In what country are you building this house? 9 foot or vaulted ceilings are taller than the US builder average of only 8 feet (this is the distance from the ground to the ceiling). If you have a small room, having a higher ceiling (even only 1 foot extra) will make the room feel more open and airy. In a small house of 1500 square feet, having high ceilings would go a long way in making it feel much larger than it really is. It is especially beneficial in a hot climate because heat rises so you will spend less on cooling costs. It is not so beneficial in a cold climate. It still looks nice, though!

I am so happy to see you here! I will have to go back and see if i can retrieve my posts... thought I would make them into a little book for my daughter, with photos. Quick run-down on the bathroom (not travels, no time) - The kitchen has a rather elegant sliding door with beveled glass panels. Painted white, since this was the original colour. GD's new bathroom has the doors I had picked earlier; i thought of polishing them but decided sprayed automobile paint (on a resin primer) would wear better. Especially since it is such a small bathroom, and she is so splashy. I have this finish in my kitchen and it has lasted 15 years now. A tad chipped here and there, but only needs a wipe down once a week. Same finish for the balcony doors, also split like the bathroom. We have a new wardrobe, a study table with built-in shelves, and a small chest of drawers for her odds and ends. I want to re-tile the tiny balcony, more as a little statement. Currently we are looking at Portuguese tiles, though I did think a mosaic with a funky cat might be nice. Let me see the costing. The room will be painted a neutral adobe, with bright white woodwork and an off-white ceiling. This means she can go wild with cushions and covers. Other changes in the flat; We have changed the glass in the master bedroom and living room from small cramped panes to a single pane for each section with a 1" bevel all round. Doubles the cost of the glass, but looks so elegant! The air-conditioning is being re-located. The compressors were all mounted in the bedroom and living room balconies, which looked terrible and meant the balconies (very narrow, only 30" deep) couldn't be used for anything. Not even plants. So they are being moved so that the compressors can be mounted at the rear of the building. two down, one to go. Now we can put in some nice plants, fishtail palms etc. The kitchen counter on one side came out intact and will be reused elsewhere. I am planning overhead storage, cupboards, and a draining cupboard for plates and glasses. Right now there is no dish washer, though a place is earmarked, but for now I will put in a cupboard with steel racks for cups, glasses and plates, all hidden behind pressed glass doors. This is all in the planning stage.... Pictures in a little while, they are mostly on my ipad and don't transfer well to the mac. They come without numbers... so I have to rename the or something. Somebody tell me how to do this!

If you are looking for fancy kitchen with good looks, go for good quality Quartz like AGL or Kalinga Quartz. It's a good alternate to granite but also is costlier. There is some negative reviews of Quartz/Corian tops due to low quality and unknown brands providing at cheap price. if you have budget constraint, then can opt of Granite.

I am looking for Glass Hob, Vertical Glass Chimney and Built In Oven. I am getting mixed feedback across different forums so thought to reach here (impressed with some of the pointed comments so far). I am planning to choose between Bosch, Elica, Hafele and Faber. Can anyone please help ? I need to finalize it in next 3-4 days. I am purely going by the brand name (plus my previous experience with Bosch) so preferred the following 1). Bosch Glass Hob 2). Bosch Built In Oven (though it has aluminium burner but the one with brass burner 'Hafele/Elica' has the problem of making utensils black) 3). For chimney they do not offer 60cm Filter less chimney hence thinking to choose between Hafele or Elica. Please suggest if this is the right choice. Thanks in advance