Oh this is great. Here is the information that I need. I will need your GW name, your name & address, something about yourself (hobbies, itmes you collect, fav. color, gardening preferences, etc.) anything your Secret Pal can work use to help throughout the year. You could also include your birthday, anniversary, etc please also include if you are allergic to foods, certain types of plants etc or other items that you might receive during the year. You may also just update your gardenweb page with the information so that your assigned pal will know what to get for you. Each month I post a link called Cassie's Secret Pal Swap 2005 and you will post when you mail there and what you receive. I will assign at the end of the week all those that have posted by then. Cassie

Here are a few thoughts. The first three are variations on a theme. https://www.lampsplus.com/products/feiss-angelo-24-inch-wide-weathered-oak-5-light-chandelier__18w24.html https://www.lampsplus.com/products/hinkley-sawyer-24-inch-wide-sequoia-6-light-outdoor-chandelier__44h64.html https://www.lampsplus.com/products/quoizel-lounge-27-and-one-half-inch-wide-5-light-gray-ash-chandelier__20p75.html https://www.lampsplus.com/products/madera-28-and-one-quarter-inch-wide-black-iron-hand-forged-chandelier__2y207.html https://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Distressed-Weathered-Oak-4-Light-Wood-Orb-Chandelier/19738476/product.html  (maybe a bigger version for your space) This last one was my first thought, but I think it is too same-same with your table and floor and wall color. While I think it's a nice enough fixture by itself, it would be boring in your space. You need a bit more contrast. https://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Farmhouse-Distressed-Antique-White-5-Light-Wood-Chandeliers/19502082/product.html

Yes lighting is THAT important. So important that without it, everything is black. Early morning light is VERY different from late afternoon light. Light from the south is very different from light from the north (very, very different...ask anyone who has tried to paint their north facing rooms the PERFECT shade of grey...it's traumatizing to say the least). Yes large amounts of flooring look different than a swatch. Yes large samples of floor will turn a HOUSE darker...let alone a single room. That's why a caution people against a DARK floor. If they want a dramatic floor, all they need to do is work with a MID-TONE colour. The darkness the floor creates will turn the floor much darker than anyone would think possible. Mid-tone floors can turn 3 shades DARKER in a whole-home installation. The 'darkness' they create feeds itself into making the depth of colour appear much, much darker. Only a VAST amount of lighting will make it 'mid-tone' once again. And that's when the sun's up. Just wait until the sun goes down. Or you install the floor in a north facing bedroom. Or you have a winter storm raging. Or you change the light bulbs in your overhead lights. And then there is the APPEARANCE of a monitor. Which relies solely on your tuning. And then the lighting of the photo itself. Which relies on a complete stranger's light source. Etc. etc. etc. Take a swatch home with you and place it in every room you want it to be in. Now turn out the lights. And kick the swatch down your darkest hallway...and watch how the sample turns colours. Now do that just be dusk...and just after dawn. And just before lunch. And just before dinner. After doing all of that, you will have a sense of what the colour will look like in your home.

zone 9-10