Thank you, thank you. It makes my heart happy to know I'm on the right track. The space is wonderful, but also intimidating. Where to place? What to leave grass? Where are the focal points? How much work do I want to have in 10 years? Wish I could take an aerial as there are eight defined garden areas, each with its own personality. The fun has been to design each to be different and attractive in its own way. Also posted this with the hope that people just starting out on new plots or with gardens in general can get some encouragement that with patience, it can be done! Good friends help a lot, too :-) Martie

Hi all! It's so nice to be back and have a bit of time! Ryan, Liza, I called the tulips, Easter tulips, because they were purchased for the table for Easter! I really have no idea what the variety is, sorry for the confusion. Ryan, I'm just getting back into Orchids, I had to leave a large amount of them in NJ with the woman I sold the house too, our home up here is just kept to cold. In NJ I had a conservatory added to the top floor of the house and it was a great place for orchids, bannanas, and other tropicals. I'm trying phals again this year but think the sun/plant room may be too cold and don't know where I'll move them too, maybe my home office. The cattleya, dendrobium, and some other hardier varieties do fine with some drops into the upper 30's but the phals really suffer. Liza, I battle with squirrels here when it comes to tulips, the little buggers like to behead them and leave the flower at the base of the plant. Alana, I spent many hours annoyed that the Zombie could look wistfully out the window and I couldn't! LOL Cindeea my dear!!!! that phaius orchid was huge, the spike was almost 28 inches tall! the leaves are just as tall but spread. It's a ground orchid so you probably could grow it where you are! Logees sells them.

Melissa,very nice,you have done a lot of hard work,and great planting, as you have moved forward,not always easy to do,just look at how big every thing had gotton in such a short amount of time.Thanks for sharing this with us,always so much fun to see what others have done,and the progress they have made,yours is great. Don't you just love looking at your garden from up high,it really helps you develop a plan,I think. cAROL

Let me see if I can answer all the questions -- this is a bit long: * The home is 1930s "semi" Colonial with small touches of art deco style in the original hardware, cabinetry and mouldings * The family room is an addition. It is on a step down level (like the original formal dining room in front). We are making changes to blend it better with the rest of the house, including entertainment center cabinetry that better matches the kitchen. * The two normal doors into the new enlarged kitchen are pretty much standard width and are cased in the original trim. If the opening was enlarged, the thought was it could be left uncased and arched, which would match the uncased original arc that leads to the formal family room. We could also custom mill some matching trim. The potential removed wall would still require a beam that hung down about 7 inches. Due to the nature of the add-ons over the years, I'm don't think hiding it into the ceiling is possible in this situation. * We are matching the original flooring throughout the new expanded kitchen and the rear foyer area, to match the original hallway and dining room. It is a random plank, quarter sawn oak with bevels between the planks. However, the family room will be in a different flooring. * The original rear foyer area has an original built-in closet used as a broom closet and two built cabinets in the side, with matching original inset recessed panel doors. The corner pantry was added in later and the doors do not match. The new kitchen cabinets will be inset, white, recessed panel but a slightly different style. These are painted currently in a taupe shade that matches the trim in the rest of the house. * Heading into this rear foyer area is a cased opening that is identical to the kitchen entry to the left of the main entry. We are taking off the door to the entry by the main entry, as it seems like it will just get in the way. * Standing or sitting by the corner windows in the lower left, you should be able to see directly through the two openings directly into part of the family room. At one point, we thought about raising the roof and floor of this room and taking out the wall completely, but the cost was way too high. * I think the bath is far enough away from the main working area of the kitchen and down a little niche, so there are no hangups with it sitting off of the "virtual room". Thanks everyone for your feedback. This post was edited by gooster on Wed, Mar 20, 13 at 11:56