Annie ... thank you for the invite you posted on the Rose Forum. At this time, I have about 120 roses and a few companion plants. I haven't really researched how to incorporate companion plants into my weed patch/rose garden simply because I am working with such horrible soil, getting the roses sited properly and growing well has been my primary focus since I purchased my home. Therefore, I am new to this forum. My one experiment of moving some of the previous owner's stunted irises into a rose bed turned out to be a disaster for the rose. So, I decided to get the rose beds right and then work on planning the rest of the garden around them. About shovel pruning roses ... I can see why you would be put off, but the thing is that when roses are marketed, there is generally the concept that a given rose can be grown well in any climate or any type of soil, so many gardeners buy roses that are simply wrong for their gardens and, to me, it only makes sense to replace the plant with a more suitable rose that will be happy in my garden and won't require as much attention as the rose that doesn't perform well. However, I tend to look at roses differently than most gardeners as I work on a rose web site called HelpMeFind dot com. On that site, there is a lot of information about the individual roses, comments by people who have grown the rose and more. It helps me find the right roses for my current garden. If more gardeners researched their roses ... and other plants ... they wouldn't find themselves shovel pruning their roses. (I am afraid to tell you how many plants I've killed because they cannot survive this climate.) Smiles, Lyn

Dripping sinks, eh? clever, thanks for the laugh :) I've found that the amount of water used doesn't make too much difference. We built our current home, and for the landscaping, I started a couple hundred native plants from seed and cared for them from anywhere from 6 months to 2 years before they were put in the ground. (They were planted mostly in a mix of vermicompost and granite sand when I had enough compost to go around; otherwise I bought some local potting soil. They did great!) During that time, I watered each bin at least 5 gallons at a time 2 or 3 times a week; sometimes 15 gallons at a time. Now, they generally only get watered 3-5 gallons every 2 or 3 weeks, as I just don't need the tea. They seem to be happy either way. The volume of compost in the bins is what is most affected by it. When I was watering so often, I rarely had/got to harvest compost. I could add scraps and mulch, but the bins never got too full. Now I have to pull compost out at least once or twice a year so I have enough room for more input. I generally add an overly full 1.5 gallon bucket of scraps twice a week. I water the bins first, then add the scraps, so that the water is run over finished compost. I had a 55 gal. rain barrel in town, and used rainwater when I could. When I ran out, I used city water. The worms didn't seem to mind, but I could really see a difference in the plants. (Now our whole house is on a rainwater system, which all of us, plants, people, and worms alike, love.) My sisters in town have both begun using the same system with city water, and haven't had any issues. An interesting note (to me, anyway) was that at one point when we were living in town, the water in the plastic rain barrel went septic. The screen on top of the barrel was loose enough to allow some mosquitos to enter and lay eggs, but didn't allow the ensuing offspring to escape. So a lot of dead mosquitoes turned the water septic, and it smelled awful. I ran it though a bin anyway, and it came out smelling much better than it went in. Emptying the barrel and adding some gravel to the bottom created a habitat for beneficial microorganisms, and solved the problem. I never could get a satisfactory seal on the screen that came with the barrel. I bought the sinks at a Home Depot for $14. They've since tripled in price, unfortunately. They're pretty sturdy, and they have to be--the bins are extremely heavy. A good footing underneath them is important. I like the height, though--no bending over to compost. The idea is a modification on a composting system by Anna Edey of Solviva; she set up a toilet composting system that uses a flush toilet in the house, and runs the effluent through a worm bin outside the house. Genius idea, in my opinion. I'm hoping to try a similar setup one day, which is why I wanted to experiment with the sand filter. Sand filtration is a great cleaning system for black water, and I thought adding one to her design would provide an additional safety factor. I wanted to get some experience with it before messing around with potential pathogens. Still haven't worked up the courage to set that toilet system up, but one of these days I will! The sand system in the bins is: screen over the drain hole, a mound of gravel around that to help hold back the sand, then about 4" of sand on the bottom of the sinks, covered with dampened hardwood mulch and worms. The sand was bagged and marketed for kids' sand boxes; the gravel was also a bagged landscaping product. I think some of the swimming pool filter sand has diatomaceous earth added, so I steered away from that. A tiny bit of sand will move through the system, so I guess over the years the sand is depleted. I haven't figured out a way around that. I used paper scraps for a while, but didn't really like the way that worked. The mulch is a local product, recycled tree trimmings, so I'm fine with that, and I just recycle our used papers. The mulch is shredded; perhaps a bit more finely than what I imagine you might be referring to when you say wood chips. It's soft to the touch, not chunky, and easy to grab by the handful. I keep a galvanized trash can full of it next to the bins, with a little plant saucer in it to serve as a scoop. I buy 2 or 3 $3.00 bags of it a year. We've also bought it in bulk for garden beds and set some aside; in this hot climate, it's extremely helpful to keep moisture from evaporating. I think the screens on top are an important aspect, too. I noticed a couple of people referring to lids on their bins. I started that way, and had real difficulty managing the temperature. It's just too dang hot around here. One disaster resulted in worm soup, and kept me out of the world of worms for a couple of years. Poor things. I'm running on again; as you can probably tell, I really like this set up. I've had some experience fending off fire ants and soldier flies, but I think I'm starting to go overboard. I'll ramble on some more if anyone wants to know, but perhaps it should be another thread? Seems like I got a bit off the topic of gnats :) Thanks for the interest, hope some of it helps.

We do have a few more walls we can open up. The one partial wall separating the living room (really our Family room) from the kitchen can definitely be bumped back some-it could actually be just a simple column but I am not sure I want it completely open to the kitchen??? I think it could all be taken out except for the dark black square that is shown. This is the wall behind the red sofa in the photo. On the wall behind the LR(FR) going into the breakfast/dining room, we could either open up the family room wall in the center where the TV now is OR just open it on the left side to match the right side. -see bottom photo- And where the kitchen window seat is -the designer left that area with as much open space as possible as he sees it as a good entertaining area backing up to the patio and where people will hang out at the island. I don't think it needs to be 5"7" wide though. We are also thinking about changing the window seat to a double french door so that space would be a high traffic area. and then put wet bar and coffee station on the left or right or both. I know it is hard to envision so will have to have the architect redo some of this. Or will see if I can tackle on graph paper or something! Thanks for your thoughts!It is helping confirm we need to do more with the walls!

What a wonderful playful looking space! Great green accents. I like how the added lights in the curved ceiling section really plays up the architectural lines. Really makes it a standout feature. Love all the drawers, the backsplash (of course!) and the improved layout. Thanks for sharing your LED color temperature solution. That drives me crazy too when they're not the same. It has been difficult to find the more neutral color temps (forget the exact kelvin temp at the moment), so your solution sounds great! I saw this really cool Lutron dimmer that reminds me of your space and would look really cool if it could work with your Insteon (I'm not familiar with this) dimming system, or if not, maybe something separate. In a single or a double switch plate, there is a thin vertical slot that has Green LEDs (also comes in Blue or White) that you can touch anywhere for the dimmer (all the way up is full On and any position lower is dimmed by seven levels I believe). And there is a small Amber light at the lowest point that softly glows when it is all off so you can find it in the dark. The wall plates are available in the 10 standard colors and 11 brushed metal colors so you could get a brushed aluminum or stainless steel looking one to match what looks like what you have (see the picture below). I'm going to use these in my bar in the Blue to coordinate with the granite countertops there, so just thought these would look cool in the Green for your great space. This is one of the most distinctive dimmers I have seen. The picture below is of the single in the Green with an aluminum plate (also comes in a double plate as well) and a link with the specifics. Just a thought for you if you haven't finished all of your switches. :-) (edited for a typo I didn't catch the first time) Here is a link that might be useful: Lutron Vierti dimmer switch This post was edited by cindallas on Mon, Sep 8, 14 at 16:56