Jenna -- I love that picture oruboris linked. When I first started my quest for hardware (more than a year ago) I found them. (None of their hardware would work with the style door I wanted, and they prefer to only work with people emulating the true icebox. But that is some gorgeous stuff!) About our slabs: (I guess) the way the marble comes out of the quarries is as one h-u-g-e block, 6' deep x 8' long x 4' high (let's say). And then from that particular block they slice the slabs of marble -- 5cm (v. rare), 3cm and 2cm. I have absolutely no idea how common it is for them to slice varying thicknesses from one block, but based on my totally limited observation it is v. rare! Every single lot of marble at which I looked (where all the slabs came from the same block) were all of the same thickness, either 3cm or 2cm. So that's what made this so providential for me -- the slabs which I knew right away (based on the coloring / veining) were "meant to be" for me were in both the 3cm and 2cm thicknesses. I'd figured we'd just be using 3cm for both countertop and backsplash, but as the 2cm was there I practically yelled "It's mine!" The veins don't match up (from the backsplash to the counters) but the coloring is the same and the general vein movement "matches." Does that make any sense? It is not jarring to the eye, plus, as I wrote, we are such clutterbugs it's not as if anyone can actually see the joint where they meet .... I know, I wish we weren't messy! Seriously, one of the smartest things we did was to get the marble backsplash. It's what I see the most of and, to us, it was worth every penny. LOVE IT! We knew we wanted to do a full backsplash (not a 2" backsplash) so it just made sense to us to carry it up the half-wall behind the sink. Plus, as you can barely make out in this photo, we have a bar-height countertop (of the same marble) which abuts the top of the sink backsplash.

halloblondie, you've got a nice start to your gardens--and don't worry--one of these days, you'll look around and realize you have a "mature" garden. If it's any encouragement, I like to joke that when I moved into this house back in the early 1980s, all my back yard had was weeds and sunshine. So I immediately planted a couple trees in strategic spots along the western property line--so there would be a little protection from that late afternoon "killer sun" that my zone 6 garden has to endure. However, I have to admit that the previous owner was evidently a talented gardener herself. I still am growing some of the plants (peonies, daylilies, hydrangeas, iris) that she left me, although they have been moved around a half dozen times or so since then. I basically started with the two garden beds she had and kept expanding them a few feet more --a little wider here, a bit longer there--and now, thirty some years later, those beds cover most of my back yard--which is fine with me since I have no use otherwise for a backyard. We will enjoy watching your gardens expand over the years also! : ) Cynthia--I had trouble getting the larkspur started. For two years I threw seeds all over the back garden and would just get a handful of rather pathetic looking larkspur to grow. So I started ignoring them, having given up on that project. Well, that handful of larkspur threw their own seed at the right time and by winter, all sorts of tiny larkspur plants were growing. At first I thought they were a new kind of weed, but getting behind on my weeding, some of them grew large enough that I finally realized they were larkspurs! Since then, I do nothing except when I pull out the plants after they are done blooming, I do shake a few of the plants over spots where I'd like more larkspur next year. They are now so busy re-seeding themselves that by spring, I will have to pull nearly half of them out so they dont' choke out some other desirable plants--but there's always enough left that I get a natural show for about 5-6 weeks in late May and most of June. Here it is July and I still have a handful still blooming out there--but I think this is probably their last week for this year. Siberian Iris--that's easy. They are tough and super cold-hardy--hardy down to -40 degrees! Gorgeous spring bloomers, no diseases, no care. You might be confusing them with Japanese or Louisiana irises that have greater water/moisture needs and probably don't like the sun as much as other irises do, but other than that I think they are all very cold hardy, but I've never grown Japanese or Lousiana irises, so I cant' say for sure about them. However, my mom grew Siberian irises in South Dakota, so I can swear by their cold hardiness. I treat them like I would any other perennial--no additional fussing at all. You do plant them in full sun, don't you? You must try them again sometimes. Sun and not too much water. That's about it. Now, as to Princess Diana clem--mine is always just barely making it. I think that western sun tends to boil mine. I had no idea she was a thug elsewhere. Have you got some pics of yours? I was afraid I'd lost mine during an exceptionally cold winter we had a couple years ago, but she is creeping back again--so I'm guessing it is the hot summer that is harder for her to handle. To all the other posters: I'm so enjoying all the gardens. So many different styles and combinations--and they all look wonderful! Kate

Proably because they would be a huge PITA to keep looking new, kind of like dark floors on steroids.

I'm considering possibly buying an old 80s/90s colonial-style house in my neighbourhood. The problem I have is nearly every house in the area has a front-garage - this is one of my pet peeves and I always feel ruins the appearance of the home, especially as I'm more pro-urban than suburban. However I really like the location of the neighbourhood, it's an affordable area and the community is really nice. Literally the only issue I have is this prevailing front garage issue in nearly every house, since there are very few rear laneways. Here's an example of the kind of house I'm talking about: My idea is to get a house I can convert the garage into living space and remodel the exterior to re-integrate it into the house design, and make it seem as if the home didn't have a garage. Then I would build a new driveway at the side of the house within the property line to a new detached garage located at the rear. Basically build my own "laneway". I looked up the zoning bylaws and it looks like this is allowed provided I don't go over a certain footprint of the house+garage based on a percentage the lot size. Just wondering if anyone has ever done something like this and if there are any sort of problems I could expect to run into? I would love to see some examples!