Agreed, Paul, the colour contrast of your nudicaulis is startling, and very beautiful. Nudicaulis and hybrids are not happy in my company, Neither are chantinii or fasciata and their hybrids for that matter. I am not sure if it is the climate, or just me :( All the same, it is lovely to see pics of those that are happy and well grown. Thank you.

I got them (6) in late 2005. One of them was over 2 ft. tall last year and almost 3 ft wide by the end of the year. Here is another photo taken from my deck - about 50 feet from the sumacs. I believe it was taken in late June. They get 5-6 ft tall. I plan on pruning mine to look like Japanese Maples. I'm going to put some stairs in that will go between the two in the center. It does not look like it from the pic but the area of hostas in the corner is almost 900 sq ft. The hill is incredibly steep. I broke my foot trying to mow it 6 years ago before I started to fill it in with plants.

I think colorblind's tiles would look great with your black appliances, but just so you can see another alternative, here are my photos: Two of my current backsplash with 4x4 tumbled travertine in Vino Gold, and an earlier one of slate, which was too dark in my north-facing kitchen. The trav comes in shades which are not nearly as yellow as mine, and some with rose shades which might look good with your counter (at least on my monitor it appears they might). Good luck!

I see two lighting solutions. Put a large lamp on the console. Easy. Next, get a runner for between the console and the sofa. Buy a lamp for the round table, run the cord under the sofa, under the runner and then under the console to the outlet.