I posted the following in the landscape section over at GardenWeb, but hoped ya'll would have some suggestions as well. There is an additional picture there as well which has the plot map with some notes on it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello Everyone. I have run into a situation in my new construction where I am having drainage problems. Not necessarily for me, but for my two neighbors. In trying to be a good neighbor I'm wondering if you have any ideas to help me out. My property lies between two completed houses. The house to my right (off screen in the picture) was having some drainage issues on the front corner of my lot which is the back corner of their yard. They have trees planted and it is the low spot of their yard where the lawn slopes to. There is a bit of slope coming from their lawn towards mine, but I would only estimate it as 4' over Compounding the problem there is that the drainage ditch along the road there overflows it's banks and comes into both of our yards when there is a significant rain or snow melt. When the county inspectors saw the water there (possibly after being called by the neighbors) they required me to put a swale in my yard going from the front of my yard along the side and all the way to the back yard (light blue in the drawing). Not something I really wanted, but hey... life, lemons, lemonade, etc.. My plan was (in the future when money grows on trees) to make the swale into a dry creek bed with river rock and boulders. All draining to a large pond at the end of the swale (to be built later as well). The pond would probably be roughly a 20' by 30' oblong shape. Also along the swale I planned to put in a culvert and road so I could reach the far back corner of my lot where I will build a shop and vegetable garden. The swale is in now minus any landscaping or rocks and after this springs snow melt the water was running sometimes over 8" deep all the way to the end of the swale and washing out the dirt in the neighbor to my left's tree line. The big culprit, in my opinion was that the ditch along the road was draining through my swale and not through the developers planned drainage to the north (left in the picture). You can see in the plot picture that the easement has drainage heading between two lots to the north of me. Either way, I want to be a good neighbor and try to slow down the velocity of the drainage in the swale and had a few ideas I would like to run by everyone. First, I wonder if putting landscape fabric down and then small gravel in the bottom of the swale (larger rocks on the side and then a few boulders interspersed as well) would slow down the drainage or speed it up? Second, If I were to put in a smaller depression/mini pond along the swale's path before a culvert and road crosses it would it slow it further? Finally, could anyone verify that the pond as a catch basin at the end would be a good solution? I'm hoping that by landscaping the swale now, unfortunately as an unexpected expense, and following it up with a call to the developer and county regarding the ditch flowing through my yard and not their designed location will be enough to fix it. Any thoughts on this and also how to landscape/plant along the swale would be appreciated. Here is a link that might be useful: Other forum

The toilet should not have a pony wall next to it. Maybe a door would look nice in front of the toilet. And add a full wall in place of that pony wall. That would work for extra privacy. A different color for the walls would look nice. The trash can should match with the rest of the bathroom. More pictures would help. The cabinets should match with the rest of bathroom to. Maybe some ivy would good. Ivy clears the air of toxins and bacteria and dust. So that would make the room smell better. And it makes it feel more modern. @decoenthusiaste has great ideas. @winer812 so you like Sunset Hill Colonial style. The cabinets look would look with blue.

Hi Maggie. Most people who have renovated this type of house have moved the stove to the current sink wall; however, I can't tell if they vent anything outside or not. That soffit, if you went out on that end, leads to the chimney wall, which I am not sure I can use. I'll have to have someone obviously look into this. Anj, I was hoping to take down the wall and put an island or possibly continuous cabinets if I made sort of a u-shape with them. It's a little tight in that dining area.

As old vanities go, yours is pretty nice. I wouldn't bother to paint it. I don't even mind the black hardware, but if you keep it, think about mirrors with black frames. For me the things that look like they need a change are the mirrors/medicine cabinet and the lighting. The medicine cabinet with mirrors on either side is an odd look. You could invest in a change there and keep it when you remodel. If you need a medicine cabinet you could put one on the side where the towel bar is and have one large mirror wall to wall, or have one over each sink. Go for recessed this time. Or buy ones that can be hung either way. Hang them not recessed until you remodel. One thing to keep in mind is that newer vanities may be taller than what you have now. I don't know how tall the one you have is, but think about this before you hang new mirrors. If you can find inexpensive faucets for a refresh that wouldn't be a bad idea, either. The wall color isn't bad. If it needs to be refreshed, the same color would be OK, or look for a subtle green. Do you have a shower curtain in this bathroom? If so, choose a color from it if it has a pattern.