I've tried all kinds of remedies for scale on my houseplants. Nothing worked until I learned that wasps love them and are attracted by the sticky sweet residue. So I put my plants outside in the summer and problem solved. You can pick them off, but you have to eliminate every last one or it will come back. I even had one plant guy tell me to watch the scale spot and when the babies make a run for it go after them with the alcohol mix. Really? I would have no life. Here's a link that should help answer most of your questions. Here is a link that might be useful: Scale info

"I'm a sucker for those wide brim straw hats with a lavender/floral ribbon." Somehow I'm not surprised. :D I think I just need to get over the kitchen being in the family room. It's the whole point of this addition--being able to put the kitchen in a CASUAL area (instead of overlooking my living and dining rooms as it does now) where it can just BE without messing up the "good" parts of the house. I think we do want something that goes with the bones of the house, so maybe wood. The image I posted above is what the house originally had, so obviously I'm not going to go that far! (But seriously, I'd consider it if anyone made those lipped plywood cabs these days...). I've seen some painted fifties cabinets that were pretty great. but I think we're going to do wood. I'm thinking a natural or mildly stained slab, cherry or walnut maybe. Sort of modern, maybe mid-century modernish but not quite. More mid-century mild? We're too sloppy to pull off a totally sleek modern kitchen. We've always had stainless steel counters and that would probably be weird behind the sofa so I don't know--maybe we need a "curb" on the back side of the peninsula so it doesn't matter. In this house I have learned that tile isn't that bad a surface (although this tile is ugly) and I don't even mind the cast iron sink (I used to break coffee carafes too often). Of course all of the tile I like is sort of feminine. So yes, we're clueless. The kitchen table is a '60s surfboard shape in orangey pecan with these chairs (the handmade needlepoint has been rehomed and they've been recovered and can be again): The other furniture (that we currently have) that will probably go in there is a stereo console that serves as a TV stand. The spouse could fight that but the spouse would lose--it's hard to find a record player in a drawer! It is nicer in person--has spectacular walnut veneers on the sides and top. We'll have to get a new couch and I plan to get my papasan chair out of the attic (ssshhh don't tell!). Also maybe a 4' wide hutch of the 1960s French provencal orange maple variety. So, while I am totally off topic here on Rosie's small cozy kitchen, I am putting enough junk in this room to turn it into a small cozy kitchen! aHA! So, medium wood tone cabinets tucked into a gloomy windowless corner of a great room. (There will be skylights if I can't somehow get clerestory windows in there.) We may do an exposed beam type of ceiling but I'm guessing we won't have enough light to wood panel it. Yeah that's right. I want wood paneling and I'm not ashamed to admit it! If we do go with a taller ceiling then we can have taller windows and maybe a little more light feeling back in the hole. Appliances, well, I am cheap so I'll be reusing my black dishwasher, but I am ready to retire my black fridge which wasn't supposed to survive the last remodel. I don't really care much what it is; it just has to go and it has to fit. We may end up with a builtin--it's just too soon to say since I don't have my kitchen walls nailed down yet. All I know is that it's goin' in the hole! I have no style.

I buy liners from Bed Bath & Beyond and pitch them when they start to look even a bit grungy. They're inexpensive. My favorite shower curtain is by Matouk <https://www.matouk.com/bath/shower-curtains.html?mkwid=sDz9yq6RL&pcrid=193437144706&pkw=matouk%20shower%20curtains&pmt=e&pdv=c&prd=&gclid=CjwKCAiA7ovTBRAQEiwAo8dPcdfhGyCh2CFiwCrf12OYiG_wWt2ala8KgbcOVx-Q_h2mT14LxhEnfRoCYhEQAvD_BwE> Yes, the ARE expensive, but they last forever and are such good quality. They are simple and they wash beautifully.

I think that's called chip carving, and I'd guess it was from Burmah, Japan, SE Asia somewhere? That's pretty vague, sorry! It's nice!