Zyperiris, I grow about 30 Of the Austin roses over here near Seattle. Mine were going downhill over time until in frustration I build two raised beds elevated 16" and filled them with 3-way garden mix and compost. In the 2 years since they have greatly improved in health and vigor! The only one I Can think of that I got rid of was a pale pink one that grew very tall and always balled from the moisture...will think of the name soon I hope (Geofrey someone?). Oh yes, I put my beloved Abraham Darby in a back corner because he just DID NOT show off well on the arbor down the center of my garden. His foliage was ugly and the flowers never last long then hang like old gray tissue. But when he is gorgeous he is phenomenal, and adore his pink grapefruit scent! At my previous house he climbed up into a flowering crabapple and was a traffic stopper! Jude the Obscure has done fabulous in the raised bed. and his color is much more yellow then when growing in our native soil. William Morris is a MONSTER...He wants to be at least 8' by 8' even when cut back hard! And the flowers do not last at all as cut flowers nor to they have a fragrance...but he sure is pretty when in bloom! Queen of Sweden is coming along now in her 3rd year. Munstead Woods...I Am WILD about the flowers on this one! Its one of my newest. Love Tamora, Sharifa Asma for their fragrances. Lady of Shallot and Lady Emma HAmilton were both pretty this year for first bloom then dropped their leaves and are regrowing them now. THey are both still settling in.So is Claire Austin. Her stems are pretty droopy still, but the white flowers are beautiful. I think in another year or two she will be a favorite. Graham Thomas, Teasing Georgia, And Windrush are other beauties for me. I really love Windrush when she blooms. I got rid of Othello this year...loved the fragrance but they nearly always had Vegetative centers and diseased leaves. I have other older ones I have lost the names to (Probably all pink ones) and especially since moving them wonder what the heck I have! Oh yes, I can comment on James Galway. I put him on a back fence and kind of ignored him and then am struck by the beauty of the roses when they bloom. THey shade from pale on the outside petals to deep rose in the middle...a lovely effect. Ugly leaves though. I do not spray any of my roses unless Hubby hits them with copper spray when he does the peach tree in late winter...didn't happen this year. Some have diseased leaves but are not planted in prominant positions. I visit them, enjoy their flowers and then move on. Benjamon Britton is another one who's flowers light up the landscape, a lovely deep coral raspberry. CHarles Darwin look a bit like yellow kleenex drooping on the branches. NOt sure it will be a keeper for me...maybe one more year to prove its worth.

Javachik--thanks for posting! This gave me a much needed kick in the pants. And your daughter is beautiful! This thread totally captures my m.o. I considered starting a similar thread a couple weeks ago, but I got distracted.. ;-) Lately, my MBR is the unending 'work in progress.' I spent several months shopping for a new duvet cover, then finally gave up (couldn't find the colors I wanted) and purchased a regular comforter. It took me two months to put the new comforter on the bed & store my old duvet covers. For about a year, I've intended to buy new chairs to replace the wicker chairs at the foot of the bed. I finally ordered some a couple weeks ago, and DH assembled them last weekend. Now I need to work on replacing art in that room. I framed & hung prints over the bed yesterday, but I still need something to put over DH's nightstand. I promised myself that I wouldn't post to this thread until I'd made progress on at least one more task! So that motivated me to do a 'test run' of various framed prints that I have in other rooms to see if anything works in the MBR, and confirmed what I suspected (none of them quite suit the space over DH's nightstand). So I will probably order something tonight. This thread also motivated me to frame one of my uncle's drawings (I bought the frame in September(!) but just ordered a custom mat last weekend). I ordered custom wood blinds for the MBR in November(!), and they're still in the boxes in the sunroom. My goal for today is to decide whether we can hang the blinds ourselves, or whether we will hire a handyman. I couldn't hang them when they first arrived because I had major neck pain in Nov-December, but that subsided in early January, so it's no longer an excuse.

So let me touch on the hex tile floor that he did. Normally, with a good tile person, the floor is done first, and then the wall tile and the curb tile is laid down on top of it. One, it hides any of the jagged cuts, and two, it offers a bit more waterproofing since the water hits the wall tile instead of flowing down into the grout joint. grout is not waterproof. It looks like he put the actual wall tiles down onto the tile in the back corner, but up front here w/the curb tile is, he did not. (or, he may have come up short) Looks like he would have had to make tiny little cuts to fill this joint along this outer edge. (See Pic 2) He would have had to cut a bunch of half tiles and place those one by one up against this curb. Takes a lot of time. He prob didn't want to do it. Looks like the floor pan is just a half of an inch too wide for this tile layout. He was supposed to make small cuts to fill in those spaces. Have him remove the tile up the curb, cut some small marble pieces to fit in there, and lay the curb tile back on top of the floor. Here's mine so you can see what I'm talking about. the left portion is the curb. you can see where the small cuts were made up against the subway tile. Looking at this picture, it's not a horrible job from this angle. the layout looks to be ok. Up close, I do have issues w/the grout clean up, the pitting, and the overall messy look. with this type of wavy, handmade-look tile, the grout has to be wiped up carefully since the joints are uneven. These 'holes', need to be packed w/more grout. water will find it's way through there Have him go back and clean up overpacked grout joints and fill in all of these holes, wipe clean. Ditto all of the corners and all of the haze. The grout clean up on the marble tile is also a poor job. needs to be rewashed. also, grout should not be done in the vertical corners or any change of plane. should be a 100% silicone caulk in the same color as the grout. this is important in the joint between floor tile and wall tile. Do not make any final payments until all of this is done or until you're happy.

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