OUCH Faye - that's an expensive perennial. What about campanula 'Sarasota' - anyone? It overwintered fine in a pot but was barely there in the garden. I was surprised that the yellow 'proven winner' shasta daisy overwintered, ('Banana Cream?') but it seems to be a total bug magnet compared to the other shastas. All of the blooms are disfigured. Here is a link that might be useful: (My Place)

I can speak to the PGM from personal experience. We've had one at the lake house for about a year. Things I like about it: The burners give a nice range of cooking options. The 15K large burner, while not volcanic, is adequate for almost any cooking short of stir fry or major league searing (multiple large steaks on a large pan). The two dedicated simmer burners go very low, enough that I can cook polenta and keep it steaming but never bubbling. The cool blue lights on the control knobs. Mostly just for looks but does make it easy to see where the knobs are set from a distance. The "shot peened" SS finish around the burners. Definely shows stains and fingerprints much less than standard SS. It's not bulletproof though: one of the first things I did on the cooktop was to do some high heat cooking without bothering to wipe up some oil that had spattered around the burner. The result was burned on brown spots that did not come off with anything I tried. However, an email to Dacor was quickly responded to, and the recommendation to use oven cleaner took the spots right up with no damage to top. Grates are heavy, stable, and continuous to allow pot sliding. Things I don't like: Burner layout. I would have preferred the 15K burner to be front and center, rather than front and left. The left side location compromises smoke capture versus the central location, and I do get spilloever when searing hard (using our 600 cfm VAH hood, about which I've posted several times). Also wish at least one of the simmer burners was in the rear row of burners. If I had to simmer two pans, I would have no access to the rear left and center burners. The non-shot peened SS finish around the control knobs is hard to keep clean-looking--but that's true of all SS finishes. Overall, I have been quite happy with it. It's not a high end range, but for the price I think it's a good solid cooktop. Otherwise I can only comment on what we've chosen for our renovation of the main house kitchen, which began last Monday. We went with the Therm columns. Loved the fully integrated look. Liked the ability to combine fridge and freezer sizes (we did 30'' and 18'') unlike the SZ 700's (only 27'' available). Did not want to take a chance on delayed release dates for the new SZ BI series. Same concern over the Miele columns, and furthermore couldn't justify the close to 50% higher price vs the Therms, for extras like WiFi monitoring. The install does look like it will live up to expectations: I've already had complaints from my plumber about having to bring in water from the side, through the adjacent cabinet. I am hoping that paying the authorized Therm installer to put them in ($750!!) will avoid problems. Didn't look at your other choices, was focused on fully integrated units. We're also doing Franke fireclay sinks: Orca for main and a 15'' rectangular for prep. Also went with Miele DW: in our case, Excellas. Based mainly on the positive posts on GW, and the feature set. Hate that we got nailed with the price increase: no one warned us and we could have placed the order a week earlier if I had known. Hood: I've posted extensively on them. Short version: we're using a custom Modern Aire 64'' hood liner inside a range alcove over the 55'' Lacanche Cluny 1400 range. Fantech FKD 10XL blower and LD10 silencer to be mounted in attic using 10'' duct. Sounds like we thought alike on many of these decisions. Good Luck!!

it looks like gold and bright blue? I have a few thoughts many people like to match sets like these, I also have many cool individual pillows i can make sets of, if you prefer. let me know!

Again, I love your house. And agreed with Current Resident, please banish the word "dated". Your home is wonderfully detailed. And kind of like your kitchen and bathroom- I rather like it as is. Clean up/trim up your landscaping. What do your have for fresh grow and/or color in the springtime when you are planning on putting the house up? Consider a good washing of your siding if you are not going to be painting it, and do it before you paint your trim. If you paint the trim fresh and leave the siding unwashed, it can look like a bit of a rush job. I'm not sure if the whole house needs to be done, but at least the back area where the deck is and you can see the splash/kickup line on the siding in places. For sure paint the garage doors- it's the only spots I saw that showed obvious paint missing or damaged. I rather fancy that Potting Shed Red that Beth provided. I like it for the front door too.