dknjmom - I have no info on Foremost but Ethan Allen does design services for free. Why don't you check out an Ethan Allen store and see if you can get a design consultant to help you with a layout. They will absolutely try to sell you their furniture but you do not HAVE to buy from them. Then, you can go to any local furniture store and they will help you match patterns etc. If you find things you like, get swatches and bring them to different stores and ask the salespeople what would match. My cousin is an interior designer. She designed a layout of our LR from the plans our architect drew up. I take her sketch as well as a picture of the rug I bought furniture shopping with me and so far, most stores that I've been to have been very helpful in giving me ideas on what fabrics go together.

I had issues with my fabricator and went to a stone fabricator forum for advise. They were very helpful. If I hire a fabricator in the future I will go to their forum for a recommendation. I had over 30 responses from fabricators all over the country for one question. They have 5 members in the NY area. Might be worth looking into. My contractor recommended my fabricator, big mistake on my end, I should of hired one myself. Here is a link that might be useful: http://forum.stonefabricatorsalliance.com/

You can search through www.custommade.com There are over 100 blacksmiths making rangehoods on that site. Most people don't mind ordering their hood from elsewhere, sending ideas and hood designs by email. Setting up shop in the Tri-State area is/would be very expensive but maybe there are a few.

OK, so I couldn't help myself -- I placed a few small (for me) orders for the cemetery. I already reserved a few from Long Ago Roses, and I mentioned these in my previous thread. I'll list them again, along with the new orders, as well as what others here have offered to share or let me propagate. I heeded mad_gallica's advice about these roses being hard to root and likely better off being purchased. Albas “Ethel Yount’s White” found, possibly ‘Semi-Plena’ — Rose Petals Nursery Centifolias ‘La Noblesse’ 1856 — Burlington Roses ‘Robert Le Diable’ pre-1858 — Long Ago Roses Damasks ‘Celsiana’ pre-1732 — Burlington Roses ‘Ispahan’ pre-1827 — Long Ago Roses ‘Kazanlik’ VID pre-1612 — Rose Petals Nursery ‘Quatre Saisons’ pre-1633 — Rose Petals Nursery Gallicas ‘La Belle Sultane’ pre-1795 — frances_in_nj ‘Rosa Mundi’ pre-1581 — Long Ago Roses Hybrid Chinas ‘Hippolyte’ pre-1842 — Burlington Roses ‘Ombree Parfaite’ aka ‘Alice Vena’ 1823 — Long Ago Roses “Rush Family Gallica” found — Long Ago Roses “Ruth’s German Rose” found — Long Ago Roses 'Shailer’s Provence' 1799 — Long Ago Roses “The Bishop” (not sure which "version") — Long Ago Roses Hybrid Multifloras ‘Ghislaine de Feligonde’ 1916 — frances_in_nj ‘Veilchenblau’ 1909 — frances_in_nj Hybrid Perpetuals ‘Baronne Prevost’ 1841 — Long Ago Roses Mosses ‘Henri Martin’ 1862 — Long Ago Roses ‘Old Red Moss’ 1835 — Burlington Roses Polyanthas, Climbing ‘Mlle Cecile Brunner, CL’ 1894 — vmr423 ‘Phyllis Bide’ 1923 — frances_in_nj Ramblers ‘Erinnerung an Brod’ pre-1884 — frances_in_nj ‘Paul’s Himalayan Musk Rambler’ 1916 — frances_in_nj Species and Species Hybrids R. primula 1890 — Paradise Gardens Now, before everyone says I went nuts, a few caveats. First, planting isn't going to be restricted to existing beds you saw in the pics on the previous thread. When I spoke to Brian about possibilities, I mentioned that there was an old tradition of planting roses on graves. He liked that idea -- obviously not for every grave, but we're going to go through the list of "residents" and "honor" some of the more noteworthy ones with roses. Second, I know that some OGRs like Gallicas, some Hybrid Chinas, and Centifolias are known for suckering. These I don't want in beds, but rather in areas surrounded by grass or pavement to contain them. I looked through my list -- both "coming" and "possibilities" -- while walking around the cemetery. I definitely found places where all would work with room for more, but final placement will be Brian the caretaker's decision. I'm going to grow them on in my "magic mix" through the Summer here, and bring them to the cemetery in mid to late August for planting. That's when temperatures tend to cool down, and heavy rains soon follow -- which would work well for getting them established. Through the Winter, I'm going to be bringing my daily Starbucks hauls to the cemetery and start covering the beds -- not nearly as thickly as I do here, where I'm almost finished. I'm thinking an inch is fine. Brian's been collecting all the leaves into a big pile, shredding them, and holding the shredded leaves in bags for me to put down on top of the grounds. This will be going onto existing beds, but I wanted to wait for hard frost to kill off foliage on the other plants there. We're still waiting for one! The coldest three or four nights we've had so far went only to 30F for about an hour or so each time. Once the existing beds there are covered, I'll hold off until Spring to add more, and then only a sprinkling through the growing season. I'm hoping that this continued application will re-invigorate the soil there in time for rose planting in late Summer. I'm still waiting to hear back from Stephen Scanniello about things available through the HRF, but I don't think he's returned to the US yet. So I'm not going to bug him while he's on vacation. I'm still open to more "pass-alongs" that would be appropriate for the era. I'm also going to try rooting some of my "inventory" in late Winter -- I already see a sucker on my 'Botzaris' which I'm hoping I can get going in a pot. Anything I bring to the cemetery that doesn't "find a home" there will be donated to the HRF via Stephen Scanniello. He happens to live just south of me in Barnegat. :-) ~Christopher