Yellow? Did someone say yellow kitchen?? Whee! It's the best! I'm on week 4 (or so) of painting just 1/2 of my kitchen yellow (barley, as rm said). Only half for now, because it is so exhausting and time consuming. I searched for the right yellow for about 6-7 months. It drove me nuts! The lighting in the room changes the color so much! I am wild about the barley color during the daytime. It is impossibly creamy without screaming 'yellow.' But at night, with the (incandescent) lights on, it starts to holler (not quite scream) "yellow, yellow, yellow!" I think I'll try cf lighting to see what that does. Those creams can turn really yellow as soon as the sunshine hits them. I see tons of kitchens that are called yellow, but painted cream (e.g. phila cream and precious ivory are a lovely yellow when the sun hits them). I"m also doing a yellow/black/white sort of thing. I have soapstone counters (which were blackish, but are now grayish), and will have subway tile with a black and white accent strip. Here is a pix (doors are just balanced in place, and don't have final coats on them yet). I think the barley needs 3 coats to look really rich, and the right paleness (it seems to get a bit paler as the coats go on). I can't see bungalow_house's photo. Rats! I really want to see it, but it appears to be gone. Can the rest of you still see it? :-) francy Here is a link that might be useful: My yellow inspiration

Ha ha! I was really just thinking about pouring a glass of wine while I chill out here. jamaraz, you know that you MUST continue to post pics along the way. (And identify with your screen name in the post) Nothing I hate more than going through the prelim step and then don't get to see the outcome! Thanks funcolors...more good info, and i'm def taking the plunge on the faux wood garage now, as well as finding a way hurry along the blue-green patina over the front door. And while structured topiaries aren't my fav either, I can see that having something taller than the typical potted flowers draws the eye to front entry. Curious, what did you put for the front walk/steps? The slate/flagstone needs a lot of repair and might need to be replaced anyway. CHEERS!

Hey guys the rain finally broke, and it is not hot as hell so we FINALLY got a chance to start painting and I had to take in process photos with my camera phone to shar with you guys. I tried to take the same angles as the before photos. Now the house is not finished. We still have not painted the doors or the trim and have not put up the window boxes yet. The trim is going to be cream and I forgot what colow we picked for the door. So here it is. It remarkably looks a lot like one of squirrelhavens rendition. I loooove elephant ears and I hope I do not wind up regretting planting them by the fron door even though we NEVER use it. I also used a paver mold to redo the walkway in the front. the brick that were then has made the planter on the side of the house. It loooks sooooo good even though it is not finished photos taken with a blackberry pearl cell phone!! Not bad for a camera phone!!

I have the problem of carbon building up quickly on the sparkplug. Can anyone tell me what causes this and how to prevent it or at least slow it down so I'm not continually cleaning it or replacing the spark plug during one season of mowing. I was once told that it's a problem with the fuel being too rich. I use the premium fuel; I do not use ethanol fuel in the mower.