unleess you give us your name and password.. we arent getting past the sign in page.. and i dont recommend such WAG.. ants take advantage of already dead wood.. they rarely... kill things.. IF they are ants ... and if you have all this dying.. why are you replanting the same thing??? one of the big problems.. of a vast monoculture.. like a long line of boxwood .. is that once you have a problem.. its going to work its way thru the whole ... any chance.. since they are sounding overly mature.. that these used to be in full sun .. and now they are struggling.. as the deciduous trees have cast them in shade??? and even worse.. are the trees maples???? have the ever been rejuvenated??? perhaps i missed it in your flurry of posts.. but are you new to this garden... ken

luckygal - Wow, so many great suggestions, I don't know where to begin! Thank you so much! I like the idea of marrying the colors with the fabrics, and carefully bringing in the secondary colors - I have a feeling it's going to take some trial and error to get the right balance of color, but that's part of the fun - right? The blue mason jars, fabric valance, and wood blinds all sound lovely! I'll play around with fabric prints and colors some more too. As for my style, as I look through my inspiration photos, it seems to be simple, clean traditional (lots of white kitchens), with some cottage and french country touches - nothing too fancy, fussy or rustic. I think modern traditional/cottage would be a good description. The rest of our new fixer upper house is a blank slate right now, so I think I need to be careful to keep the same feel in our fairly open first floor. Thank you again for your fantastic ideas! :) nosoccermom - That is a Very good point! My mockups were probably not very fair to H and I. I've added some "beadboard" to the mockups below. (Well, to the best of my ability!) Fun2BHere - So glad you like it! I'll definitely take a trip to the fabric store before committing to anything. And thanks for the ikat link! lavender_lass - You changed your vote! So, green walls/backsplash with tiny touches of blue - got it! :) I have so many different combinations of colors to try! (The key for me is going to be keeping it fun instead of stressing about it!) I'm 99% sure we're going to keep the butcherblock. :) Thanks again for your suggestions! andreadeg - You are too sweet! Thank you! :) I agree with you completely about the beadboard width. I think we definitely need a wide beadboard or v groove plank since our cabinets are so chunky. Do you think the width of the backsplash planks should match the cabinet stile and rail width exactly (3.5") or should be a touch bigger or smaller? That's a great idea to get the lighting installed and let things "brew" some more (I am itching to get the chandelier hung!). I think we'll definitely do that. Ah! Painting the inside of the glass cabinets! I love that! Thank you!!! The windows trim is Definitely getting painted, either Simply White to match the rest of the trim in the house, or Cloud White to match the cabinets. (The trim around the sink window will touch the cabinets, so I'm thinking maybe the kitchen trim should match the cabinets...what do you think?) Thanks again for your wonderful ideas and kind compliments! :) work_in_progress_08 - Thank you for your advice and vote! I too am a lover of soft colors. I'm strongly leaning towards keeping the kitchen palette light (with the exception of the black, of course). I think we will keep the butcherblock. The black counters are temporary (and budget driven), they are butcherblock that was stained black with india ink and sealed with poly. I want to eventually change them out with soapstone or granite. loribee - Thanks so much for your vote! teresa_nc7 - Thank you for your advice! I will be sure to visit the fabric store before making a final decision on the fabric. Where can I find examples of cottage geometric prints? That sounds intriguing! geokid - Thanks for your vote and that rug is very pretty! It might be a bit too saturated for the kitchen, but I'm going to keep it in mind for the den/living room. :) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * You are all so wonderful! Thank you again for your terrific ideas and advice! (I am so relieved and grateful to have your help to figure this out!) Some decisions made: 1) We are keeping the butcherblock! 2) I don't think I have the guts to go for the blue backsplash (my apologies to the G lovers!), so it will be green, or....perhaps even white (see below) 3) Green will stay as the main color, and I'll try my best to carefully weave in some blue (plus tiny touches of something in the red/pink family for a bit more warmth) 4) I think we need to go for a wider beadboard or v groove backsplash to balance out the chunky cabinets, instead of the traditional skinny beadboard. Backsplash width example: A great point was made that the white backsplash needed beadboard to get the true feel. I tried to add beadboard below ("try" being the key word!). We will be sure to try Both the green and white in real life before deciding. What do you think? Very rough Beadboard Mockups: If we go with "I" below, I think I'd like to have green beadboard for the butcherblock counter, and paint the back of the glass cabinet blue so the kitchen isn't too white: Thanks again, everyone!! :)

Symetry between upper and lower cabinets screams of a focus on form verses function. Both should be considered (have end runs end at the same spot, etc) but uppers and lowers all lining up in size....that's actually not the best way to plan a kitchen. Your cabinets should have some areas that line up (ie the tops, staggers on both sides if you're doing that, etc) but doors on the bottom and top...no way, that's not remotely necessary. This is the only full stacked cabinets I have...notice the bottoms are not remotely the same as the top...and yet it flows fine. The top lazy susan is angled, the bottom on a corner. The bottom cabinets are large (36" deep with pullouts) and a small corner and stack of drawers, but they don't match the microwave and cabinet, and on the other side I have 3 doors that add up to around 42" over my 36" lowers. Do you really think that does not flow???? Symetry is ok, but don't go nuts with it :)

Try and get Extension to tell you what, if any pathogens are present so you know what you are dealing with - it perfectly well could be something that is going to spread to the others. Or may be on one or more of them already, without having yet produced as visible an effect. The best thing would probably be to pop it out, put the roots - if not the entire specimen - in a plastic bag and take it to the Extension office. Bagging it up will reduce the chance of spreading something nasty like box blight during transport. Just don't leave it sitting in a hot car on the way there, you don't want to confuse the issue by cooking the plant before it is examined. You will have to be able to get there when they are open on weekdays. Otherwise none of the plants shown have the best leaf color, as though needing to be fertilized. But portions of box hedges developing disease problems seems to be pretty common, I would still be sure to pursue this aspect.