Just keep them coming !!!--I live here in the northeast and it is wonderful to come to the Forum and see roses in bloom-- I have to wait another month. We all understand your love of roses. I too am obsessed. Florence

I'm sure I saw you post about those first two sales in another thread, so I guess you did know they were coming. And I got an e-mail about the Tomatomania sites and lists of varieties in an e- mail today, and I don't know if any of these are near you, but.... (Additional weekend events will be added soon; in Pomona (The Garden, March 13), Ojai (Flora Gardens, April 23-25) and Larchmont, (Larchmont Charter School, April 24th) our new LA urban location. And there just may be additional East Coast sales in the offing so stay tuned!) And below I've linked to their site for the main event places. So why am I in upstate NY where a blizzard is on the way getting these notices about Tomatomania each year? Because a few years back I was invited to do a presentation at Hortus Nursery in Pasadena where the original Tomatomania event was held each year and while they went out of business both there and at their Orange location, it's some of the folks who worked there who have kept the TOmatomania name alive and me on the list. LOL. Gary, who with his brother owned Hortus, now works for Armstrong Nurseries. Carolyn Here is a link that might be useful: Tomatomania Events

Sounds familiar. I am doing a creamy perimeter and cherry island kitchen, as well. The KD recommended for us to go a couple of shades lighter than the island on the floor if I wanted some contrast with the island, and for it to stand out a bit. My problem was that the resulting color did not match up at all with what I have going on in the rest of the first floor, which we did around ten years ago with Mirage prefinished in a light color. I really did not want to restain the floors in those spaces - not only have we already decorated, but the house has 8 foot ceilings in that section and I just thought that going dark on the floors would make the house feel less open and airy. But at some point, I can always restain the floors to match in there if I want. Anyway, I really agonized over this - I considered doing porcelain tile in the kitchen, but really didn't want it in the family room, too, which is part of a wide open floor plan with the kitchen. I thought of doing tile in the kitchen and wood in the family room -and that certainly would have been one possibility. After much angst, I ended up just putting in the darker wood in the kitchen and family room with a transition to the foyer and dining room. And you know what? After all that, the look of the transition turns out not to bother me at all (which is saying something ;) ). Unfortunately the floors are still covered by paper to protect them, so I don't have a photo for you. As fori points out , maybe it would have been different if there was a wider opening than just a doorway, or if the woods clashed, which was not the case. We also ended up going in the same direction with the wood. It turned out we had no choice anyway because the walls weren't completely plumb at one point in the old section. This way, we are running the wood perpendicular to the family room fireplace, which is what I wanted in the first place. At any rate, the way I look at it, I'd rather compromise on a few foot doorway than on an entire space.

Real, solid brass is such a beautiful colour! It is a soft muted dark gold and has a depth that nickel, chrome, ORB, etc. just cannot match. I really like all the finishes, when they are executed in a style appropriate to the material and if they are very high quality metals. In our living room we have a large wrought-iron chandelier, an antique brass fire screen, a footed brass bowl, a regency style cofee table with brass ormolu and an ornate old black iron stair railing. The adjacent dining room ("open" via cased openings from the LR and foyer) contains a very nice brass chandelier, a thin black iron curtain rod and sterling silver. On that same floor I have bathrooms with ORB and satin nickel (not in the same bath).... I don't know how, but somehow it all "hangs" together. Perhaps the most important element is to select something that looks right in its setting, and that is the difference between eclectic and mishmash. (Of course, any number of people may think what I have is a mishmash, LOL!)