On another thread recently, a regular poster here did a *:facepalm:* which perfectly expresses my feelings when I see "window boxes" in posts about landscaping. Honestly, spare yourself. How the heck would you water the things, and if you could they'd drip on your cars... Ditto for clematis up the posts. Very romantic - in summer - but have you ever seen clematis in winter? And they do grow INTO eaves; they do not naturally curve out and go over the roof. Ask me how I know. Blank slates, big or small, are daunting until you start fleshing out the parameters and constraints you face, which can be best done by looking really hard at function. In this case, these include preservation of sight lines, shade and sun preferences, and property lines, both on the ground and in the air. So for example, you want shade on your son's room - so put a tree in spot A. But choose a tree that does not make an overwhelming mess nor spread or seed excessively (hint to my neighbours: not a Norway Maple). You want some screening probably just at a certain spot when people are looking from a certain height to a certain height. A wall of green may not be necessary to block this - perhaps three columnar evergreens, either upright or droopy or some of each. The property line looks like it is a huge issue to me. It looks to me as if your neighbour will want to have walkable space next to that boat, and will step on your plants if they don't have it. Having had my fill of neighbour issues, I personally would either leave that area for them to do something with, or do it in flagstone with ground cover or in brick - end of story. Then it's space you can use to weed or prune your plants too. Legal issues aside, it just has to work on a day to day basis. Now, the next step is debatable depending on whether you DIY or are having this done for you. You see, a designer always has to do a plan in advance and then get approval and work to it, because the designer then goes away. If you are DIY, you have the luxury of feeling your way through this, because you're always going to be there. And plants can be moved. In other words, the designer has to get it right first time. In contrast, you get to make a few mistakes, and change your mind. Yes, it can cost an extra few dollars, but if you get it mostly right, not that much. First maybe you address a boulder(s). If your husband is a rock person, I'd go along with this, because I am one and I know that when you need rocks, you need rocks. If you don't get your rock, you suffer from rock envy, which can make a person grumpy. Go rock shopping together (or watch craigslist or your local construction sites for free ones). Next, you go plant shopping. You get a few plants. You may find tall slender evergreens among them - there are some great junipers in this category (also some great ground-hugging junipers for the front end of the driveway) and some amazing drooping spruces. You argue about where to put them, and then you go back to the nursery a few weeks later and get a few more (lots of new stock coming in through the season, don' t just go once). Then you plant and live with it. Move it around if something isn't right (in the fall, not in the summer). (It is already actually a little late to plant without being sure of watering adequately this first summer - be aware of that). You might find yourself picking up a few new plants as the weeks or months, or years, go by. In a way, though, all my advice is only going to lead you to one key realization: what you and your husband each want is not incompatible. There's plenty of room on that strip for both of you. KarinL

Oh congratulations on such exciting news! Little girls are wonderful, you can dress them up and take them to lunch and tr to keep them girls, but they'll end up playing basketball and fishing anyway, LOL. Yes, I can see that child is going to be "Maggie", no matter what you really name her. (grin) My grandkids got nicknames after they were born, and so I have The Monkey Princess and Bruvver or Bud. Annie

Bwahahahhhaaa! Okay, I think AuntJen's post has given me significant willies! The trouble is not so much with the sofa itself, which I truly think I could incorporate into my living room, but rather the issue is that I would then have to find some sort of loveseat or 2 club chairs. We have *just* enough seating for our family of 5 as it is, and if we got rid of our current couches (which I HATE) and replaced one with the CL couch, we'd still be short on seating, and then I'd have the task of trying to find complementary seating. I love it, but I'm going to have to pass on it for all of the extra work it would take to furnish the living room around that one piece.

Eh, bins are finally coming into my house. Didn't have the urge to organize before purging as there was so much crap. I did the work, my house has half the number of storage furniture and drawers it did before I started. Now I'm making things easier to access and bins and baskets are helpful. I can reach the front edge of a 6.5' shelf and see to the back of the bottom shelves of my kitchen cabinets. Without bins stuff got lost. Christmas is finally in 6 small bins for safety after living in 3 heavy tattered boxes for years. Without bins the comforter and blankets I have to keep so my guests don't whine about being cold are a horrible mess on the linen closet shelf. I do shop the stash. Any box, basket or jar in reasonably good shape is kept and I use them rather than buy new stuff if possible. And my donation box is full. Time to get that stuff out of the house.