Great info, karin_mt. I have been passing them along to friends and neighbors, taking them to plant swaps and posting them on freecycles. I will post them on freecycles again next spring. Posting on craigslists resulted in only one taker who did not show up at the last minute. I suppose a car full of plants for $15 was still too expensive for people. Maybe I will post an offer on freecycles again then add that I want potting soil so I can use it for winter sowing. A poster here used to hold plant sales. I wanted to follow her foot steps, but never had the grumption to pot up the plants and be organized enough in spring.

I have fond memories of renting a Fiat 500 in Italy and driving it from La Spezia to Maranello / Modena where I spent the day at the Ferrari factory and museum. Originally I had a Alfa Romeo booked, but when I got to the rental car agency at the port the only thing left was a Fiat 500 with a manual gearbox (how typical is that for Italy - "you need a car? we have a car - there it is"). I had the Fiat 500 going flat out over the hills of Tuscany both there and back, don't think I ever lifted. I was so glad I rented the GPS too, I don't read Italian road signs! Of course the best part of that day was when I rented a Ferrari 599 for two hours in Maranello and took to the hilly backroads in it. Now THAT is a car. My two rentals for that day

Well, I certainly couldn't have done ANY of this without all of you. I am so happy looking around my new rooms. My favorites: the furniture placement (of course), the art wall, the mantle, the 3 vases on the black tray on the table (although there may be too many flowers in them at the moment), the fabric covered shade in the dining area. the sofa table bookcase, the fireplace screen... I'm going to interrupt myself because now it seems I'm just listing all the changes. It's obviously too hard to pick just 2 or 3 favorites. Theresa, your peonies are gorgeous -- loving the size of those blooms! I hope to follow all of you as you move on to new projects. I consider each one of you a new friend.

I also vote that remove the columns as the close in the views to your back yard. Had you considered raising the opening of the wall height to even out the ceiling with the height of the top of the arch to give the room more connection with the home and not look like an add on afterthought? Would also make the room look bigger and brighter. Take out the window sliders and put in French doors to the outside. Change out the low level - room eating ceiling fan and put an interesting fixture.