I have let her be so far, Sheila. I’m pretty easy going about such things in general, but my HOA is not. They’re a real pain in the you know what! They haven’t said anything yet, but I’m thinking it won’t be very long. They even send me a letter every year, asking me to remove the “weeds” between my roses out front. I never respond, because they are annual seeds, and before long they are blooming beautifully. Nevertheless, they still send it ever year. To make matters worse, the house is in my family’s name. This means not only do I get a nasty letter, but so do they:( I really hate that! They do understand and visit often, so they know I keep the front yard presentable. I just detest seeing that letter in my mailbox and knowing there are two more just like it in my family’s mailboxes. I don’t mind the wild look at all. I just don’t have a spot to move B.B. to the back, and Antique Rose Emporium’s listing her as a “mannerly climber”, threw me off. I should have known, CA growth syndrome. Lol Lisa

Lrae...thank you, and I'm glad you enjoyed them. Rick....which ones don't you have? :) Ellie....I don't know if Ida has it or not..I think mine came from Gene Wynn in Florida. Let me check on it and if it's increasing nicely...I'll share a fan or two with you this fall. Jill...The DH and I basically just sat around the condo and relaxed. It was extremely hot. The girls enjoyed all the pools and the lazy river at the complex. I think they had 5 pools. And of course the beach. We did enjoy the beach late afternoons and night however. :) Thanks to everyone for your comments. Please feel free to add your own Munsons to this thread. Jan

Lyfia, I thought about your great idea and stood there and sized up the situation. I think that is beyond my meager capabilities and the chair rail would come right in the middle of it. I wish I'd thought of it before I put up the wainscoting, and maybe then I'd have had a fighting chance at it, but not now. Lukkirish, I will, thanks. Here is what keeps haunting me about this job. I have a leftover (from previous home) partial roll of wallpaper here that I adore, that looks fab with the Mucha. It's an arts and crafts pattern. I just keep coming back to wanting to use this paper. [](http://tinypic.com?ref=2woja78) The problem is, I don't have enough of it for the job, even with not going over the bathtub area. I have looked and looked and can't find anything out there like it. So the question is, could I put up narrow margin molding frames on the upper walls and put this paper inside them, then paint the paper's background color on the rest of the wall? Or the lighter beige\-peach featured in the first picture here? Or with the wainscoting would that look too choppy? Here is an example of a framed wallpaper panel: [](http://tinypic.com?ref=vkxae) What if I did it ONLY behind the Mucha and nowhere else in the room? What do you think?

Of course you are overwhelmed-10 choices is too many! Can you do a bit of a gut check: what do you envision in your space? (I like what sparklekitty wrote above.) RE: color... 1) Can you post the tiles you are hoping to match? If they are white/off white, which slabs are closest to your particular white? 2) On my monitor--It looks like there are 2 slabs out of the 10 that have more warmth/taupe/gold tones to them (option 7 & 10--maybe they're even labeled different Calacatta d'oro or Calacatta Gold?) I'm wondering if you can eliminate them if you prefer more crisp gray/black and white of the other 8 slabs? (Those 2 taupe toned slabs are actually my favorite, but are they yours?) I'm thinking 2 of these things are not like the other... RE: how to choose what piece for where Can your fabricator meet you at the stoneyard to help show you how they could layout pieces on the slabs you like? There are only certain ways they'll be able to cut the stone to get you all the pieces you need. (This was very helpful to me.) Right now you are looking at slabs, which have little to do with the final look you'll have from the smaller pieces you will see in your home. I'd prioritize which portion of which slab you like for your island (or your bath, if that is more important to you.) But just think about that one thing first. Then, do you like the pieces that remain for your other counters? I took some blue painters tape to the stoneyard to make my own (very primitive) "templates" on the slab it was easier to stand back and "see" my counters that way. Miscellaneous: Large areas of pure white with no veins will show etches the worst. Veining helps disguise etches. I would try to put the most veining on your kitchen island which would see the heaviest use. When I was shopping for our marble, I could find slabs with the tones I wanted OR the vein pattern/movement, but not both. Is one more important to you?