Good luck, divamum. I can't help you w/ selection. But I am fixing a rose bed and I'm putting trellises in back w/ Cramoisi Superieur (China- red), Reve d'Or (Noisette- yellowy/apricot) and Fields of the Wood (HT- dark red), all are said to be very disease resistant. I do not expect to put in hours of work over my roses- any that require that will be sp'd. I do expect that it will take me a few years to work out an acceptable regimen (acceptable to the roses and to me), especially since I prefer organic fertilizers as much as possible- which means applying more often than the synthetic. I think they will take a bit more work than my veggie garden- deadheading, for instance. It is an experiment. I will be planting some peonies w/ my roses and I really love peonies- gorgeous large blooms, wonderful fragrance, and NO thorns! I am also planning to put in a few evergreens so there is always something green there. So, don't get discouraged. I am sure you will get some excellent feedback from more experienced gardeners. Brandy

This is a long thread now, so forgive my not going back to search. I think I mentioned that we had tan walls -- a remixed paint that has o color name but it is what was in the adjoining family room, so it went on the very limited kitchen wall space too. I am in the process of picking a new sectional (have the rug and ordered ottomans thinking we had the sectional picked out). I have been looking at paint and was thinking of a softened, greyed beige. I had ruled out those with green undertones, but the linen color above and the green in the rug have me reconsidering. There is a BM Pale Oak that I like a lot, but I may want something a little darker -- it is very pale. Need to get the sectional nailed down and then will start with paint samples. Plan for the sectional has been blue.

We have been told we should paint brick by more then one decorating person. I really didn’t want to do that if possible. i was asking for new colors now that we changed to a new color roof. Shutters, awnings, lights,etc. we live on five acres in country setting in northern Florida. All day sun in front of house. Like a desert , Reason for awnings. shutters were an after thought is why we were going to change size of awnings if we were to keep shutters on home. Thank you for your advice.

Hi reifa4 - I have Silestone countertops in my kitchen. I purchased them about 20 years ago when Silestone was brand new to the market here, and was marketed by a door-to-door salesman as an inexpensive alternative to granite (which I did not want anyway thank goodness, because no way could we have afforded it back then!). I probably have about 50sf of it. I swear those countertops cost about $500 installed. The salesman had about 4-5 options to choose from...mine are “Alpina White” - or something incredibly similar to it. I remember there was a beige/off-white one with little primary colored polka dots in it (if you can believe that!)...like a circus. He told me that they were ”heat-proof, scratch-proof, and stain-proof.” And I believed him. Soooo...needless to say, I have been chopping on them, taking hot bowls/dishes/baking pans out of the oven/microwave all this time (for YEARS!) and placing them directly on the counters. They look EXACTLY the same as they did the day they were installed. Our three boys have grown up, towered over, and moved away from those countertops, but the Silestone remains. I am about to redo our kitchen and replace them with a different Silestone (my tastes have changed, of course). But those counters will always be one of the smartest decisions we ever made. Of course now the rest of the world has discovered quartz and the price will never be the same. *sigh*