I looked at the paints you posted and if you want to paint green above the sink and stove, you will need to have it directly relate something else in the Kitchen scheme. This would mean you would need to find a glass tile that has the green in it or go with a totally neutral backsplash like the 4x4 tiles you are showing with the glass tile. A viewers eye will look for a relationship between the paint color and the backsplash or other features in the room and not find it. Even if those colors exist in an adjacent room, the relationship needs to be clearly there in the Kitchen. In this case, I don't think matching accessories will get you there either. Now for a little design editorial. I think the basic design concept that you should bring colors from one room to another throughout the house is a good one, but has been overused. The theory is that having each room relate makes the house flow. Whether that works or not really depends on a lot more factors. The premise is that each room should not be a completely different color, yet in some cultures it is the norm to paint each room a completely different color and looks quite wonderful in context. Okay, enough of that. In effect, you do have a color relationship between your rooms already and it is your basic neutral Khaki. There are some advantages to keeping the backsplash completely neutral if you want to use accent paint colors. You can change your color scheme very easily without having to change tiles. Basing your scheme on the neutral allows you to paint accent walls while the overall effect remains pulled together. Either choice is a good one. It's what works best for you. If you decide to keep the glass tile as you originally selected it, and still love the green, try to find somewhere else to use it. I used my green in the Laundry room.

What's sad is I have 2 other gardens amended ready to plant in !! But on the s. side of my yard in full, direct, all day sun.. ugh! dahlias won't survive here - they need afternoon shade in my heat :( My hubby said just dig the holes - I knew better!! but thought how I will be pulling weed & grass clumps out of the area for the next 2weeks before I dare to plant one tuber in :( even after digging up the top area of sod. I feel stuck :( I dont want my tubers to stay out of the ground another minute but also know what it's like to do something half @s$ in the beginning and regret it until I fix it ! Now that u have me thinking ab it !! It's harder work to go back n fix it verses doing it right in the first place. I have 47 tubers waiting to be planted - my fear is, if I go ahead & do the bed right, it might take a while. I dug individual holes bc I've been physically sick lately & haven't had the energy to do my normal gardening - I counted 4 bags of black cow & 3 bags of potting Mix - far from enough to amend this area. But I can use soil from one of my open gardens I only have some kelp & bone meal in it - I'm an avid gardener. I know amending a small area for a plant does nothing good for it - I honestly think it's better not to ammend at all unless enough area is amended to accommodate the root zone @ maturity. I was trying to convince myself it'll b ok this way & I'll fix it this winter. Do u have any ideas for a quick solution ?? I wish I had the money to hire help to get this done asap!! Ugh- So how far apart on center should the tubers b planted ?? and in between rows ? I went by online recommendations. I'm beyond upset with myself I didn't start this early march!! Grrr !!!! Very upsetting... Along the south side of my house there's a hillside that stretches out past the right side of my back yard & circles behind it. The hill dips into a valley, which is were my "immediate" backyard is. The lowest point of this " valley" is behind the area I picked for my dahlias 2b planted. My backyard is a little valley but the ground closer to my house is higher than the rest of this valley area. I chose to plant my dahlias in this area closer to my back lanai for afternoon shade & higher ground. Bc the dahlias are at a higher point than the rest of the " valley" if it rains & floods, my dahlias won't be sitting in it. My yard is weird & uneven. I'm upset I waited way too long to get this started!! Do u think I will have blooms this fall if I get them in within a week ? Sorry for flooding u with questions but Im not familiar with dahlias like I am Roses & other flowers :) thanks cici

I'd like to see the flame spread rating. Re-cycled plastic interior panels I've looked at, such as EchoPanel, have the highest flame spread rating. Worse than mobile homes? However, in a 25-year mortgage, I’m estimating, with conventional energy costs, you can save between $50 to $80,000 in 25 years.” Poorly written article -- just sloppy. For example, do they really mean the lower end is $50? Or did they mean $50,000? I wonder what sort of off gassing the panels may have and for how long... Expanding upon that thought, we drink from those bottles. If this off-gassing thing is all that bad, should we be doing that? There are energy costs involved with recycling and no one discusses that issue. There is mileage for the recycling trucks, mileage to deliver the material to a recycling plant, energy to fabricate the new material. Is it really better for the environment? Before anyone jumps on me, I do recycle although I must drive to the pickup point, not having curbside pickup. Most of my furniture is recycled, being antique. I share your concerns. The right order is Reduce - Reuse - Recycle. We should use less and re-use as much as possible and eschew single-use plastics as much as possible. I'm pretty sure most people -- if they think about it at all -- imagine that your Coke bottle goes to the recycling plant, where it is sanitized and returned to the Coke plant, where it's refilled. The reality is far more messy and labor intensive. Recycling helps with the landfill problem, but landfills aren't our only problem.

Hi, Hu, First, I'm not an attorney, I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night and I don't give legal advice. Here's my take as a builder operating in the same crazy cost environment as your builder: Some of the allowances such as lumber, gas, electrical, could be candidates for being locked in with FFP bids between the builder and their subs. Or we need transparency into the actual underlying costs with receipts and fees (if any) the contractor would apply. The issue is that material prices are extremely volatile. The plumber doesn't know what copper or PVC pipe will cost him next month. The electrician is still numb from paying the cost of the Romex wire he purchased last week. Lumber is at record highs and there's no indication of a top. So you either get allowances or a fixed-price contract with enough fat that you and your builder will both need a cholesterol check. For anything that is considered an allowance, you should be provided with copies of all invoices. Concern that if there are % based fees hidden in the pricing based on (rising) material costs that are covered as FFP or allowances - there’s an implicit incentive to let the materials rise - or at the least, lack of incentive to seek to best manage material costs. If so - Rather than percentage based mark-up fees on some materials with rising costs, consider capping % fees or using fixed fees in this time of volatility to somewhat mitigate cost controls. It doesn't feel right to me to benefit from escalating material prices over which neither I nor the client have control and where the risk is only on the client. A fixed project management fee in lieu of a percentage of the cost is a fair alternative, in my opinion. That way there's no incentive to run up the cost. Reference blueprint by date, rev #, and number of pages (or maybe page titles). Plans are usually referenced by the name of the designer/date/revision no. I incorporate them as a contract document. Add a separate specification or have BoM expanded/modified to include all requested features. (if their price didn’t include our requests - that needs to be fixed now as well.) To be sure, you need to be provided with documentation of the base prices for anything that has a price escalation clause. That way you know what was originally estimated and included in the contract price and what is an overage. I would not want my builder to profit from any overages, just kept whole. Strike the cost increase clause and work harder to better manage sub costs or provide transparency into true costs, triggers, formula, etc. Or revisit entirely a better structured hybridized solution between FFP and CP if that’s what the builder really wants. In the limit where everything is an allowance you have a cost-plus contract. I think that's a simpler approach. If you want a hybrid, consider a guaranteed maximum price contract where the contractor and client both share any savings under the maximum price. Nominal list of subs attached to contract. This could be changed by builder as needed during project. (much like owner can change stuff) I use the same team of trade partners on each project. My clients don't have a say in which ones I choose to work with since they are holding me accountable for the final result in terms of quality, cost, and schedule. That said, for anything that is subject to price escalation, I think you're entitled to a copy of the subcontractor's proposal documenting the scope and pricing at the time the contract is entered into. An enforceable method or mechanism for receiving lien releases in conjunction with draws. Mechanics lien laws vary from state to state and they can be complicated. If you're using a lender, they'll likely have a process for this. If you're not using a lender, I recommend you retain a mechanic's lien agent to manage the lien waiver process. Include some sort of retainage (some protection against builder default) as well as option for withholding a portion of the final payment to cover punch list. Retainage is common in commercial contracting, but not in residential construction. My view is that if you feel you need to hold back money to guarantee completion you've picked the wrong builder. That said, you should not be required to pay the contract amount in full before the punch list is completed. By way of clarification, punch list items are those items which are incomplete, missing or defective at the time of substantial completion. They are not warranty service items. I suggest you discuss with your contractor withholding a amount equal to 150% or 200% of his/her good-faith estimate of the cost to complete punch list items. Not sure can do much about changing 1-year from a goal to an actual requirement. You should be able to reach an agreement with your builder and include in your contract language that the builder agrees to work diligently to complete the project within one year and will regularly manage and report progress to the owner. ...Or maybe hit the pause button and reconsider the entire project for the near-term. I don't have a crystal ball. Sitting on the sidelines might be an act of genius or folly. Hindsight is 20:20 they say.