To Sophie, thanks for your comment. There is a water line under the sink to the dishwasher. We had tested turning it off and on after the fact. Once off it did cut off the water. Townhouse units are supposed to be separate... We have our own water bills etc. maybe the source is coming from elsewhere like you say. Once they rip out that wall next week I hope they will see if this is the case. They have to do asbestos testing first because the units were built in the 80's.

You might need to define "busy". The link to the tile shows a VERY PALE tile with very little movement or veining. That, to me, is a very "low impact" visual. The variation in tile size will add interest without being "busy". The movement in the stone in your inspiration photo has FAR more movement than the link you offered. This is a little confusing for me. Most people define "busy" as being "too much colour variation". Are you looking for a hint of variation in a tile that is standardized in size? Is that what you are after? Personally I see the posted photo as being "busier" than the link...because the tiles with more colour (photo) have "more going on". Either way, these tiles (inspired photo or link) are both low-impact visual tiles. Very pale. Easy to blend with just about anything. There have been many people who purchased marble tiles only to find out the boxes contained A LOT of colour...so much colour that they bought 2-3 times what they needed and then sorted out the tiles they wanted. This is one way to go about it. Expensive but possible. And being marble they will stain like the dickens. Make sure you seal these things as soon as possible. One Houzzer has already had her 2 week old marble tile backsplash SOAKED in cooking oil. She was devastated. It took her hours and hours of "poultice" to get rid of 80% of the oil. She has a few more nights of cleaning a head of her to get rid of the last 20%...she will then have it professionally sealed once she has cleaned it. There are some beautiful marble-look porcelain tiles in the market that may get you what you are looking for: uniform size with controlled colour variation.

Solidago infested with aster yellows disease

I don't know what's going on with your plant but I too have tiny white bugs on my plant. I wish I knew for sure what they are. It seems most of them are on my terra cotta pot more than the soil or the plant. No webbing or cotton like appearance. It's been almost 3 months since your post. How has the plant been doing?