It seems this thread has become problematic for a few of us! ;-) Seems to be common on this forum. One does wonder why. Nandina, since your first post seems to be the most practically knowledgeable as well as offered in a friendly manner, I certainly hope you won't quit posting. While I appreciate all the help I've been given it seems there are some who don't seem to want to provide explanations of their suggestions or cannot see that I wrote a book initially which has a lot of info. A sense of humor is always refreshing and I doubt I even liked pablum when I was of an age to eat it!. Thank you. Some comments on your suggestions - since DH is just finishing building my 12'x16' garden house I doubt I could convince him to build a potting shed as well! LOL Also the garden house will have a porch added next year which is where I will have a potting bench. My idea is to hide the bins with plantings. I think it can work. This is a country garden and we have no near neighbors so compost bins are not a major problem. Your idea of a labyrinth/patio is an interesting one which I might have considered a few years ago before we built our large patio right near the house. I think the labyrinth will be fine once established with a circular planting bed surrounding it, paths to and from, and plantings to blend. Frankie, I appreciate you hanging in on this thread and your attempt to define this elusive basic mission statement. I really don't see why this should be a problem for anyone who wishes to help as so far no one has been able to define clearly what it means in landscaping. The parameters I set out for this project IMO are more than enough info for anyone to understand what my basic mission is. BTW for anyone who thinks I'm copping out on stating this basic mission, I can tell you that I have helped several organizations create such a statement so it's not a foreign concept to me. The low maintenance requirement, I agree, has not been well enough defined by me altho I think to say that no "high" maintenance landscaping ideas will be implemented is appropriate. So only hardy plants, a minimum of plants aggressive in this zone, shrubs that require little trimming, plants that do not shed noxious seed pods, and little or no groomed lawns. Most gardeners will understand the concept of well behaved, low maintenance plants. As far as low maintenance hardscaping ideas (such as for paths) I'm definitely looking for suggestions. I love gardening and my DH is always helpful so we expect to continue to spend many hours a week and more at certain times of the year in our garden. I have thot of planting several areas in wildflowers or grasses altho will have to speak with someone at the local Ag office regarding non-invasive plants so I don't use those that could become a problem. I wonder how many here have actually ever planned a garden larger than a city lot. I'd be interested to hear their experiences.

The key issue is whether you are trying to design the house or create construction documents - two very different goals. Many homeowners tend to think of the "design" of a house as a "plan" when, in reality, it is just one of many ways to help someone to visualize the actual design and it is not always a very good one for complex designs. Plans, elevations, details and schedules work well for builders because they aren't trying to evaluate the overall design, only build the house one piece at a time. IMHO nothing compares to SketchUp for preliminary design at any price (SketchUp basic is free, SketchUp Pro is $495, the Student version of Pro is $49/year and a trial version of Pro is free.) Since it is unlikely a homeowner will have the knowledge to draw a set of construction documents I would suggest sticking to preliminary design and hiring someone with the proper experience to do the rest. A SketchUp model can be easily looked at in plan view especially with the Section Tool shown in the link below. It doesn't take a skilled drafter much time to enter the information from a SketchUp model into a 2D CAD file because the drafter can use the tape measure tool to find all of the dimensions (if they are not already labeled in the model) and it is possible to import a 2D version into almost any CAD program (Pro has DXF export and the free version will need a plugin script that is available free online.) SketchUp may seem intuitive and for a grade school student it is but for a house designer it has so many valuable features that it requires taking a course at a school or online to be used effectively. You should study and experiment for a month before starting to design your house. There are books available at Amazon and online courses from SketchUp and from SketchUp for Dummies/aidanchopra.com. When I open a SketchUp model from 10 years ago I am surprised at how few of the features I was able to use. There is never an end to learning with any CAD program. Each new version of the software adds incredible features. SketchUp view inside model

I used Better Homes and Gardens Interior Designer when designing our new house. It really helped with visualizing the floor plans. It also has a library of different manufacturers paint colors you can use. You can import pictures as well. It's made by Chief Architect. It certainly is not the easiest software to use(has a learning curve) and does have a few quirks that can get a bit annoying, but it's relatively inexpensive. Here is a link that might be useful: BHG Interior Designer

Suzanne thank you so much for the bump, and thank you Prospect for the referral. I went on the site today and it looks perfect. Just like what I had before only maybe better, I sent in for the trial version/product key and can't wait to start using it. I am hopeful that the 99.00 version is all that I need. Suzanne your right I tried sketchup too and same here. What, what did they say to do.? I don't want to invest all that time trying to figure out when I want to just be mapping out.. really just let me simply put in stuff and get on with it. Thank you both! I am in business now. Let the designs begin...