For brightest colors and 2 inch blooms, Portulaca oleraca may be a good choice. tj Here is a link that might be useful: Port of call

rmkitchen, what a nice thing to say! I am still so proud of that basement organization, it does make Christmas so much easier. This year I am having my son and his friend put everything away from Christmas .... they have helped in years past and are now ready (and able, because of how clearly it is all marked) to take it on themselves. The dinner party was a great success, thank heavens. Champagne cocktails for about 45 minutes with the hors d'oeuvres is a no-fail, good start for a party. We had a few non-drinkers and I made the same drinks with Martinelli's sparkling apple juice and these drew rave reviews as well. Centerpiece was lovely, I used a white cloth and a green velvet runner bordered in red sort of scrunshed up artistically, with three white and gold deer arranged on it and two very large (18" and 24") crystal candlesticks with big fat Root candles. And three dimensional "confetti" consisting of small red resin berries and green holly leaves scattered about on the table. It was lovely and very quiet, a classic look that I loved and people were able to talk over the deer and see through the candlesticks, so it was All Good :) Some of the nutcrackers went up on top of the library shelves, it was a brilliant idea (not mine!) Like you I am a toile-lover from way back. "Use it often and everywhere" is my motto :) We have toile in my daughter's room (blue and white), a toile bedskirt in our bedroom (bordered with a medium check on the diagonal), toile pillows in the living room and toile chair pads in the kitchen, and a chinoiserie toile in one bathroom, so what's one more paper in the laundry? I have decided on the Thibaut oriental toile for the laundry but have a great place for the plaid---in the kitchen. Our french country chairs have been so abused the stretchers at bottom keep popping out (must not have been very well made to begin with) but it seems I am always having a chair out being repaired, so I have decided to get new chairs. I am leaning towards the Chinese chippendale style with upholstered seats, and think the plaid would be fabulous in there, esp. if the chairs are painted red or cream. So I will manage to use at least two of the three patterns. Patty, I am glad you have had good experiences with Thibaut also, I think they have very nice quality and our paperhanger likes it because it is not prepasted. I wanted to use the Thibaut paper "Chinese Laundry," which I thought would be a clever joke for the laundry room (it is not really for laundry rooms, and the one I wanted was foil) but designer put his feet down on that immediately. I trust his judgment and submitted meekly :) If anyone sees this post and has either paper to display, please do! Just because I have decided which one to use doesn't mean I don't need to see more...

gizmonike: that set-up is perfect! Like rhome said, now I can have induction and gas! and that hood looks amazing (well, your whole kitchen looks amazing!) - what is the right side? a griddle? or do i have it mixed up? i love GW! where else would you get perfect solutions to your problems. sharon: I don't have wall space either, so maybe a large range/2oven would be great. rhome: great idea about larger 6 burners, but i want open burners (which i know DCS doesn't have) and i'm not sure about electrolux...more research. bob: I am a woman; it's my husband who wants the larger range. we're also getting the all fridge/freezer set up. how's the fingerprints issue?

Like the landscaping in the mock ups by celerygirl.for if you keep the sidewalk direct from door to road across the front yard. If you do keep it, you might "widen" it a bit by outlining it in pavers that you could also use to outline your planting beds ... with the tops of the pavers ground level for easy mowing. Especially like the shed roof mock up that extends the full width of the cantilevered overhang -- looks good; the gables would interfere with the look of the upstairs (wouldn't do that ... and I'm usually a fan of forward facing gables over front doors., You could even add a hip roof on that right corner and wrap your porch around the side of the house ... perhaps to reach a side or back screened porch. celerygirl has serious skills. Would "like" her work but Houzz has stopped letting me "like" (thumps up) comments.,