Just want to make sure that we are all talking about the same blooming season. And, if that is a requirement Nancy has in mind. If you are wanting yellows with your lupins, iris, nepeta, and salvia, Nancy . . . Well, my lupins that weren't cut are fast goin' to seed and I think there's only one iris bloom still in the yard (other than Siberian). The salvias of various types are kind of in the middle of their bloom cycle. However, no gaillardia flowers have yet opened altho' they are close. So is the coreopsis - close. Anthemis tinctoria, (Golden Marguerites) are close. I may have set the ones in the sun back a fair amount by moving them this Spring. Dad has some in the shade and I don't believe that they even have buds yet. Echinacea - no, not yet, altho' I don't have a yellow. Rudbeckia . . . no, not quite. Dad's helianthus hasn't bloomed yet but I never pay much attention to it. My daylilies all receive only morning sun and none are the dwarf varieties - so they aren't blooming. So what's going on with my flowers?? Lots of sweet Williams and painted daisies so there's plenty of reds and pinks; foxglove in great supply many are white but nothing in yellow; and the Canterbury bells are just starting to open. That'll be a LOT more purple, Nancy! I just realized that the wild yellow toadflax are also blooming their fool heads off. That made me wonder if you have some nicely protected locations like close to the house where snapdragons can overwinter. Purchasing them at this time of year when they are close to blooming in the flats would certainly be possible but those plants that dodge the heavy frost are blooming now as well. digitS'

I agree that the overall feeling of your bathroom is great. The doors are amazing. The tile is beautiful and rustic. And it looks like you get a lot of light coming into the bathroom. I think a few changes might help you love your bathroom. I'm guessing you're afraid the tile "will melt" with grouting because it's cheaper slate? Perhaps one of the tile experts will chime in, but as I understand, a tile installation is generally made significantly stronger once grouted. Did you do proper waterproofing in the shower before tile installation? Also, I've read that in general a proper slope is difficult to achieve with large format (larger than maybe 4-6"?) tiles on a shower floor. Assuming your shower was properly constructed with waterproofing and drainage in mind, I think you should go forward with grouting it. In my opinion, tile work almost always looks better when grouted and your installation looks really lovely in the pictures. My first tile installation took forever, especially the tile cutting. It gets easier with practice, but I agree it's a labor of love (and frustration). I can absolutely understand your trepidation. I also agree that the shiny black toilet isn't quite right for the room. Do you have a local Habitat for Humanity Restore? When I have been to mine I've seen numerous colored toilets for sale. Perhaps you can find a more mid-toned neutral color. If not, I checked the Kohler site and they have a huge variety of colors. I think a mid-tone like Thunder Gray or Cashmere or Dune or Sandbar or Mexican Sand might work. I agree with the others that white might be a little stark and not in keeping with the soothing rustic character of your bathroom. While I like the gray on your walls and ceiling, I do think it's making the room feel much darker. I would try a lighter color, maybe a light creamy beige or lighter gray. I also think keeping the ceiling a light color (maybe cream or creamy beige) would help. You said your sink isn't draining properly. Is it properly vented? I am no plumbing expert, but the lack of an overflow should not affect the way the sink drains. Proper plumbing including ventilation is generally key to good drainage. Also, I believe copper will naturally patina, so it will probably never look sparkling clean. But isn't that part of the point? Your bathroom has a lovely rustic quality and I think the copper sink enhances that. Personally, I would work on replacing the vanity. I agree with others that a poorly constructed particle board dresser might not be the best idea around water. Personally, I also think the brown paint is not working very well either. I think a rustic stained wood piece in keeping with the doors would be better. In my local area there are always fantastic solid oak old/antique dressers for sale on Craiglist and in the classifieds. I think your husband could work his magic with a good quality antique and you'd have a much more beautiful vanity that will last. If you do purchase an actual vanity, I'd go with something maybe oak or pine or with other strong grain and slightly rustic. I'm including some pictures of what I mean. I realize the Restoration Hardware vanities are probably way out of the budget, but I wanted to show some general ideas of what I'm thinking.

Adam, the revised Option 2 can't be beat! :) Regarding the stucco porch...quirky, but original and somehow it does work with the style. With that, you can forego the screen door, and keep a good coat of marine varnish on the main door. You can't tell from my pic, but my original door is oak with a single long bevelled glass window. Still has the original varnish, but has been covered by a wooden storm/screen door probably since 1915 or so. The screen door has a slightly raised panel in the bottom, and the screen and storm are held in by spiders and cam screws. The screen has two crossbars about 1/2 way up, and the storm has eight lights in two vertical rows of four. I stripped untold layers of black paint from it and it looks like pretty decent oak. My screen door on the back porch came from Lowes in the early 90s, and is falling apart, as is the similar one on the south side of the house. Modern just can't match old work! Paint colors are so personal...I opted for period colors on my house, although it was white when I bought it, the original colors were chocolate brown with beige-ivory trim like the house next door. My sash were black originally, but the other popular color for turn of the century was a dark green-black or Indian Red. I could really see your house in something like Olive Drab with Straw trim...check out Roger Moss' Victorian Exterior Decoration for the authoritative work on color choices for houses before the 1940s. This post was edited by columbusguy1 on Wed, Jul 24, 13 at 4:28

Baunlee, I once had a 13x21' living room in a Mission style bungalow in West Hollywood. It would have been a very nice room except that the front door and wide arch to dining room sliced it right in half. You don't have that problem. This is a nice room. Apparently those photos are distorting the proportions, and probably that extremely...unfortunate "division" a PO installed. Reuniting this nice room with itself would be my own priority by removing all that wood ASAP. But for immediate furniture placement, I would not divide the room into two small, unrelated areas by running a sofa, or anything else across the middle. Turning your back on others and not having anything to do with them is not an embracing and uniting use of furniture, any more than it is in people. You want to use the entire room, make if feel large and all corners vital and inviting. That means the two areas of use should allow open and inviting flow between, with just gentle definition of each area by such things as easy chairs, small tables, upholstered benches, that sort of thing. You seem to watch your TV from the sofa, which means for now it would have to go in front of the main window. I'd put the other one on the short wall at the other end of the room, replacing it with an upholstered chair or chairs. (The kind of sectional that has a backless lounge on one side would also work here, since the backless portion extending across the room could serve both sides in a very friendly and functional way.) I'm with you, though, in preferring not to block the window with the sofa, and it would be my preference to set it on the inside wall opposite the window, with TV on the short wall right of the bedroom hall arch. This would also allow someone doing something at the other end of the room (maybe on the other sofa) to keep an eye on it. Traffic from the bedrooms would have to swing around the main sofa a little bit, but big deal. :)