Gary, One thing to keep in mind with orchids at the big boxes is many are, for the money, a better deal than buying cut flowers because they last so much longer. I do that, knowing that I know very little about keeping it alive or getting it to rebloom after it finally peters out. I just stick them in the boot of the palm tree out back and once in a blue moon fertilize them. And several have died out there, but one rebloomed for me recently. I felt like I doubled my money on that little very common purple and white dendrobium. I do the same thing with the little broms with the spectacular flowers (or whatever brom's non-flower flowers are called.) After several weeks, the flowers die and I plant them in the ground. I've had several of those rebloom too, and I'm even bringing pups and big divisions to the swap. They're not fancy, but for the $8 I paid, I got a lovely flower in the kitchen window for weeks, and if I get more, wow, yippee! I also think the orchids make much nicer hostess gifts than showing up with a bunch of cut flowers. If the hostess can't keep it alive to rebloom, he or she will at least get to enjoy the nice spray of flowers for much longer than cut flowers will last. (so when you see me at HD, don't bother to counsel me on my brom and orchid buys... just all the other stuff I might buy and potentially kill or hate!) As for the in-store kills, I saw a massacre in the making yesterday. Someone should go to the K-Mart in Miami Shores and convince the manager to sell them all the broms and orchids for cheap. They lost the shade covering in Fay and everything there is burned looking and won't last much longer. I thought about talking to him or her, but I don't know enough about orchids to think that even if they were heavily discounted, I could keep enough of them alive and get them to rebloom to make it worth it. susannah

Kim: Stop, look, burrow, stop, look, duck under benches, stop, look, move things around. That's how you find the great deals. I just scored a relatively unusual tree peony (had to go to the forum for ID) for 1/2 price by moving all the herbaceous peonies away, going in about five pots deep, and glimpsing different foliage. Snagged stockings notwithstanding, it made my day. To know if a plant has a chance of taking, look at the roots. No nursery, not even HD or Lowes, will care if you pop the plant out of the pot. The roots should be a creamy or white color, shouldn't be more root bound that once or twice around the pot (trim before planting) and should NOT have ANY critters in the soil. Hostas, Dicentra, etc. that are beginning to look funky now still have good roots in those pots! The nurseries know that without good looking tops they won't sell for full price but We Know Better. LOL Think of what the plants in your garden look like -- potted plants may be a few weeks ahead so Check the Roots. Look everywhere and every day. Just a five minute stop at the supermarket may elicit a gem on the markdown table. An in and out at Ocean State Job Lot this morning found all roses marked down to seventy-five cents. How can one go wrong? And, for $1, if you plant three in November and only one lives, you've still gotten yourself a good Yankee bargain :-) Martie

Depends on what you want to spend? Ben more has a great Regal line that’s thicker, than anything I’ve worked with, however the Behr paint comes very close. Ben Moore Regal is roughly $52.00 a gallon w discount. Behr is $36.00 a gallon With no pro discount. sherwin Williams has great paint but for example the super paint line won’t cover in one coat, I used a color called Wheat Bread , which didn’t cover as well as the behr did with one Coat. the paint matched perfectly from two different manufacturer, which I was surprised especially because it was a semi-gloss. i typically use what the customers want, I’m not a paint snob but for what it’s worth I won’t use organic paint as it takes to many coats to get a solid color. I believe paint n primer is more of a gimmick as primer provides better Adhesion and no flashing, when patching. I like the peel stop primer as it’s super thick. My Choice is Ben Moore Regal or high end Behr, however I’ll paint with whatever you like. Foster and Ball has nice simple colors for What it’s worth. you pay more for name vs what’s in the can for the ”Polo” or interior designer paints.

I don't particularly rely on a store to provide me with repair work except for the immediate delivery of a product. I have Bosch appliances and I would contact an authorized Bosch dealer in my area or KA. Similarly my Apple computers and other devices are serviced by Apple or Apple service people once they are out of warranty - I've bought them from numerous places including mail order back in 1991 when I bought my first Apple Performa :-). @Lizzie - Hi there! My kitchen is finally finished but construction continued around me until fairly recently as odd stuff would happen - my washer dryer was a bit too deep for the closet so that had to be reframed. My hood was the wrong size and so that delayed finishing kitchen for a while because they didn't want to install cabinets on either side until the hood was put in - and didn't want to finish the backsplash etc. etc. etc. I am still not completely finished as they have to come back for various items on the "punch" list but it's livable except for the boxes which are still in the living area as I was a pack rat and I am still slowly going through stuff - and I have furniture I can't use and nobody wants :-( Apologies for hijacking the thread by responding to Lizzie but here are photos of the kitchen and dining area. I am really happy with the way it turned out and spending time (SO MUCH TIME) on houzz asking questions and reading threads helped me so much in terms of getting the best result possible. I worked with a very knowledgable designer but thanks to houzz, there was stuff that I asked for which she had never heard of like my toe kick step stools. It truly is correct that having the luxury of living in a space gives one a better understanding of what doesn't work in the space and what would make it work better because almost everybody has certain constraints that impact the design of the kitchen. In my case, I was working with a small urban kitchen in a high rise - the kitchen is 8' x 10' so I needed to expand functional storage. @Lizzie - here are a few pictures of my finished kitchen. To the left of the cooktop I have a Bosch side opening wall oven with a microwave drawer below it and a VERY shallow tall cabinet with shelves. It is in front of a concrete support beam so it is about one can deep. This is the area behind my dining area. The tall cabinet to the left can be seen in the first photo. There is a door on the side and so the KA mixer and Cuisinart can just be slid out when I need it. The tall cabinet to the right is my broom closet. Excuse the mess on the counter as this was taken just when I moved in. This shows the tall cabinets in my dining area better in terms of the appliance storage and how it relates to the kitchen counters. I had the interiors painted blue but the shelves are clad with blue laminate and the sink cabinet is also clad in blue laminate for easier cleaning. This is the sink wall. The kitchen sink is disproportionately large (36" for the space) but because it's a ledge, it is super functional since the grad which you can see to the right of the sink gives me very functional "counter" space. I can store it on the bottom of the sink and I also got the cutting board. There is a sponge caddy to the extreme left which is a narrow removable shelf which is handy for sponges and other wet stuff. My KA refrigerator is on the right peeking through. It is counter depth but not integrated but I "cheated" the look by having my lower cabinets made slightly deeper than the standard 24"; having a panel on the left side and having the cabinet maker clad the sides that protrude with matching wood. With a counter depth, you need to have it protrude slightly so the hinges are clear of obstructions but since I had those parts clad in matching wood, it fools the eye. Not part of my kitchen ha ha but this is one half of the wall unit in my office/den area. Since I have an open concept space, it relates to the kitchen cabinetry in terms of color as well as having slight Art Deco style elements. This was my sad kitchen prior to the remodel. Again apologies for taking this thread in a direction completely unrelated to the original question.