Did you go for it? Would love an update on the status of the brick floors now.

My aunt did something like this, add a pergola for shade and a stone patio floor with installed outdoor grill, fireplace, and add seating.

@printesa, I don't normally have to touch the tank for algae, the large plants use up all the nutriants in the water so there is very little left for the algae to use, I might scrape the front glass once or twice a year, and I have just over 2 watts of lighting per gal, lights are on timers set for 12 hr a day, many fishkeepers over stock with fish so have a large bioload, and therefore much higher maintanance scheduals, I add a lot of plants and only 6 to 10 small fish in the 75 gal tank, max size of the fish is about 4 inches, water changes aprox 10-15% every other week, with a fish only tank the there would be a need of 50% water changes weekly (min), I also have about 6 nirite snails (saltwater) that love algae but dont mess with the plants, as the snails are salt water they will not reproduce in fresh water so as to overpopulate the tank, filtration is a simple sponge filter (upper right corner in picture) on a power head, my goal was to look like something out of a jungle stream but easy to care for, for inspiration you might want to visit Aquatic-Gardens.org ,

Thanks all! Yes, I intended to get rid of the valance, but there is a rope light and stereo wires wrapped together in black tape strung across that window! Not sure what previous owners were thinking. The rope light provides nice lighting above the cabinets and it's plugged into an outlet above the refrig that can be turned on from a lower wall. Have to see if our electrician has a solution. Yes, I did keep the copper tray. It has sentimental value! I grew up in the Copper Country of Upper Michigan! I took someone's advice and grouped my items to make a cleaner look, so the copper items are in a grouping above the refrig. It's been a long few weeks, but we are enjoying the final results.