Yes! I love our gray porcelain 12" x 12" tile. It's imported Italian tile: Granitogres from Casalgrande (distributed by Daltile) in an oddly named color they call "Arizona," I believe. But it's a very hue-neutral gray--no brown or beige tones in it at all, contrary to its "earthy sounding" name. It's a beautiful, concrete-looking color with flecks of grays and white. Very modern-looking. If we're successful in matching the grout color, it'll look like a continuous, concrete-like floor from a distance. And, yes, I was initially attracted to solid-surface materials for the same reasons. Low-maintenance! It's a tough call, but I'm so happy with the Granitogres porcelain. I'm not a big fan of grout lines either, but we're jumping through hoops to match the tile color as closely as possible in the grout to achieve our desired aesthetic effect. If your heart's set on solid-surface, then by all means, get it. But, I think you have enough of an idea of what you want that you're likely to be pleased with whatever material on which you finally decide. Good luck!

I tried to post a picture, but am having trouble with a few things. First of all, my photo skills are lacking and the true colors of the current wall color and the sample of Wheeling Neutral are just not showing up they way they appear IRL. The current wall color is much more yellow. In my picture, the two colors look quite similar, when they really aren't at all. The other problem is the size of the picture. I inserted the picture by dragging and dropping from my pictures library and the picture is huge. Do I need to resize before I insert a photo? This is my first attempt at including a photo since the change over to Houzz. Then, of course, there's that whole thing with my photos becoming 'property' of Houzz. I have been comparing my samples of Lenox Tan and Wheeling Neutral and I think I've figured out what didn't work with the Lenox Tan in our BR with the bedding I'm going to use. Altho I do like the richness of LT, the color needs to be grayer and I think I've achieved that with the WN. Could I go darker? I suppose the answer would be yes, but then the color is just about matching the grayed brown in the pillow sham and that's not necessarily my goal. The colors should just blend, right? I want a nice background color that works with the overall color scheme.

I agree, the Pearl is too yellow. Still trying to decide between the Antique Parchment and Linen :). I reached a new low as I knocked on doors in the rain, asking if I could hold paint samples up to trim. For better or worse I told the installer we'd use the Teakwood! I felt relieved for about a minute....and then started thinking things like: is it too dark? Is there a PURPLE undertone???? Is the finish too flat? Ha! I might be certifiable! Wish I was someone who didn't care. I might have an ugly house, but I'd be blissfully oblivious :) Well, I guess another option would be having enough money to hire someone like Maria Killam... This line of siding is special order (the warehouse doesn't stock it yet), so we needed to order in advance. I worked up enough nerve to ask our installer (a relative) if the trim wrap was special order, too. It's not, so I have more time to think over the trim color! It's been rainy today and yesterday, so I'm especially glad to have more time since I'd like to be sure I like the trim color when there is some sun. I really wish we could do it all a step at a time - windows installed first, then siding up, then pick a trim color. Seems like it would be easier than trying to envision it ALL. Thanks again for all the help!

You can definitely do better on that Kitchen quote with Ikea cabinets and butcher block countertops. Ikea has two real wood doors that would look nice in an old house: Torhamn and Lerhyttan. They also have a veneer door, Ekestad, that looks MCM-ish. You'd probably be looking at $4000 for Torhamn /Lerhyttan cabinets and $1000 for the butcher block. You might also want to look at Barker Cabinets, a line of custom made, ready to assemble wood cabinets for reasonable prices ( that's what I'm planning on using for my own kitchen). You can look up "Half Classic Six" blog for an example of a nice kitchen done with Barker. Barker would probably be $6000-$8000 depending on which door style and how many drawers vs. doors. Ikea Torhamn