My gardens here at the Cottage aren't quite up to that type of admiration yet. I did get some compliments on the photos I took of the main bed last year though, which did make me feel very good! My grandparents used to get people stopping to take photos of their house in spring, it was surrounded by rhododendrun and azalea they had planted in the 60's, so they had grown as tall as the roof on the porch and garage. It was quite striking. I wonder now and then if the new owners kept them or not-I do know they were divorced a few years after buying the house and he lives there now (gotta love facebook, lol). There is one house I have always admired the garden at near our old house. It's not a big garden, just a nice bed around the front of the house/walkway, but it blooms from spring to fall and always looks so perfect. I've seen an older woman tending it sometimes, usually dead heading or cleaning out weeds, but never had a chance to stop (it's on a very busy road with no shoulder) to tell her how lovely it is. I even google streetviewed the house when doing the original gardens here hoping for inspiration-too bad the streetview image was from WINTER. I know she has daffodils, tulips and daisies, but I can't recall what else I've id'd while passing at the moment....

Our contract is fixed price with allowances. Our builders approach is that changes in things like tile or lighting fixtures that don't change the work involved for him, are no issue- we are paying the difference in the cost of material. Obviously, if we make a change that results in more labor, this would be considered a change order to be negotiated as everything else was sorted. As an example, if we change from a simple, tiled backsplash in the kitchen to one that has much more elaborate patterns and an increased time to install, then I'd expect the builder to ask for a change order to cover this. To the OP, sounds like a discussion with the builder would make sense- for some areas, it would seem that a process could be worked out to at least help you understand the relative differences in the choices you're looking at? This could be done in a way to preserve the approach this builder seems to have with his suppliers but give you some information to help with your decisions? Maybe it's time to ask the builder to meet you at the tile store to make some progress?

Thank you everyone for your suggestions! I apologize if I did not make it clear in my post what I am trying to do....the bedding is brand new and I am looking for a color to paint my master bedroom. (Currently the master bedroom is painted off white because the previous owners never painted an actual color). I want to paint my bedroom a color that will go beautifully with the bedding BUT whatever color I paint the bedroom, I want it to flow well with the whole wheat out in the hallway. I am afraid that whatever color goes well with the bedding, might clash with the hallway. Many of you are mentioning sage green...downstairs in my living room I have BM's Dried Basil which is a very nice sage green and it goes very nice with the whole wheat foyer. I do have that small block pillow shown in the pic above (the one with the blue square on it) however I don't have anything else blue in the room. I am not sure choosing blue for the walls would work. There is absolutely no blue in the rest of the fabrics. It seems to make sense to go with either gold or green...I just have never seen a green room with bold red fabrics before. Will it look like Christmas?

My DH has a variety of hobbies like Astronomy and metaphysics. He reads more than anyone I’ve ever met and loves his gaming time too. Telescopes and binoculars aren’t cheap, but they are his prize possessions. None of it bothers me, I just wish he had more time to indulge in it, especially the astronomy. On the flip side, I crochet and he’s very supportive of that as well. I can’t tell you how many times he’s been willing to make a pit stop at one of my favorite yarn shops so I can browse a bit. I have an ex who would selfishly hog the tv to watch his sports and fish none stop (when the sports weren’t on). I said “see ya” to that! It’s one of the many reason’s that he’s now my ex.