Hello Brooke 28 I placed an order from Paradise Gardens in the spring of 2010 and I was more then pleased with my order.. See my order at this link.. Copy and paste the link to see my clematis from Paradise.or enter my name sandyl in the search buttom above to see all my post.. They have all done great and I'm very please with them all.. I had ordered Huldine and its not really turning out to be everything I was hoping for, but its still very young and can only get better I hope. The blooms are small compared to all my others. I'm very pleased with Barbara Harrington, she's been blooming since early spring and currently has 6 blooms now. I have three SAC and love them but the bloom time is just so short, 3/1/2 weeks and the blooms are gone, but the smell is wonderful. I have more then 23 clematis total and as you will see in several of my post you can't go wrong with Ramona, I didn't get Ramona from Paradise Gardens but she is a must have. You will see Sprinkles and Ms. Bateman in several of my post and Sprinkles is about 6 years old and I like it more and more each passing year, Sprinkles is a group 2 and I hard prune it after its spring flush and right now it has 6 blooms and is over 8 feet tall even after the hard prune I gave it early July after its first flush. And Miss Bateman is beautiful in the spring as you will see but she has only had three blooms on her rebloom this fall. She had probably over 100 in the spring. You also can't go wrong with a Jack. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/clematis/msg041620449106.html Sandy

My previous house had that same faux finish yellow paint! It did get a bit overwhelming. I think the advice to prime and then see with a fresh eye is good. However, I'm impatient when I just want to get something done already. If you fall into that camp (not that I'm recommending impatience:), perhaps you could start by narrowing down your choices to those you gravitate towards. It looks like you have accents of green and burgundy in your decor, and maybe some green and tan in your granite. Could you start with tans, greens, and other shades that might complement those elements? I'm sure the color experts here will have more specific advice....

I like the wood, too, and wouldn't paint it. What seems odd to me, though, are all the colors. The ceiling beams are different from the cabinets which are both different from the door and trim, and the walls are different from the ceiling. (At least, that's how it looks from the pictures.) If it were me, I'd paint the ceiling vault the same color as the walls and leave the wood. The walls are a nice, light color so painting the ceiling the same shouldn't make the room dark compared to a white ceiling. I'd then live with it a bit and see if additional ideas come to mind.

Hi, Mrs. Jonk. I agree with Desertsteph that it sounds like a pretty decent space. I used to have a pot rack and really liked it. I'd think I'd semi-ignore the appliance colors, though, in making my other choices. Semi meaning that if you decide you need to change anything to make your favorite choices work, let it be the appliances. Draw up your design leaving them blank and see what you think, but do NOT change your expensive, permanent counter choice because of them. Appliances are comparatively temporary even if purchased new, but these days of Craig's List and other similar services, they can also be easily sold and inexpensively replaced as soon as you feel like it. My problem with having a bunch of appliances in strongly contrasting colors, especially the elephant in the kitchen, the fridge, is that they're the shapes they are and in the positions they are strictly because of utility. NEVER what and where an artist would place items in a composition. We're used to visually making excuses for them, so we can exclaim sincerely over "beautiful" kitchens without wincing over THAT thing THERE, but particularly good looking kitchens always manage to maximize their pluses as best possible (such as stove duded up to suggest a hearth or lacquered aubergine to celebrate its culinary importance) and minimize their negatives (hiding fridge bulk in a wall of cabinetry, putting it or perhaps a clutter of small appliances out of line of sight from the doorway, adding a heavy cabinet on another wall to balance visual weight, etc.).