It is phenominal how many 'Career Change' threads appear on this forum! I came to this lifestyle through the world of working with animals. Started out as a zookeeper then moved into the Exhibit Design dept and ended up being a Graphic Artist. Through a lot of those 18 years I worked side by side with the zoo's horticulture department. Now I work with plants. The same types of people are drawn to animal work as plant work. The part that doesn't get said much when someone approaching midlife/career-change-time comes in looking for an application is that only a few people can handle the physical demands of outdoor labor. Its nice to think about working with your hands, nuturing plants..etc. but after the age of 40, skin cancer is a reality for many, arthritis is a reality for even more. Most humans just aren't built to work hard physical labor outside in the sun. Many would love to, but few actually can. There is a reason companies seek out young people for those jobs. Entry level positions in a lot of hort fields don't come with complete benefits which only adds to the misery. Now I know there are people out there past the age of 40 that work harder than many of the teenagers in the workforce, but overall I think many people looking for a career change view animal/plant work with rose colored glasses.

Ingrid VC, it's funny that you should mention English country house style, because it's the ultimate when it comes to being inclusive, rather than excusive in nature. The style was only christened with the name in the mid-20th century, but it's a look that's been around for few hundred years, and for ease & livability, it can't be beat, because rather than being about things--certain pieces or motifs (wire-fronted wooden cubboards="French Country"; pastel-painted coyote silhouettes="Southwestern")--it's about an approach, one based on comfort & practicality & hanging onto things, rather than tossing them just because their moment happens to be past. If the damask sofa's upholstery gets a little shabby, a chintz slipcover will take care of that. If the elegant curtains form the old family place are too long for the windows, we'll just call them 'puddled' and let it go at that. There are bigger things to think about. If there are rings on the mahogany finish where somebody put down a wet drink, oh well. That's patina. And threadbare rugs are welcome too, because they not only take less upkeep than pale carpeting, they're also cheaper. The ceaseless quest after perfection is a killer, and nobody does take-it-as-it-comes decorating like the English. But English Country Style it's not only inherited antiques & old stuff. The Victorian bamboo what-not over in the corner next to the Sheraton style desk was itself a brand new piece at one time, as were 192Os floor lamps, and if there was room for them in the overall scheme then, then there's also room for the 196Os brass drum table & the scratchy-looking 197Os wall hanging somebody made in the ashram, & those 198Os engravings of temples & that wire-fronted cupboard, too. It doesn't matter that it's supposedly "French Country" in inspiration. So, in the 18th Century, were Thomas Chippendale's ribbon-back carved mahogany chairs, and they fit into the mix just fine. And in the Victorian era, people began with the same room, with the same inherited family pieces both good & bad, then filled up the bare spots with Chinese vases & Japanese fans & Persian rugs & tooled leather stools from Egypt & native American baskets from Arizona & brass lanterns from Morocco & plaster casts of famous sculptures & tooled silver vases from India filled with peacock feathers or pampas grass. The eclectic look that's featured in Pier One ads or in vignettes at Cost Plus World Market is nothing more--or less--than a look that was common in millions of homes in say, 1880. So much for progress. But besides all that imported souvenir stuff in the typical English country house, there was the homey stuff, too. On one side of the elegant carved marble chimneypiece was Great-grandmother's rush-seated baby chair & on the other side was the dog's chewewd-up wicker bed & a pile of slimy doggy toys. Dogs were just as important to the overall style as were the family heirlooms. And of course there, in a prominent place, were the twin entertainment centers of the day, the upright piano & the stereopticon. As for the TV that's replaced those items today, Victorians were the ultimate believers in technology, so the last thing they would have done with an amazing gizmo like a 54" screen is hide it away in an old-timey cabinet, or othewrwise try to make it disappear. No, that's the great thing about the relaxed English Country house style, and more specifically, the ultra-forgiving, unpretentious Victorian version of it: there was room in it for everything, old & new, plain & fancy. That's why the style is still a good, practical model on which to base a room for the 21st century. Magnaverde Rule No. 16: Decorate for the life you really have, not the life you wish you had.

Okay, you have both given my some confidence!! :) I do want my house to feel like a ray of sunshine and it sounds as if this is what I will get. Should it be a suitable colour for French Country etc.? I love some of the vivid Provence paints on their rustic walls etc. but they won't work in my suburban vaulted ceiling Canadian home, so Ivoire seemed a good compromise to get the look. Have either of you (or anyone else) seen Ivoire in a real house? I am finding it difficult to guess how mellow or bright the colour might end up once it is on the walls based on the poster cards of it I made up (and from the painted patches all over my walls).

Cynic, I was not suggesting an untrained person design brakes or engineer buildings! But there are many design jobs that do not require ASID or AIA qualifications. RV makers already know all the technical stuff. When they hire designers, it's for new ideas for space planning and finishes that are functional and will sell well. Not that there are a lot of jobs open there--it was just an example of the kind of place where someone with great ideas can sometimes find a niche without formal qualifications. If you'd read thoroughly, I said get a job with, not do it yourself. Okay, S-lash, no / for you! Architects--the kind who spec out projects rather than passing high concept drawings to others to finish--and interior designers, rather than "decorators" deal with wholesalers of everything from studs to stone to custom and stock windows to light switches to underwater speakers. I wasn't talking about furnishings. An unlicensed, uncertified "lifestyles surrounds consultant" can take a design concept for a house to a structural engineer for plans that will pass plan check, and to a qualified general contractor to build. There's nothing illegal or dangerous about it. It still has to pass code, and has to be correctly drawn and built by the pros. What such a consultant lacks is the same thing that a newbie architect lacks--field experience to know that the others are doing their jobs correctly. Architects are not even required, unless by local ordinance, for houses and small business buildings, and people often go straight to the engineer. That's why I brought it up. It's a path that's possible if the OP is more interested in the creative process than the nuts and bolts.