I just kind of went thru a similar scenario with our family room, which had to be updated as a result of the kitchen reno. All the furniture is beiges & greys, tone on tone. I kind of resisted the tone on tone color palette, feeling very perplexed about how to introduce color. I did it with accessories. Just a splash of color here & there. Olychick's picture is a great example, 4 pillows & some flowers. Everything else is neutral. Also, different textures will add as much interest as those splashes of color. You've got a great start with those pillows. I love the pattern & texture. Also, you have a beautiful rug & console. Edit: you leather looks blue on my moniter but I see it is gray so I edited my post regarding a blue chair. Blue or the beige in your rug will look great. This post was edited by romy718 on Tue, Jul 22, 14 at 14:50

Thanks all so much for all the feedback and suggestion! I am mulling over and playing with your ideas. Fridge is definitely an issue. It will be replaced at some point, possibly with a counter depth. I have a little over 36" here. The wall to the right of the fridge is not structural, but we do have a light switch (for the kitchen table area) here, as well as an outlet on it. jakebedy great call out on your part. I don't think I want to build the cabinet until I have the fridge I want but maybe it's time to start designing this area. Another issue is the color introduced by the green/blue in the breakfast nook. Here are your suggestions, mocked up: hags00 - continue same tile (this will probably break the bank) enduring - use light background color (wrong color but the idea is there) dmsohio, momtofour - I take the point about only bringing the tile out a little. Upper cabinets on that wall are 18" deep; I might bring the tile out less or not at all. hollysprings - dark with no pattern (again, not the right color). DH loves the idea of paint. circuspeanut - always love seeing your kitchen, thanks for the tiled skylight :) tiled wainscot, light upper - the right side just fades into the fridge. With a cabinet here, effect would be very different. tiled wainscot, dark upper: suzannes1: skylight dormer is same color as ceiling. So much white..... Yes, my pictures and notes are pretty old, but they have meaning. I should just take a picture of them and then clean up. annsch - I haven't put any thought into this area yet. While I love the window, it just doesn't look 'right' yet. Keep those ideas coming please. I just love how your kitchen is coming along! aries61 - a nanometer or two. :) We measured this VERY carefully. With cabinet drawers open, it's 4.5 inches from the cabinet opening to the corner. yingnj - we like the SS countertop very much, thanks for noticing. It's great to extend the space we have around the cooktop. Plenty of room to put hot things down.

Hey all, I am taking this all in and organizing my list of trees to look into. Thank you! "But remember...for a harmonious landscape composition, some repetition is a good thing. Otherwise, what you end up with is less a landscape and more a plant collection. " Thanks, wisconsitom, that is precisely what I needed to hear. I'm not going for an ordered or symmetrical look per se, but I DO want a direction, intention and theme. I like so many type of landscapes, though! And I can't wait until I got it all figured out to start planting, otherwise it will never happen. Also I need to pace my yard expenditures. I know nothing about garden or landscape design, but I am a plant person and have been gardening since I was a child, have worked on farms and as a gardener and done botanical internships, ect... Enough to know I don't know much ;) My husband is pretty good with edibles, like grapes. My level of involvement is moderate now with a 1 year old in tow, but I would like it to be high. I like to spend at least 30-60 mins a day, all year, tending to plants, and much more when needed. gardengal48 yes, I have gone through the assessment process with the city, and their selection of fruit trees is limited. They've come and marked where our trees can be. At the end of September a group called Friends of Trees will reveal their available trees (which homeowners help plant). But If I want something different I must go get it myself and apply for the permit. A neighbor down the street works for the urban forestry center, she said she'd fill me in and help me pick out so W trees. So nice! About crepe myrtles, I see them all over Portland, blooming right now, often next to a house so their flowers peak in the windows, or even second story windows. They do seem to thrive in sun or protected courtyards.

1) I think you need some matching mounding shapes on the opposite corner by that cone shaped conifer. 2) I have had plain old-fashioned annabelle hydrangeas growing in such a space. Michael Dirr, the shrub guru, claims he's seen them growing in very dark dry shade, so I tried it in a bad spot. Their form was open-ish rather than dense and full, flowers were sparse, but they were cheap and green & filled up the hole very nicely with a different texture. They add a bit of loose height to a naturalistic grouping of hosta, ferns, variegated Solomon's Seal, a carex for linear shape, all over a base of plain green sedum. The carex and sedum stay green all winter for me, with the hydrangea flower heads persisting above. My planting is very informal...a sheared yew and one of the larger hosta, or a mass of a medium-sized one, would give a more tailored look if that is your preference. Pachysandra or epimedium would also offer a tailored evergreen groundcover, even if originally in just a single patch in your white gravel while you wait for them to grow enough to spread further. Oh, and you could put a bright vase shaped hosta in your urn beside your door, if you want to repeat that shape and integrate the urn. But do trouble to shop a proper nursery to choose from the 100's of varieties of hosta. The hosta board here would be able to suggest a vendor in your area who has a display garden, and there are excellent online hosta specialists who mail order very fine plants, but I strongly recommend against buying hosta from the big boxes, though I think they're fine for simplest hydrangeas or ordinary yews. Hosta have some disease issues being spread by cheapo irreputable vendors, and you want strong plants that haven't been prematurely forced into weak growth.