well,I love every one of them.They are all gorgeous,but,looking at your mini climber,I may have to change my plans of where I want to plant mine.I have it in a small pot right now as just got it the end of January.The looks of them canes don't much look like a mini.Guess they get a lot bigger then I thought it would.Its gorgeous tho,and I am happy I have it,just have to figure wheres my best place to put it. Jean

Molly3573-I did not strip the cabinets -clean /fill/prime- The base board trim is just taller base trim from Home Depot- I used the pre-primed faux wood stuff and I used a newall (sp?) post cut down for the corners of the island and corner guards for the corner of the cabinets to dress them up. The bead board was just the pine bead board sheets (4x8) at Home Depot primed and painted with the same. I did not glaze them like the cabinets. All attached with a brad nailer- small trim nails would work and a hammer-but take longer- hope this helps -adding crown molding really gave the best bang for the buck as an upgrade- good luck with your kitchen!

Hey Tinker, I am in Sarasota and will be installing soapstone from Creative also. ARe you still happy with your soapstone? I am about a mile away from Der Dutchman. I am using B&B Cabinets though on Cattlemen. ARe you happy with the shaker style cabinets? Might do a white with pewter glaze.... Thanks for any advice or comments you can share.

If you give a sharp tug to old ratty looking foliage it should come right off at the main body down at the crown. If you tug and it is fairly resistant to coming off it means it's not ready to detach from the main plant yet. Leave it alone and try again later. Leaving lots of short broken off leaves down near the crown invites pests to nestle in between the old and new foliage and water to accumulate. Best to clean the old brown leaves out by stripping them away from the crown just as you would snap a stalk of celery from the main body.........Maryl