Hi kountrykitten! This is one of the plants I have on my foliage blog. Here's what I have experienced... Strobilanthes dyerianus (Persian shield*) is my favorite PURPLE plant, and is quite the attention-getter, even for non "plant people." It shows its' best color when in dappled light from mid-morning to afternoon, then direct sun earlier or later in the day, like under a large tree with pretty high lowest limbs. Just early morning or late afternoon sun is the next-best thing. When in doubt about its' placement, lean toward more shade. Too much sun will turn the leaves green and/or gray, while less than optimal amounts of sun will just result in smaller leaves and slower growth, with no affect on the color. This is also a thirsty plant, but a bit more forgiving than Coleus, and usually rebounds well from even profound wilting, although that would ideally be avoided. Easy to propagate via water-started cuttings. Roots take 2-5 weeks to form, depending on cut location and weather factors. Hardy to zone 9 although it will die back to the ground when frosted, or easy to save as a house plant over winter if you don't mind it's nakedness. A potted plant takes up a lot more space and I usually only have one and save the rest as cuttings in water. Even though it's plenty warm in your house, the change of sunlight combined with the dry indoor air almost always cause this (potted) plant to go semi-dormant (sleeping.) If you are going to bring one inside, I recommend removing almost all of the leaves first, because that's easier than picking them up off of the floor later, and they can get crumbly when dry. Leaving 3-5 leaves at each growing tip will be plenty. Let it get a bit more dry than when it was outside actively growing. When frosts are no longer a danger, you'll have a LARGE plant to put outside, and it will fill out with beautiful new purple leaves within a few weeks, especially if repotted when replaced outside. Don't be shy about trimming the roots. Your plant sounds perfectly normal. HTH!

Hi, Liz2 Congratulations on your building adventure. As a disclaimer, I need to admit that I am strongly influenced by traditional design and architecture and am not particularly fond of modern design and I see quite a bit of modern in this floorplan. The Good: The View: If you have an amazing view towards the rear of this property it will be highlighted by the walls of windows and vantage points of the great room and breakfast room. The Secondary Bathrooms: I'm not sure of the dimensions, but they look to be of a good size. I enjoy a bathroom that I can move around in and not bang my elbows on walls and doors while showering or blowdrying my hair, etc... The Master Bathroom: I like the corner windows with the vanity. I find natural light an advantage for applying makeup, grooming, etc.. The Not So Good: (please consider that the following is only my opinion and is not intended to hurt anyone's feelings or needlessly criticize. Just commenting on what strikes my attention when viewing this floorplan) -Lots of angles. More angles and corners drive up the cost of building. If this is not a problem, great. But if you're on a tight budget you might want to spend the money on other things. -No entry closet for coats. Depending on where you live (snowy region, etc..) you might want to have a closet for guests' coats. -Entry way. This looks awkward to me. Almost like an airplane runway. Also the angled rooms on either side of the entryway look odd. It might be difficult to arrange furniture in those rooms the way you would want, due to the odd angles. -Distance from garage to kitchen and laundry area. In your mind walk through bringing in groceries and such from your car in the garage to the kitchen or laundry area, both of which are the usual places to store supplies. That would be quite a ways to haul heavy or bulky items, dodging around corners and furniture. -Laundry room. I'm not a fan of interior laundry rooms. Venting the dryer over that large of a distance decreases the efficiency of the dryer and makes cleaning the dryer ducting a nightmare. Having natural light and an exit to the outdoors (for possibly air drying clothes outside, etc..) are important factors for me. -Pantry. The narrow width of the pantry makes it almost unuseable. Unless you plan to only hang things on the long wall that runs along side your bedroom, all of that is wasted space. -Closets in secondary bathrooms. I am not a fan of having clothes closets in the bathrooms. Unless one has a killer ventilation system I find that clothes get mildewey and musty very quickly from the humidity of the shower and tub, even when the closet doors are closed. -Master Bath and Closet area. One of the closets and the toilet area share the same problem as the pantry. Too long and narrow. Lots of room that is used only as a walkway. Wastes a lot of space, etc... -Kitchen. You should post your layout for the people over in the kitchen forum (if you haven't already). They are genius at planning a kitchen that is lovely AND efficient and easy to use. Again, these are only my opinions and are worth only what you think they are worth in this matter. If they have helped you any, I'm glad. Good luck on your homebuilding adventure. Stumpy

Oh Dearest Buehl ! You did it again and I am soooo grateful! Using your advise on one of the posts about missing posts, I used the "site:ths.gardenweb.com" along with the word "Overwhelmed" and my post popped up first on Google's page! I promise! I promise that one day, maybe not in the near future, but one day..... I am going to be able to come here and offer advise, opinion or just an atta boy to someone else who is overwhelmed in the middle of a kitchen redo, just like I've been helped with such wonderful words from all of you! Shelayne, Bless your heart...Thank you, sincerely....Thank You! LasCaTx, Thank you! I'm so glad you said that.....that you don't think it's as dark as you were picturing it. Me either! And bruuuther, is that a load off my mind, at least for right now. :) To read what happened to you, I got shivers...like it was happening to me all over again! Wonder if that's considered "Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome"? Not making light of PTSS in ANY way but when I read here of others having similar problems I actually feel myself tighten up, like I did when I read your story too. You said "Only an insurance company would consider ripping out walls and slab foundations to find leaking pipes you couldn't know were there to be regular maintenance" OMG, We've said something similar so many times since this happened! Regular maintenance means you can access it rather easily or at least with not too much labor/expense, to check on it, maybe once a year, once every two years. Were we supposed to jack-hammer into our foundation on a regular basis to make sure our pipes were still pristine and not rusting out? LOL Or, as my hubby is now very fond of saying when he gets on his soapbox about our insurance company : "That F*&%^* company will step over a dollar to pick up a dime!" The insurance company could have reimbursed us for the plumber and the work from the beginning and saved almost three more weeks of the water continuing to leak, causing more damage. It was during that almost three weeks that the mold and mildew started to form. It's the mold/mildew remediation company the HO insurance HAD to end up paying for.....The remediation of all the mold, mildew, asbestos, air quality testing, fans, humidifiers, special disinfecting agents, saws and other woodworking tools to remove studs in the walls that were too far damaged and specialized dumping of mold/mildew/asbestos containment bags........ to perform all that work for almost a month.....I saw the bill: Almost $9000. As grandkidlet would say "duh!" Oh, our HO insurance also paid for the cameras, the sensors, the specialized laser/computer gadgets to find the leak......for three different companies to come out and find said leak. Leak could not be located. They could say positively there was water under the foundation but they couldn't locate the area it was coming from. Not that I'm happy, IN NO WAY am I happy to hear your story or the previous stories of it happening to others. But reading them lets me know there ARE people out there that will understand when I have these little mini-meltdowns. They've been there, the frustration of living like this, the frustration of dealing with all these different companies.....wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. Oh KitchenAddict, You are sooo right! It DID Calm me and I was able to get so much done this weekend and I can actually see a light at the end of the tunnel because everyone here, by posting, pitched in and helped me change my perspective, my priorities....and that's what I needed most. I walked through the kitchen a hundred times since Friday night (ok, maybe not 100 times but it felt like it as that is the main back door to get to the tools) and by Saturday late afternoon I didn't even give the color a second thought...it's as if it had been there the whole time. Not nearly as shocking as the blotches of testing we did on the wall that had me looking like a very confused parakeet. *blink blink* And to add a plus to a plus, we had almost 2 full gallons left of my favorite paint of all time...my go-to paint when it comes to ceilings, trim, porch furniture, etc..... Pony Tail in a semi. So what the heck, we tried it on the ceiling of the kitchen and I'm in love! Most folks think the chip of the Pony Tail paint makes it look really dark but when we used it on our bedroom/bathroom trim, everyone thought we had used an off-white/Navajo white. The Pony Tail on the ceiling of the kitchen actually 'calmed' the whole room down if you can understand what I'm trying to say. So we are going ahead with it and using it on the underside of the bulkhead over the pass-through, on the lowered ceiling of the eat-in area of the kitchen and of course, the ceiling. You know, you are so right...now that I think about it. You said the color is versatile. I was sitting here thinking of some of my decor from the damaged kitchen and I'm thinking that almost everything I had in there...decorative platters, little framed art, etc. can go in this kitchen with this color. This color could almost be considered a neutral...if one likes bold neutrals, that is. lol Neighbors? Ooohhhh noooooo, not even close....I've seen your magnificent kitchen. I'm what they call 'on the other side of the tracks'. lol I'm in the neighborhood of the 1065 sq. ft. 56 year old tract homes, every fourth house has the same 3 bedroom/ 1 bathroom floor plan ('cept ours cuz 35 years ago the previous home owners added on a large back bedroom/bathroom/small family room), making ours a whopping 1450 sq. ft. There are two types of folk in my neighborhood....those that hit the floor when they hear a loud bang or those that run outside to see what's going on cuz they're nosy. *smile* So even if I won the lottery, in this neighborhood there is no way I would bother adding beautiful granite or soapstone, or marble, or a high-ticket range, or...well, you get the picture. It's the old "can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear" situation. But reading your posts for the last year or so, I sure would find it a wonderful day to sit across from you having a cuppa....but we'd do it at your house, k? *smile* Oh Julie, Words work miracles....thank you so much for yours. And for the hug! As I'm copying these latest responses I'm going to highlight in bold, so that I can see it right away when I glance over......"I am AMAZING and have done an INCREDIBLE job!".....My new mantra! *smile* BoxerPups, Always had a special place in my heart for Boxers. My first pup ever was a boxer...named him SkuttleButt. Cyber Magic....Love that! LOL But can you imagine? I was at one of my lowest points in, well, I can't remember when I felt so low. That was just last week. And here it is, Sunday night, paint is on the walls, the ceiling, all I have to get done tomorrow is all the little cutting in of the over-spray from the spray gun. Any other touch-up of the paint, like others have said on this topic, can get done after we have a somewhat working kitchen. If time allows I'll continue scrubbing the slate tiles tomorrow. That stuff is really dirty coming out of the box! I've got 110 down, 70 to go. My arms feel like lead weights tonight but it's such a good feeling to have accomplished so much! A tip: Never place drying slate tiles, 20 high, stacked on an old wood outdoor Adirondack chair. (wasn't purdy. don't ask. lol) Did some looking tonight on the computer for a decent price for a combo Slate Enhancer/Sealer. Talk about sticker-shock...ouchie! From the reviews I've read of several enhancer/sealers, I think I'm going to go with the Aqua Mix Enrich N Seal....unless of course someone has rave reviews of another brand? OMG, look what I've gone and done....I've created a mini-novel here! My apologies. But wanted to make sure the latest responses got acknowledged and to let you all know what a great, productive weekend we had, all thanks to you! Ceiling paint: Left under bulkhead: Dove White. Right: Pony Tail Washed Slate Tile:

cork cork cork it is wonderful. stands up really well to wear. it was the first thing put down in the kitchen ( cabinets etc went on top) and then covered with cardboard while everything else went on. Of course the edges were left to the elements. (the kind I got -- durodesign * needs to be sealed after. (they include the sealer) A few days before the sealer was to go on I scrubbed twice with warm soapy water and rinsed well. Came out as clean and lovely all over. Actually the water just wiped right off. Duh! cork doesn't absorb which is why they use it for wine bottles Really easy to look after including cleaning up from the cats who have to "catch" their dinner from the plates and drop it onto the floor before eating. apparently the art gallery of ontario has cork floors and those must get quite exposed to snow and salt in the winter Here is a link that might be useful: cork floors