I made this piece in 1999 from 7, 5 gal paint stirring sticks, ½ of an old broom stick, ½ of an old wood drawer pull, 2 brass grommets, a large piece of burlap, several feet scrap wood, and a piece of plywood. The wooden stars came out of my DWÂs craft supplies. The brass corners were removed from a crumbling tackle box. Robert Here is a link that might be useful:

I threw in the towel a few years back after another drought year of constant watering. I am now going with it rather than against it. I ripped out just about everything the end of one horrible summer and I planted lots of cold hardy cactus, agaves, desert spoon and native plants. Its survival of the fittest out there winter and summer. You cannot believe the variety of cactus that will grow in Oklahoma and the blooms are unbelievable for two months each spring. One pad is all it takes and people trade them online. I don't have children so I am able to grow them but there's plenty of other ornamental plants that never need additional watering except maybe once a month if its a drought like this year. One example is Russian Sage. That thing is huge and will bloom all summer planted in the worst hottest full sun spot in my yard down by the street along with some other tough stuff. Another one is Artemesia. I had trouble with the native sages here from too much water in Spring so I went with the Artemesia. I got seeds of plants like Desert Marigolds and a lot other drought loving plants from Plants of the Southwest (seed catalog) and they bloom all summer without watering and have naturalized. I have stuff like snakeweed, purple winecups, fame flower, Rabbit Bush, Winterfat and lots of west Texas natives. Some bloom from Spring till Fall and lots of plants have silver leaves or very small leaves so it all starts getting "a look". It became fun. More fun than any other garden I have ever had and if its a scrubby looking plant with ornamental possibilities and it looks like it would be at home out on the range, I usually want it and try to track down seeds. I ordered lots of native seeds from the Sonoran Desert and got some interesting stuff there too. Finding these off beat kind of plants is now a major hobby and sometimes I see something growing wild that would look good and get plants that way too. Last year I started adding drought hardy native grasses. Stuff like Little Bluestem massed in, Sacaton Grass, blue grama, sideoats gramma and Deergrass. Range stuff. Its a big trend in gardening and I found I like it. So I already stopped fighting the good fight a while back and have never regretted it. Oh, I forgot, we took out the lawn too. Its all native tough stuff now. I noticed they are doing this around the Government Buildings down there on Lincoln too. Native grass gardens. They are gorgeous! No watering. And it looks like Oklahoma, kind of a state pride sort of thing. Its what got me started on the native grass craze.

Can you share a layout that includes the adjoining room(s) and the location of the front door? I'm having some difficulty understanding how the layout you posted relates to your living room. The open plan vs not open plan is really a personal preference and depends on lifestyle. It may even be a generational gap (though I don't have enough information to be certain). As long as this is your home and your money, I would try to firmly explain that this change is designed to suit your lifestyle, not the lifestyle of your uncle or those who lived in the other homes he has built in the past. Maybe you can verbally acknowledge his concerns (additional visibility to the kitchen work area, dirty dishes and all, less defined living room space) and explain that you understand these limitations but your goal is to achieve a more open plan where the rooms intentionally blend and give you more flexibility. In terms of "better defining the living room", that probably means making an obvious definition between two rooms. By opening up the wall, there isn't quite as clearly defined lines between the different rooms. Again it really depends on preferences and lifestyle. In the past, rooms were intentionally more separate. The kitchen was more of a work space than a social space and one didn't want the kitchen to be visible during a dinner party or social gathering. Times have changed, lifestyles have changed, and "open concept" is popular.

Anj, first of all I agree with all the other comments. Uncle Sam rocks! Did he sell and if so have you painted another one for yourself? Having the Boutique is a great way to keep up with your painting. My eyes don't like me painting as much any more. Same reason I gave up doing nails. Punk