You two sound very well matched! (As I've said before, your guy sounds like a real gem.) One other secret to making a marriage and blended family work: Always divide the inevitable problems into 'around you' and 'between you', and don't ever let the 'around you' problems creep into the 'between you' territory.

"If it takes a measuring tape to notice a problem, it isn't much of a problem!" It's a problem when you try to fit something into a space and find out it won't go. It's a problem when you put your slide-in range into place and find out that the front edges don't fit properly. Putting the tape measure to my overhangs prompted me to buy a different range that wouldn't show the differences. I did notice the difference (and it's less of a difference than BlackChamois is dealing with) which is why I bought out a tape measure in the first place. Measuring things and discovering problems now is a way to avoid more problems in the future. BTW, that exposed sub-top and cabinet at the range cut-out is ridiculous. What if you decide to change your range down the road? That really limits your options.

Lilyfinch, to be honest I wing it as far as the lines of the beds. I use an edger shovel and eyeball it. I want to be outside right now cleaning up edges and getting rid of sod by the fence but I injured my ankle at crossfit yesterday and I am beyond annoyed with myself. I had tweaked it Monday but Tuesday it felt fine, yesterday I did a bunch of skaters and boom! My ankle told me it was very angry. Sigh. The weather was gorgeous yesterday in the mid seventies so I sat on the porch and daydreamed about the changes I want to make. I REALLY want to find the black and white anemone corms for sale but the only place I can find online that sells them to anyone has been sold out for months on end. I find the hardest part of gardening to be restraining myself. I ADORE formal English gardens which are so full of boxwoods and single varieties planted in multitudes but then I also want a cutting garden with all kinds of blue-based reds and purples and whites and pinks. The other side of the house by the AC unit has morning sun until noon and then afternoon shade, perfect for my hydrangea obsession. Unfortunately the ac units drain so much water that it floods the bed, I rigged up a hose to pipe it away into the grass but not until I realized how bad it was, AFTER my hydrangea all got terrible blackspot, which is pretty rare on a hydrangea. They are recovering slowly. The five hydrangea here in early April are blushing brides. The Japanese Maple was $5 from Lowe's, it had frost damage from a late frost after things had leafed out so I snatched it up because I adore coral barked Japanese Maples. I didn't take many pics of this area, I thought I had but I just checked and no such luck. Here is a close-up of one of the blushing bride's from June And now, they had been so full and covered in blooms but the added water just wrecked them. The rose on the left is about twenty years old, and don't tell anyone, but I kind of hate it. My old co-worker gave it to me because it wasn't happy in her yard, she wasn't sure what variety it is, some sort of David Austin. While it blooms regularly for me, the blooms don't smell like anything and they fall apart within a day, and they are only about an two-three inches wide or less. Meh.

Perhaps a gray/green such as BM healing aloe or quiet moments? The BM strip is #110. One of the darker shades on that strip might also work since you have so little wall space. What is the color in your hall and living room? Maybe you could continue that into the kitchen.