Question:"Threedodsmom (waht a cute name!), what is the yellow flower in your fist picture? And I love the lush look in your second picture. I see some dark red in there. What are they?" Answer: standard button garden mum planted last fall, blooming now in July. A happy coincidence ! Dark red touches are Jacob Cline monarda, knockout rose new growth showing, and canna "Wyoming" leaves. Second Question: "Threedogsmom, I have those exact daylilies that are in your first picture - rust with bright yellow - a gift with no name tag. I always wondered but assumed they are just a variety of Ditch Lily. Is that right, or do you have some other name for them?" Answer: They are not the common ditch lilies - you can see a ditch lily in my second pic down, to the right, a tall scape towards the front/right of the bed. You can see more pics in the "poised for lily explosion" thread I started. I do not remember the name of the burgundy and yellow daylilies in the first pic, but they have multiplied very well in just 2 years ! Got at Lowe's.

lazygardens, Highway Stripe Orange is how my builder described the color too! He tried to make me feel better by claiming it was growing on him but finally admitted it was pretty bad. Scarlett, we used Ivoire for the ceiling and it's lovely. I took lazygardens' advice and painted some swatches on large white sheets of poster board and checked them at different times of the day. I ultimately decided to go with SW Blonde, which coincidentally is the color my painter has in his own house. He said he'd painted it several times in spec homes and liked it so when he repainted his house, he used it. That made me feel quite a bit better. Anyway, he repainted my walls this weekend and hardly charged me much for the change. It is SO much better. I was worried it might be too neutral, but it still has a golden tone in most light. I don't have fixtures in yet, but as I tend to prefer warmer light bulbs, I imagine the lights will only enhance the golden tones which is what I want. I'm very happy with it. If anyone else is going for that South of France yellowy gold color, I recommend trying it. I almost went with SW Restrained Gold which is one shade darker on the same paint strip, but I'm glad I went with my first instinct. It's perfect. Oh, and for those who asked, the finish was and is eggshell. No problem at all covering the orange color with the new golden color. I'd say there was about four days between paint and repaint.

Really, thank you so much. So many great insights, and the best of all is to clean up the room, and live with it for a bit. My mind was stuck in the 'got to make a decision while the tape/plastic is up' track. It never occurred to me that I could remask--don't ask me why. My only excuse is I'm feeling overwhelmed. I recently moved to Germany, I don't speak the language yet, and the simplest tasks are difficult. The paint store is so foreign. There are about 20 pre-mixed colors (which look universally ugly), tons of white, and little bottles of concentrated color--you get to mix your own colors. I'm sure this is a delight to a real artist, but for those of us who flunked kindergarten art class--it's a challenge. Oh the things I've learned here (wish I would have known the primer trick on the first coat....) NHB room gave me hope that a vibrant yellow can work beautifully. I'll put up some pictures and see how I feel. I'll probably experiment to come up with a soft, universal color to eventually paint the whole house. Another amazing thing is their paint is not washable. It's more like a milk paint that washes off when scrubbed. As the owner of 3 dogs, I do wash walls, so they will be repainted one way or another. In the meantime, I'll investigate the possibility of glaze because I HATE edging so much that I was about to paint everything white. I so liked the fabric choices Les came up with, that I'm going to post my sofa and see if someone can work some magic there. You people are fabulous. I appreciate the help and all the honesty. Walkin-- kak dela? and prost from the Fatherland. I went to a gathering last week and met a number of people from the old Eastern Blok--all old enough to speak Russian and lament that the next generation was going to be divided; in the next breath, cursing the Motherland--gotta love those Slavs. I knew whom it was immediately from your greeting. I've spent the last several years helping take care of my father who had Alzheimer's--what a horrendous disease. I had no energy left to even think about any projects. But, it was all good. I have no regrets, I spent precious time with my family, and my father and I grew very close on a new level. I feel fortunate that I could spend that time with them. I have a feeling, I'll probably be asking for a lot of help. I have acquired a new look: a very contemporary house, I mostly brought things that I wouldn't regret losing, and they are more traditional in style. I guess we could call it modern rummage sale: nothing fits, most of it is a cast-off, and it all needs to be done on a budget. (We had the WORST, most expensive move possible--nightmares upon disaster). So, doesn't that seem like a good challenge for the decorating milieu? I'm glad to see you here and I'd love to see some pictures of what you've done to your place.

Thanks for asking how it turned out. The cabinet maker turned out to be a bum; he's gone. Both BM and SW paint stores have been very helpful, and we went with a repaint with SW Pro-Classic Acrylic in White Dove. The general contractor found a new painter who sprayed the cabinets and doors on site. The general contractor also got another cabinet maker to finish the cabinet construction at a reasonable cost. (We still have to settle up final costs; obviously, it's complicated). Note in the picture that we changed the Tudor arch to a straight across hood over the stove. I'm not sure if I mentioned this previously, but the walls are Sherwin Williams Duration mixed as BM White Dove satin. All the trim is SW Pro-Classic Acrylic in White Dove semi-gloss, and it's the identical paint we used to repaint the cabinets. Two different painters, but the general painter recommended the Acrylic for the trim since it's more durable. Since Acrylic was one of the most common suggestions to fix the oil-based cabinet paint, we used it also. It's a perfect match, and it seems very durable.