Xman... you have done an amazing job! Beautiful pond, waterway and landscaping! I especially love the round stones in the waterway; it gives a lovely touch of color! Your plant choices are lovely. The contrasting textures and colors work so well and I love the pruned Juniper! As far as pondscaping goes the plants you mentioned above would work well! For some added variation and texture you might consider putting a Dwarf Cattail in the lower pond as well. They only grow about 2 feet tall and have tiny little catkins. If you want to 'hide' the outside of the upper pond level you could try building a rock retaining wall, fill it with earth and plant some type of cascading plant to soften the edges of the wall and the pond. The goldfish are going to love it! I hope you will post more photos as your pond progresses! Wonderful job! Bren

What a beautiful living room you have made. The credenza under your TV is particularly gorgeous. Here is what I would consider doing if this were my room- just to give you ideas to play off of for a start. I would begin by finding some blue, patterned throw pillows for the sofa and the arm chair. I like Indian block prints. They are classic and fresh. What I have shown is not exactly bargain, Target/Home Goods, but aside from the Ginori, it's not terribly expensive either. Here are some from John Robshaw: And for the blue arm chair, I thought something like this could be fun: Next I would find an orchid or cyclamen for the table by the blue arm chair. I am partial to cyclamens, so here: I would look for a silver cachepot. Here is a simple one from The Enchanted Home. I like how the silver echoes your side table by the sofa. I would like a much simpler/more modern silver cachepot, this is all I could find right now. Then for the coffee table, I would find a few pretty and interesting coffee table books: Assouline, Phaedon, Taschen, Rizzoli all have great, colorful, conversation sparking titles available. It is very common to put stuff on top of books on coffee tables. That is not my thing. I would rather just see something pretty next to the stack of books. Maybe a bowl or a vase in this Ginori pattern (Orientale in azalea): Lastly the table between the sofa and arm chair could use a lamp perhaps. I would look for something sculptural in crystal. Like this from Horchow: Your room is lovely and will come together more and more over time. Don't rush yourself. Wait to find things that really speak to you, so that you infuse the room with your personality.

yalemichmom, fortunately my contractor was very accommodating and did not resist when I said I wanted to hire my favorite painter for walls and trim. I selected and purchased the paint myself and the two professionals were able to schedule work around each other. I wonder if your contractor would consider this. As my architect said, "It's your house and you are writing the check." I think you will be fine with the factory-finished crown, as long as it is the same throughout the room. Kendrah, "too much of a hardened, baked on look that made it feel too sleek and modern for the space" is exactly how I feel about my cabinets. live_wire_oak, thank you for the detailed explanation of coatings. Love the car analogy! It isn't actually the sheen of CV that bothers me. I couldn't find the correct word to describe what I dislike. It's what Kendrah said. I elected to go with CV for durability and the expense of hand painting. In hindsight, I wish I had chosen unfinished cabinets painted on site (with Advance) by aforementioned favorite painter - even knowing it is more fragile and will require periodic repainting. The one thing I appreciate about CV is that inevitable drips of coffee do not stain the cabinet fronts. Mary Elizabeth, lighting does make a difference. The color bothers me less in dim early morning/late evening light. It's daytime, when the inalterable sunlight comes streaming in that I wish I'd chosen something with a little more chroma. All, thanks again for your thoughtful comments.

To get a shiny floor you have to PURCHASE shiny floor. Sorry but that's the way of it. You already admit you are over cleaning it just to make it look nicer. So you might as well go whole hog and add a temporary polish. Things like Rejuvenate or a polymere additive that is OK for vinyl/laminate is the way to go. The way you do this without wax build-up is: Strip the floor every time you want to add more shine. Yep. You guessed it. You will chemically/manually strip the polish off every 3-6 months and then add more once the floor is dry. This is the single possible way to add shine without adding layers of polish residue. Once you have lived with your 'polish', 'strip', 'polish', 'strip program for a year or two (should be 3-4 polish-strip-polish actions) you can then start saving for a floor that has a gloss level you can live with. Sorry but this is the only way to get a shiny floor - purchase a new floor that has a shine to it.