Morning all! Fran, I put in a bit more postage than what it was for me to mail my package to you. I don't think that I'll get back what I sent because we have a lot of veggie growers here, BUT if by chanace you dont have enough postage I'd be happy to send more if you need it to get my package back to me. I'm so glad that I bought the veggie seeds, I could almost hear how excited people were when I offered them up for grabs! Thank you to anyone who sent flowers in for me, I assure you that every single seed will find a good home. Lisa

One way to handle putting an old self into a larger new kitchen is to draw a smaller old kitchen inside of it. All those things that used to live in the den? Or the basement? Or on the high shelves of the kids' closets? Those are still your least used things. It's great to be able to store them in the kitchen now, but you don't want to have the Christmas dishes and turkey roaster and martini glasses between you and the action. As much as you can, put the stuff you use the most away first, and do it in the tightest workflow area you can, best at point of use, designing your point of use at the closest comfortable place to the previous and next steps in the cooking process. If there's room leftover in your working path--like whole empty shelves or drawers, you can put in some of the least used stuff that makes sense in that location (roaster in the cooking zone, etc.) and put the rest of the overage in the more outlying areas, pantry, wherever isn't blocking you from using your kitchen efficiently. I think Buehl has winter dishes in her dish area because there was room (and she has a very efficient kitchen), but if you can tighten up your workspace by putting the Christmas china out, do it! And swap it in at Christmas time, if you use it all day for a month.

Welll...I have sat and looked at this sample board for a few days now. The pictures were taken in the daytime. The first late afternoon night I had the board up, I knew they weren't going to work. The golden in them turned orangey, similar to how they appear in the fourth picture. Back to the drawing board.... sigh. In the mean time, I am hoping to have the splash pulled out and patched and then paint over the disaster that I am sure is under there. From there I will have a more color neutral base for which to place the tiles and hopefully get a truer overall look of any tiles I am looking at. If I have to live with it like that until I find "The One", so be it. I just want the existing one out ASAP.

Those are STUNNING, HIGH-END floors! I mean it! The tile size, layout and in-lay accents are STUNNING! There are people who would LOVE to have those floors (sigh...or the BUDGET to install them). That being said, they are in the creamier/peach travertine colouring. Peach and gray don't normally go together...now without a TON of Certified Kitchen Designer help. Because you have a high-end home with some higher priced finishes (LOVE you space BTW!!! Bright and unique...two of my FAVOURITE things) I would HIGHLY recommend hiring a well versed (ahem...long established) Certified KD. Save the money you would spend on the flooring ($2/sf to REMOVE the tile + $18/sf to install new tile) and hire a designer to help you see where your home can go without removing the amazing tile. To replace (equal value) the tile you have, you are looking at the HIGHER priced tile installs (higher value product + HIGH value labour). Replacing all that tile won't be cheap. If you are unsure of your budget, then I suggest you sit down and work some numbers. A Certified KD will help you find a balance between budget and style. It appears your kitchen is in more need of a redo than the flooring. I would keep my eye on the prize. And yes, wall colouring can reduce the "floating" sensation you have in your home. Again, the KD can help with home colours as well. Please keep us posted. I think this will be an impressive project when everything is said and done (and yes...I think reupholstering your furniture is a GREAT idea).