Fantom du Laos translates to Ghost of Laos. You might try looking under that name. I found one description of it at Amishland: "Old variety originating from Laos, large fruits white-yellowish slightly flattened. Very vigorous and very productive plant (it is most productive which we cultivated this year!). Excellent resistance to the diseases. Sweet flavour. There is a strange legend about this variety: the nights of full moon, the villagers deposit it on the edges of the windows and if the tomato becomes fluorescent, a ghost is not far!" I love this ghostly apparition tale . The Asians, however think of the souls of their dearly departed as ghosts, in a good way. This story is really about how a dead relative comes back to visit. It is not about haunting as you might think. The tomato itself had so much to recommend it besides this cool legend. It was my earliest tomato this season, even beating out my Ukrainian and Russian plants! It was a full 2 weeks earlier to ripen than any tomato in my garden. And it was huge, and had a really unbelievable coloration. It literally was an opalescent white and truly seemed to glow! It was impossible to photograph that quality of light coming from the fruit. They are the most gorgeous white tomatoes I have ever grown with not one bit of pink on them ,all pure ivory white. They tended to put out double fruits as well. And it kept on sending out these lovely orbs of light all season long. It lasted until light frost. Great, sweet, mild flavor and virtually no acid." Doesn't sound particularly flavorful, lol, just pretty.

Hi les, thank you (again) for the comments. Hope you are still out there. I'm looking at either a greeny tan for the walls or a greeny blue (I know you can't tell in the pics but there is a nice bit of greeny blue in the chairs. the tile on the fireplace is going to be changed soon so I don't want to decorate around it. Funny how somethings that look good IRL look hideous in the pics and some things that look hideous IRL look good in the pics (take my word for it, the tiles are hideous). We tried doing the sofa facing the fireplace last night and found that it is just too long to do this. Also the coffee table is so long that the chairs had to be way out on the sides of the fireplace rather than pulled up close. A small round coffee table would fix this but I love our coffee table (and it was one of the few fairly expensive things we've bought for the space). I totally agree that dying the slipcover would make all the difference. I actually tried to dye it a couple of weeks ago and it was a bit of a disaster. I tried using rit dye in Tan and it came out really pinky tan instead of golden tan. The dye remover wouldn't work and I had to bleach it and I think it came out whiter than before. I then tried dying one cushion with tea, but it didn't seem to change the colour at all (probably not strong enough sol'n) and at that point I was so sick of it, I gave up. Next time it gets dirty, I'll try the teastain again. Awhile ago you suggest doing darker pillows on the sofa to connect the chairs to the sofa. I found pillows in the same brown as in the chairs and made some out of a contemporary stripe in the green, red and tan (but don't show up well in the pic). You were absolutely right, they look great. Like most everyone else, we've been hit by the economic crisis and there is a possiblity the school my dh works for will have to close. So we won't be spending anymore money on the room (or anything else for that matter) until we find out if they can weather this storm. I'm going to try ttodd's trick and scour the basement. I've got at least 10 cans of paint in the basement and I'm thinking I'm just going to mix away until I get a colour I like (don't laugh now, this is how I got the perfect colour for the kichen walls and living room ceiling). I bought the prints already, but may look for cheap frames at the craft store or do what I used to do in my college days and just hang them from a wire with clothes pegs :-) Truth be told, I love decorating on the cheap. In the photo below you can kind of see the trio of modern black vases. I saw the trio for $130, but didn't want to pay that. I found a collection of different coloured vases in shapes I liked and spray painted them all black (total cost $30).

I love clocks, especially analog clocks. I love that Newgate clock, but it's too big for that wall. It's too big for that whole room. It's not just the face diameter. It must be 5-6" thick. A clock like that belongs on the wall of a gymnasium. It's also a nostalgic, retro clock. Besides it's size, it doesn't really add to a sleek, clean, contemporary kitchen. And it's such a nice, clean looking kitchen, too. It's a shame to clutter that particular wall with a triple gang light switch, an intercom, a thermostat, a doorbell, and something else I can't identify. How much effort would it take to move the thermostat and the doorbell (and maybe the unidentified object) around the corner to the hall? Also move the intercom closer to the edge, near the door frame. Then finish the wall with a contemporary painting or photo that's large enough to occupy 2/3 of the upper portion of the wall. Make it have a stainless steel frame to match the contemporary kitchen. Or find a wall sculpture that vertically occupies a good portion of the wall. Keep it contemporary by using stainless with pieces of color you like for the rest of your kitchen. Just a few alternate ideas.

Honestly both will show something somewhat. The black is more dust and brushable things. While the white will be more stains from shoes or food and drink spills. If u like black better go with black. Sunbrella is great! Washable and very resistant I think you’ll love it