Just a note "Dio Tenaceous" earth is actually "diatomaceous earth" (aka "DE"), as it is made of diatoms. :) When you use it either for garden or pet, there are some cautions to take. First, always use "food grade" DE. Pool-grade DE is too sharp and can be harmful; it is not meant to be ingested or used on pets or plants where humans or pets could ingest (or lick). Fresh-water food-grade is best, but most organic gardening places and many online shops sell food-grade DE. Second, as with ALL dusts, please do not use so much that you can really see it or breathe it, and always make sure either to not breathe it and use eye protection if there is a wind (and cover your pets' eyes), or use a dust mask, etc. One way of distributing it is by using a pizza cheese sprinkler. Planting tomatoes: When you plant them, pick the leggier plants. Pick off the lower branches of your transplants, and plant the tomato at an angle / Various: Look up "companion planting" there are many plants that grow well together. If you plant companion plants at the base of taller plants, you will have to do less weeding, and you will water more efficiently. One example is planting greens between onions, or basil at the feet of tomatoes. Strawberries. Plant radish patches near your strawberry patches. The radishes will draw the lygus bugs away from your strawberry blooms. You can them vacuum them off of the radishes or use your organic chemicals there without hurting your delicate berries.

I would say no. I think the square rods send you off in another direction from your original vision. If lighting is truly the hardest thing to find in your town, have you considered looking online? Most lighting stores should be able to order just about anything from the lines they carry. There are SO any choices out there, even HD carries LOTS of lighting! When I renoed our first BR, I actually started with my faucet (Just cuz I got it at HD for a super deal), and then matched EVERYTHING to it! LOL I ordered nearly everything online (and 4 years ago from Canada, not so easy to do). My vanity handles (vanity was custom made to maximize storage- lots of drawers, and pullout shelf under sink) came from Germany, towel bars, paper holder, robe hooks from US, and shower from Great Britain! My light fixture was actually supposed to be a temporary fix (DH hates it), but the one I really wanted was just too expensive, this one came from a local Canadian Tire,(not sure what you have in US that is the equivalent to a Tire and auto store that carries just about everything 'cept groceries!) I looked at the finish, and lines of my faucet, and tried to echo that thin round rod in every other fixture. Probably no one else would notice, but I love it everytime I walk into the BR. DH hates the shades on this fixture...tried to find replacements, but lost interest after a while...once you're no longer in the midst of reno angst, some of the details become not so critical anymore...LOL

We are planning to use hooks in our new home. I'm thinking of either bear hooks - one of our bathrooms is going to be "barely a bathroom" or wooden pegs. They will be big enough to easily hold a bath towel...Our other bathroom will have an outhouse/forest theme, so hooks/pegs related to that will work..and in an "outhouse", pegs will be very appropriate. Casual. We are building a log home, so the more casual hooks will work well for us. Besides, it seems like no matter how much time I spend hanging towels on bars, they always look a bit untidy. At least hanging them on pegs - they always like they are supposed to be casual.. I hope everything dries well...it's just my dh and me, so we don't have a lot of wet towels. But I hope this peg thing will work. He likes the idea, though!

I'd mount on the lath and plaster wall simply because holes are easier to fix. And I do think it's worth it to get at least one end in a stud. I never have much luck with plastic anchors in my plaster walls except in the lightest of applications, which a towel rack isn't. Personally, I don't find stud finders to be of any use at all in my century-old house of plaster and lath, and I notice that the carpenters and plasterers I've hired don't use them, either. I find studs the way my carpenter showed me - by drawing a horizontal line with a pencil, starting about a foot from a corner, and then drilling along it with a narrow drill bit every inch or so until you hit a stud. I still have to repair some holes, though I always draw the line along the line of whatever I want to install. I've heard that it's smart to zig-zag up and down around the line, so as not to weaken the plaster, though I've never done that. Good luck!