mforr - It's funny you should mention that, because I just looked at the map of queens, trying to remember the name of the highway that went thru a friend's neighborhood like that .. and I think they renamed it! There used to be an "Interboro Parkway", and now it's called the "Jackie Robinson Parkway"! Wikipedia says it was renamed in 1997 .. who knew?! "The Jackie Robinson Parkway is a 4.95-mile (7.97 km) parkway in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The western terminus of the parkway is at Jamaica Avenue in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York. It runs through Highland Park, along the north side of Ridgewood Reservoir, and through Forest Park. The eastern terminus is at the Kew Gardens Interchange in Kew Gardens, Queens, where the Jackie Robinson Parkway meets the Grand Central Parkway and Interstate 678."

Lovely area! You have done a great job! Just a thought i would have put decking to one side and only had one side with stone and plants as putting the decking in the middle looks like a runway. Just my opinion. Black stone would look great instead of white. And painting the back bricks would have been better with a darker colour to make timber "pop" like the colour of your fence or black like the posts. Loving your ideas and transformation is fantastic!

bigreader I'm okie..thanks for caring ..just need time to readjust kind of walked out on my job..so looking for stuff to fill in my time ..I hate being bored and sitting sround fiddling my thumb been looking for courses to do and taking my camera out.. these I took yesterday in Warrandyte..

Hi Kate, I have to agree with you, I absolutely hate that mint green so I feel for you that it just doesn't suit your colour scheme irrespective of how much others suggest this green and blue might go together, personally I don't like blue either so I might not be much help there ha-ha I do think the suggestion of placing a mirror over the splashback could be the best option so that you don't run the risk of damaging any part of the kitchen trying to remove it and I think a mirror could look amazing, catch the light and obviously make the room look bigger too. Good luck. Barbara