the Defiant, cherry from a blow down in the front yard last winter. I could smell it whilst car crawling. Smells like a maraschino cherry . I replaced the broken latch on the Defiant's side door with a bolt and washers. I caulked the door edges with gasket material and pushed it in as I tightened the bolt. This has restored a great amount of the stove's "airtightness" . I have more repairs to go, but that was the most bang for least effort. The stove was rated at 40,000 BTU and heated a 1200 sqare foot house. That was 40 yrs ago . Most of the plates are cracked. The inner baffle burnt out years ago I snapped off the worst of the warped piece, I intend to strap it roughly back into place with lots of slack built in to accomodate expansion. Heating oil is about 3.40 a gallon. I have a hot air system . Firewood is 275 $ a cord. Most of the house also has 220 Volt electric baseboard. The chimney was put in an enclosed porch. Then a few yrs later, I rolled the porch away, and put in a 28 x 28 , 2 story addition on a 20 X 28 with a 12x12 ell. Story and a half New England farmhouse built about 1870 from local pine. So the chimney is in a center of the house now. Thanksgiving of '85 I tended a mason who corbled the last 5 feet over 4 inches to clear the ridge pole Instead of splitting the ridge each course of brick was hung out about 3/8 of an inch.to the north. The masonry is great. It retains heat and heats the sheetrock plaster in the stairwell.

Cool pictures, Laura! Don't you just love to go ramblin' like that? The picture underneath the pitcher plants is sundew, another insectivorous plant. Those shiny little droplets are sticky, and the insects are trapped when they land on them. They don't close up like a Venus flytrap would, but the insects are digested anyway. Both the pitcher plants and the sundews are becoming scarcer as the slightly boggy land areas they prefer are developed. Don't know what the top picture is, but the predominent lichen in the next to last picture is called deer moss. It's another fascinating plant. Thanks for sharing! A great walk through a bit of nature. Marcia

Pretty room and nice windows. Here's the thing........if you get the right shade of paint to suit your room and your taste, it won't be too much. That wall will always be too much in your room if you don't work with it to add interest. The paint will go a long way towards making it prettier. Then, you might play with furniture or art or a large mirror or something to fill it and lead into the kitchen. Your paint choices sound good. Do you have a favorite? Have you bought a sample quart? If you have, go ahead and roll it onto the wall. I would probably start where the long wall hits kitchen and paint a swath at least 6' high and 6' wide heading back into LR. That way, I could stand at the windows and visualize my color going on into the kitchen. Or........I might do the opposite. Take my sample quart (SW only charges $5 each so it's a deal!! But keep in mind that it won't have all the depth of color as the real paint!) and paint the area between the fireplace brick and the window trim. Any of your sages or blue greens will look good with both your flooring and your trim. It's just a matter of deciding how deep you want to go. I also love Benjamin Moore's Dry sage. It has a moody look that segues from muted green to almost a gray-blue at times, depending on lighting. Also very very pretty with wood. Stop worrying about that long wall! Get your painting done, post a new photo and we will help you fill your wall and make it pretty! Red

So I'm a year late in commenting but SO happy I got to see this amazing kitchen, thanks to the "best reveals" thread. I followed this with interest and worried a little, you seemed so ambitious in including a gazillion good ideas and I wasn't sure it would lead to a cohesive, attractive result. It is a stunning kitchen, full of beauty and functionality but it is more than that, you've infused it with depth and soul. Congratulations!