SORRY!! links didn't seem to work, so will try these:- lavender 1 http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv14/pousser/DSCF2066.jpg lavender 2 http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv14/pousser/DSCF2068.jpg

I wish there was a prize. I did find a picture of Euphorbia japonica E. susannae x E. bupleurifolia and it is very very similar to this plant so I would say it is some type of Euphorbia as gliese says. I really was stumped on this one and knew on gardenweb I would find an answer!

kats - thanks for your suggestions. Nope, we're no where near finalizing anything, unfortunately. I've actually told my designer that I'm taking a break for a few weeks to reconsider everything. This plan just does not wow me at all and if I'm going to spend a bunch of money building my 'dream home' I want to really LOVE it, kwim? I have been rethinking the steps to the master, and I think I am going to nix them. I love the idea of something different like that, but I think it probably should be eliminated for practical reasons (I really hate being practical though!) I don't really care too much about resale at this point, because we plan to be here for at least the next 15ish years. And we're on 10 acres of land where land in our area is a definite premium and highly sought after. But even so, I'm not going to build something totally undesirable for the next person. chisue, we are building in central IL. weedyacres, thanks for your thoughts about the bathroom. I do like your suggestions about rotating the shower. I'm still undecided on a j&j bath. Some people love them and others hate them. So I'm not sure... I definitely agree with you on the storage issue! I need to add LOTS of closets and built-ins. Unfortunately, we can't dig the foundation lower since we're so swampy around here. We're not in flood plain, but our sumps run CONSTANTLY in our current house. So we were thinking of other ideas on how to still have a basement (we need one due to tornadoes) but possibly not going down as far. any other ideas? My dilemma is what to do with the center of the home. Most all plans I've seen have the great room in the middle of the home, but we want ours bumped off the back with lots of windows. We don't need 2 great rooms, so what do we put in the middle? I also need to have my kitchen on an ext. wall because I want lots of windows above my sink. I do agree with you on the choppiness though, so I'm probably going to nix this plan and start over. ugh. the e-space is more of a homework/blogging space for my 3 kiddos and I. I don't want them to have computers in their bedrooms, so I need for this space to be centrally located so I can keep an eye on their computer use :) thanks again for all the input! I keep surfing house plan sites hoping I'll stumble upon the perfect plan, but after 3-4 years of searching I'm not very hopeful...

I am not an expert on clearances at all, so I'll leave that to others. We ended up putting our microwave right next to our fridge, since we mostly use it for heating up leftovers. If you use yours in the same way, that's the spot I'd recommend. We didn't do anything built in, just a small one on the countertop. Will the left side of the island be where you would normally keep cookbooks? Will they be easy to consult there? If so, I'd go with shelves. I see low shelves like that as unlikely to be a "display" focal point, when you are likely to be giving folks some beautiful countertop to look at instead. (Another idea would be a wine rack, if you are red wine drinkers.) If you want to use baskets instead of shelves... I associate the wicker baskets with potato and onion storage. I would look for the kind that slide out on wooden rails, rather than just having baskets that sit in the opening. I have always imagined that the basket would scratch up the wood if you were pulling them out often. If you were doing that use, I'd face them along the galley rather than on the end of the island. There's also a photo floating around here somewhere with an island that has a built-in cubby for a roll of paper towels... it strikes me that you might have a good use for that on that corner of your island, since it's right near the fridge (where spills often start).