Deanna, My Braveheart is only in its second year and it did suffer badly from that big Easter Freeze. In fact, I was starting to get worried about it, but recently it has snapped out of its post-freeze funk and is looking like the rose I was so excited about last summer. However, like my other frozen roses, it is a bit shorter this year. Just hasn't had time to get back fully into its regular growing pattern. Presently it is about 3x3, but I think it should grow to be closer to 4x4. That said, I can report that the blooms are a lovely red that stays red; it blooms fairly regularly (hopefully even better next year--if we don't have another horrendous freeze!), and the blooms are long-lasting. It's been very hot here recently, but it handled the heat quite well--a bit of a burn around the edges, but nothing too serious. (I have other roses that just about burned up completely in our 100+ heat.) As for disease, it had quite a few problems as it struggled to recover from the Big Freeze, but now that it is thriving again, I'm seeing very little disease. That is how I remember it from last summer. I think last year I sprayed it a couple times in the spring and a couple times in the fall, and that was all. I'm so happy it is returning to "normal" again because I really, really like this rose. I think you will like it. Kate

We have dark wood trim in this house and our previous. I tend to stick to more earth tone colors rather than darks. Our current living room/dining room is latte from Restoration Hardware. In the old house our dining room was a turquoise blue and it looked great with the dark trim and hardwood floor. We are also painting two bedrooms and keeping the dark wood trim. One will be a pastel blue (Atmosphere Blue from RH) and the other a very pale pink (Petal from RH) Any contrast will be enough. I would just stay away from dark brown or red shades. The trim could be a stained oak. Ours is mahogany.

Linnea, that white is horrible in your very rich and wonderful kitchen. Honey...once you go to the dark side, you'll never return my young Jedi friend...oh wait that was another life. Umm where was I? Dark trim. This is a mix of half black and half dark chocolate brown...we have it EVERYWHERE in our home...it's fabulous with rich copper reds, burgundy's, greens, yellow, pumpkin...any rich earth color rocks with this trim color. I will never (ok maybe not never, but not soon) do light trim again :) Don't focus on what's in this room, just focus on the fact that it's mostly a green base color with accents of green: Window trim and paneled wall are both dark with amber gold walls Bad pic, but copper colored walls, leaning towards that red tone in your counters, with the same trim color: Hopefully it will help you think about shifting to the dark side...believe me...we have better parties at Darth's house than we ever did with that boring old Luke :oP

Thanks Design Interior South for your comments and reference to “boob lights”. Ha haha ... I am definitely replacing them now! Yes I’ll keep the tile floors but will likely put rugs on them. Staircase...yes needs to be updated for sure. I got a few quotes and it’s nearly 4000 to paint. I can get new spindles and posts for this much which I think would make a bigger impact than just painting. Happy to hear if you disagree. Re the kitchen, I’ll be getting a white/cream quartz countertop with an overhang plus changing the backsplash to match/complement the countertop. Hopefully that will lighten up the very dark kitchen nook. The other option is to paint the cabinets white which I am still thinking about.