"Stippling really is a love-hate relationship!" Therefore akin to the feelings people have about spiders or doubles or orange daylilies or whatevers. gonegardening, I saw LOTSA DOTS in that garden, too; I also saw it in a display of off-scape stippled blooms at our club's daylily show later this summer. I was so sure I'd recorded the names of those stippled ones, as some were unusual, and I'd not heard of them before, but I can't seem to find the list. At any rate, IMO LOTSA DOTS was by far the best of the bunch in terms of both bloom size and color contrast....the gardener whose garden had been on the tour was at the show, so, naturally, I promptly ordered it. :)...like floota said, there are people who want what's different.

There's so many variables to that question. It's almost amusing how many people are flat-out liars. They'll lie to get out of saying no, they'll lie to "not hurt someone's feelings" when the person may well do better to know the truth. They'll lie on their income tax. And then wave a Bible and say they're "Christians". LOL I call them "Buffet Christians". Pick 2 or 3 commandments and follow them at any one time. If it's a subjective matter, then I might sugar coat a bit that some might like it and some don't. If they want my opinion I'll give it to them. Sometimes a person needs tough love. They NEED to be told the truth. Sometimes as Joyful said, I'll ask if they REALLY want my opinion. Most know I tend to lay it on the line. I've warned most people enough times not to ask me a question they don't want answered. Some try to rationalize things. Like a time someone got into a fight over a dollar and looked for sympathy. Get real folks. There's times to pick your battles. There's several times both in the forum and elsewhere people looked for sympathy on a situation and when I felt they were wrong or out of line I told them so. I can't believe the people who justify it to make someone feel good. Essentially they'd go, hey, go ahead and rob the bank, that's fine. Or go ahead and not return that to them, they probably don't even know you have it. If someone blows up over giving an honest answer, I'll say something like "hey, you threw a tantrum last time you asked for the truth, you gonna do that again?" No need sugarcoating in that instance. Sometimes I'll even ask do you want the truth or do you want me to say what you want to hear? Especially if it's an issue of right or wrong, I will tell someone when I believe they're wrong. NOW, with all that said, there's one other point to make. I always try to get the whole story, or both sides to give an opinion. People looking for rationalization seldom give an accurate portrayal of the other side. That's what's so comical about a lot of these threads! When wife gets mad at hubby, his side is never portrayed accurately so the henhouse always clucks "go-girl" and same with "I got cheated at the store" or "the neighbor is using my lawn" or whatever. Sometimes they weren't cheated and maybe the survey says it was the neighbors' lawn or the hubby is allergic to the tuna casserole surprise so that's why he never eats what's put in front of him! JMHO :D

Ok... now I see why I thought your counters had green.... the name alone is kind of a hint! I still like your choices, but think I'd want some hint of green in your wall paint since it is not in the splash (again, hard to see color tones through a laptop monitor to be certain). If those do have a green tone, then the wall color can be anything pulled from your counters. Remodelfla's choice is a really fave look of mine. It takes it in a totally different direction, but it is absolutely lovely while being calm. BTW - since your counters have a lot of action in them, I would not do the mosaics behind the range.

starpooh - Once the backsplash is in I would like to post it to the Finished Kitchens blog erikanh - I let a few weeks go by and now I think I am over the fact that the kitchen is not symmetrical and am adoring the kitchen again. So much time and effort is spent into renovating a kitchen that you feel like everything has to be a certain way. I have also seen some of your kitchen designs for your own kitchen and I think they look awesome. You are thinking outside the box and I can't wait to see your results. redroze - I absolutely love your kitchen and will watch out for your finished results. I read a post where you said you were from Toronto, Canada. I am also from Toronto. May I ask which company built your kitchen? They did a great job.