B, some of mine are 6-8 inches tall and some are between 12-18 inches tall. I just love them, and I love the cosmos sunset too. They are awesome seed producers too. Mary, I haven't had to worry much about the lack of watering I can do this year, we had 4 solid weeks of cool temps are rain almost every single day. I actually lost some plants to the rain and severe thunderstorms that went through. Fran

very fitting name you've chose, I am sure Jeff will love it. Now that you got it out of that crowded bed it was in you can give it some room, as I am sure it will be a monster. Good pic of the pooch, Ole was being good that day, really he has only been out visiting a couple times and that was a 4 hr drive each way and then on his leash most of the time at LotG. He is only 5 months old now. I have to add his registered name is Ole Giboshi Finnson ........"the Hosta Doberman" and is the hosta protector here.

When you first mentioned this idea, the color that popped into my head was a deep teal. I have a vivid image of the cabinets I recalled, but no recollection of where I saw them. They were in a magazine spread about a young couple. The wife had grown up in a home done by the same designer. The designer commented that when one didn't have a spectacular budget (by his standards), one could compensate with color. (I'm sure the young couple's budget would have been spectacular by my standards, but that's another topic. LOL.) Anyway, a deep, but relatively mellow teal is what I recall. It would be quite striking if the sight lines included black and white from a nearby kitchen. The Crown Point teal is less bright than the one I recall. Miles Redd used Farrow and Ball Hague Blue in a butler's pantry recently. It's darker than what I had in mind, but sort of the same neighborhood. Then there's this blue from a place in California, I believe: Here is a link that might be useful: Here's a teal from Crown Point

Finished! Here is before and after of the kitchen: Before: After: So we used general finishes water-based stain (rosewood) to darken the wood and take care of any wood variations, followed by a few coats of general finishes gel stain (georgian cherry), which really smoothed out the open grainy-ness of the oak. My husband wanted the color to be very dark, without any light/dark variation, but you can still see that it is wood. The gel stain is great, because you don't see any paintbrush marks. I applied the gel stain with a sock, and just rubbed it in (rather than wiping some on, and wiping excess off with another sock/rag). I then applied one coat of Aqua Zar water-based polyurethane in semi gloss, then a final coat of Aqua Zar water-based polyurethane in satin (because we didn't want it too shiny). I had heard that if you use several coats of satin only over dark stain, it gets cloudy. The satin over semi-gloss looked great. After much deliberation, I opted for the Aqua Zar water based because I wanted something without fumes (we have children/pets), and that would be quick. In retrospect, I think that I could have used an oil-based polyurethane, or even general finished gel topcoat, and it would have been fine. Overall, the project was very easy and came out great! Thanks for everyone who provided input! Diane