I like my Can-O-Worms very much. I keep it indoor. Use coconut coir for the bedding. Feed veggie kitchen scraps. No meat or cooked food. It is a low maintenance bin. The worms do migrate up to the next level for food. They don't all go up. They do have preferences where they're the most comfortable. The trays have different functions. Some come with two trays and some with three. You start with one tray, feed until the tray looks like it has more compost then bedding, then you start the next tray on top. You then only feed the top tray and the older tray finish up. The worms will then move up to the new tray for food and then you can harvest the old tray and start a new feeding tray on top. If you have three trays then you can compost more food with more worms and get more compost. I have the two tray system. It's easy to harvest. I bring the trays outside in bright light. Put the finished tray on top of the working tray. Fluff up the compost. The worms remaining in this tray will move down to join the rest of their family in the working tray. Scoop out layers of worm-free compost until done. The compost is light, fluffy like chocolate cake crumbs. There are cocoons in this compost. I pick out the cocoons I see and throw them back in the working tray. I start a new working tray with coir, sand, and pulverized egg shells. I feed only in this new tray and let the worms finish eating through the old tray and migrate up. I harvest when the old tray looks like chocolate cake crumbs, sometimes every six weeks if I've been feeding regularly. Sometimes I go six months between harvests. I like the drain spigot. I do leave it open all the time with a container underneath to catch drips. There is always extra liquid when i feed watermelon rinds. I don' t add extra water or bedding. I dig a hole in the coir, dump in scraps and cover. No fruit flies. No mites. Occasional potworms. The legs are spindly and can tip the bin over if you klutzy and bump it too hard. The aeration screens at the leg housing can let liquid through. I cover the five leg aeraration screens with plastic because I didn't like the puddles of dark worm leachate on my laundry room floor. The trays can get heavy to carry around for harvesting. Wheels on the COW would be a big improvement. I prefer the COW over the Rubbermaid bins. I started with those based on "Worms Eat My Garbage". They were relatively cheap and easy to make. Those were a pain to manage. Sticky gooey like compost. Smelly bottom leachate bin. A lot more work to harvest. If you want a lazy no maintenance vermicomposting system dig a pit outdoors and throw in your scraps. Vermicompost on, however you want to. There is no wrong way, just find the method that works for you. Vermicomposter for over 10 years, Wormsical.

The BM Baby Turtle is very nice. I have seen some other pictures of it posted in the gallery section as well. What do you recommend...BM, SW, or Behr paint? We've always had good luck with Behr, but I like the color selection of the others. I appreciate all the help and input! Thanks!

I totally feel your pain! Remodels aren't cheap and it's not easy for everyone to picture what something will look like before its done. I had a similar situation - I just didn't feel that I could afford to redo the tile in the entire house - so I only did part of it. Huge mistake. I "solved" the problem with carpet squares. You can buy just what you need, get pretty creative and install them yourself. I'm sure there are many companies, I used Flor. I recommend getting samples - as it's impossible to accurately assess color from the computer monitor. (Samples are free during promotions and sales are frequent.) I would also suggest that moving the sofa to face away from the kitchen will not only cover up some of the transition, but also define the space in a way to enhance the separation of the rooms.

I would continue with the same trim/door color. My suggestion for walls with white cabinets, would be to paint them the same off white as the trim. Not the best example, but close... Add a runner that works with white/off-white theme in the room.