Garlic co-planting is especially beneficial to lettuce (where it deters aphids) and cabbage (deterring many common pests). Beets and cabbage are reported to be especially good companions that benefit from this. Tomato allies are many: garlic Plant near roses to repel aphids. It also benefits apple trees, pear trees, cucumbers, PEAS (*this is contrary to other reports...Granny), lettuce and celery. *Garlic doesn't seem to cooperate well with legumes (beans and pulses), peas or potatoes. Try not to plant these too near your garlic. Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

Gray is definitely in! If you still want to stay a little traditional and still be modern, I thought these 12" x 24" porcelain (marble look-alike) tile looked pretty cool. Just installed these a few weeks ago. What kind of tub did you go with? Are you going tile with the surround?

You are getting there :-)) You will have an entirely different perspective once you get the black pots elevated. And you can always add more color with flowering plants. What happened to the white/cream colored containers? You could mix them in with the black ones to make more of a statement. The pots in the middle photo (mostly blue tones) are still too lined up. btw, the groupings do not need to be equal in impact or quantity :-)

I need the TV on the 18' wall. I want all my furniture to be placed based on that. Definitely don't want to cover my large windows with any big pieces of furniture either, and I don't want to constrict the entrances. Those are my only good to (must?) haves. How do I do this? I have a 7'10"x10'10" rug. That's all I've purchased so far. I have no other piece of furniture/lighting/curtains. (But I have my eye on this mid-century modern sofa that's 86"x35")