I have dozens of lavender plants in a hot, dry climate. They are all planted surrounded by rock mulch and/or near stucco walls in poor, sandy soil. Some get sun all day and some only get morning sun. Some I decide to water, but most survive on nothing for months at a time (once established.) They all thrive, so I don't think your location is the issue as much as your timing.... in the heat of late spring/summer, nothing wants to be planted. It's stressful. I would just leave them alone and see if they recover. With that said, they do appear to be planted quite close to the fence... If that plant wants to grow a foot in each direction, you're going to have issues (unless they are further back than they appear.) How big is that bed and what type of lavender is it? It seems you only would need one centered in that area, but I don't grow that type of lavender. (don't think it's hardy here?) Finally, is there any chance you are over watering?

The floors and fireplace are beautiful... congratulations. I'm not feelin' the gold counters since the fireplace is reading soft gray, a little creamish gray, and rose to me. I'd go in one of two opposite directions on this. Either soapstone to tie into the natural more rustic materials or something with a whiteish ground that will work with a slate backsplash. Love the idea of a slate (ie Fire and Ice) backsplash or quartzite BS in there.

Glad you have enjoyed them - I had a good time rediscovering them all over again as I flipped through so quickly. I'm going to see if DH or my MIL can take the kids away for a few hrs. so that I can enjoy them over a cup of tea in peace & quiet & plan some more. I think that I really noticed some recurring theme's in what I like - especially color wise w/ all of the green, purple, pink combo's. In fact the page that says Floral Essences w/ a pic of the lady in the green dress is about to help me round out my color palette for downstairs! Her green dress is similar to my LR wall color. Her basket: close to the shade of brown that I've chosen for the top 1/3 of my kitchen walls. The brick wall: My house is brick I was trying to pick a red for my DR but the consensus on the forum is that the deep reds I liked were too dark for my dark trim BUT when I saw that pic I thought "Why not a color similar to the flowers in her basket?"! The whole pic flows so I know it would look good in my house as I already have so many colors in the layout. Color inspiration can be found where you least expect it! And it looks romantic but still earthy. As for my organization: That's a long way coming but thanks! I just used a 3 hole punch one weekend & just shoved my tear outs into 2 binders that I found laying around. I slipped a piece of blank white paper between each article to separate them. I still have tons to add. Soon I will begin looking for some decadent binders to organize them in. A few for decorating, gardening & entertaining. Right now they're all mixed together w/ no rhyme or reason. I need to add the little white thingies to the holes to reinforce them & I've learned that if I break the binding of the magazine I can easily pull out an entire article out w/o having to use scissors to score the pages & risk an uneven tear.

Hey lissa: the link to your drawing actually just brought me back to this thread . No drawing. It appears that you will have a large rectangle with a single door to the porch /office. Is the kitchen then going to be w/o any windows? Mine is as it is in the center of the house. You will certainly have lots more room when you close the window wall and have cabs and counters all along there. Also it seems that if you make the door to the porch/office as far to the DR end wall as possible that will get you more wall space in the kitchen if you put the fridge on that end of the cabs as you plan. They have of course fridges with panels that look like furniture so it would blend in. Also is this your only eating area ? If it isn't then you could do an island w/ eating area and incorporate the whole DR area into the kitchen. I really would like to see the drawing to scale and if you repost this so the real talent for floor plans can look at it , it will benefit you way more ! I am an amateur compared to some of the folks on here. c