I typed this response below before I realized that you don't live in California, but Oregon! You can still have a mediterranean inspired garden further north, but will have to adjust your planting choices to reflect that you are still mediterranean influenced in climate, but too cold and often too wet to slavishly emulate a California mediterranean style. It can certainly be done, even so, as there are classic mediterranean style gardens even in Vancouver, BC, or along the East Coast, where maintaining drought tolerant mediterranean plants in east coast summer heat, humidity and rainfall takes extra work. Adapting a plant palette that emphasizes gray foliage, and avoids the lush and green will go a long ways towards establishing the look. If you are set within tall conifer woods or surrounded by lots of big deciduous shade trees, it may be a stretch to pull this off visually. Most classic mediterranean gardens are washed in bright sun, and would typically rely on overhead screens or everegreen trees to create some relief in summer. If you have a situation where you can create a walled courtyard, it might be far easier to create a landscape within to suit your theme, and relate the outside to the surrounding neighborhood if the mediterranean theme/illusion can't be sustained. If you ahve your heart set on a palm as part of the theme, a Mediterranean Fan Palm/Chamaerops humilis or Windmill Palm/Trachycarpus fortunei are two that would take your climate. The following is what I had started to reply before I realized you are so much further north... The remnant gardens of all of the California missions are but fantasy recreations, with little basis in fact. You probably wouldn't want to emulate the real thing, it would be too sparse, utilitarian and devoid of plants. Mission gardens were for work and agriculture, not aesthetics. Michelle has pointed you in a good direction as to books and info. You will probably find that it makes much more sense to design a mediterranean inspired garden full of plantings that reflect your climate. If you stay true to this, you won't include a lawn, or insist on the garden being at its peak in mid summer, when a mediterranean garden would be resting for lack of water, and waiting to revive with the fall rains. (This is probably true even for your location in Oregon, where most gardens still need some supplemental irrigation in summer and early fall, even with your reputation for so much more rain that here in California). Winter and spring growth and bloom, lots of plants that are naturally designed to conserve water in summer and survive would be the majority of the garden. I personally would not recommend a Mexican Fan Palm for the entry; too large and messy, there are many other more suitable palms. I'd consider using rosemary, lavenders, santolinas, phlomis, as backbone perennials in the garden. If you want to take a cue from moorish/spanish themed gardens in particular, then inlucing a few classic courtyard more water loving plants to be used as accents might include an orange or lemon tree and a small fountain within a walled courtyard. Using tile, saltillo pavers or decomposed granite fines as paving/non planted surfaces would also give a classic mediterranean feel. For me, there are several public gardens that exude this feeling. Visit the buildings and surrounding gardens of San Diego's Balboa Park, or State Street in Santa Barbara and especially the County Court House Complex. If you wanted to design a mediterranean inspired garden using California natives, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden above the mission further up the canyon is another great place to visit and get ideas. Also in nearby Montecito, the Casa del Herrero Garden is open to the public by appointment, and has great spanish detailing to the house and gardens. I would recommend seeing as much as you can, and formulating your own style based on what you like, rather than trying to emulate a formula for your new gardenI'm willing to bet there are plenty of good examples of "mediterranean style" gardens in your own community, especially if you live somewhere like Pasadena or San Diego. Well, as you can see, alot of the references will not apply as you don't live anywhere near Southern California, but taking in the sights and paying a visit might still be good for generating ideas to recreate the "sense" of a classic mediterranean garden. Planting things that can survive and still look good on your seasonal rainfall also makes good sense even if the style isn't medit in feeling. You won't have to work as hard to keep it alive in the next drought, nor spend as much time pruning things back that are encouraged to overgrow by too much regular watering out of the natural rainfall season.

Ooooh, I like this thread because it's about my area of the country! Kim's right, we don't see a lot of the brightly hued walls out here. You're more likely to see creams, whites and some tans. But, in the stores and restaurants, we see more of the brighter colors . . . probably because the tourists expect it and they're such fun colors. I LOVE Smi Smile's & Auntjens' rooms! To me, they have a Mexican, rather than New Mexican look to them, though, but they're gorgeous, nonetheless! I've been told numerous times that my house should be in a book or magazine on New Mexico homes, but I've always thought that they'd end up wanting me to paint my walls a bright color first. 95% of all the walls in my house are real exposed adobe and 100% of them are cream color. I guess most of us out here are rather conservative/boring ;~P with our wall colors! Painting turquoise around doorways and windows is very common out here, though. Turquoise is a sacred stone of many Native American tribes in NM and the color is thought to keep evil spirits out of your house . . . hence, this is why it's around the door and window openings.

Aw, shucks. It's just a kitchen! Seriously, thanks to all of you for your validation of our creative vision, our KD's brilliant drawings and our GC's flawless execution. minette99, I cannot tell a lie. Although I cooked quite a bit in ancient days when I was single (and wooed DW with a fresh-caught, home-cooked seafood meal on our first date), my day job is all-consuming so she does 95% of the cooking. Somebody has to pay for this stuff! starpooh, we are honored to be considered for the FKB. Questionnaire complete! Please count us in. To the rest of you who've commented: thanks so much, your kind words only add to our continuous enjoyment of this great space. We are glad we waited 12 years to do this. We have more income, better taste, the best KD and GC, and soooo many cool things that didn't exist in the '90s. To those TKO and not yet started: have faith, get clarity, and don't be in a rush. It's a process. It all comes together if you take your time.

I think the white quartz photographs better than it would look and feel in person. Plaster, wood, and terra cotta are all warm tactile materials and quartz would clash with this feeling imo. I’d look into a light limestone countertop if you’re ok with the aging properties or the light concrete you mentioned. I like teal and darker green zellige but I think you’d have to have it en masse (as in full walls of tile) for it not to appear choppy in your space. I would also consider Tadelakt plaster for your backsplash.