I have done the lasagna method, too. I suggest you check out the book at the library..by Patricia Lanza, I think. Texased is correct....you need significant newspaper, which is why a lot of people choose to use cardboard instead. You can use color print with no problem, as most papers use soy based inks these days. But you cannot use paper with a glossy finish. I just took large rolled up sections of paper and let them soak in a bucket of water for a few minutes before I layered them. I think I have six layers under the garden. In the raised bed, six layers was enough....under some pavers in the kids' playhouse it wasn't, so I think the layers on top might be key also. You can use "browns" in a bed (composted manure, compost, brown leaves, etc.), if you wish to plant it right away. I also have some thin layers of peat per the author's instruction. While the bed will cook down several inches, it will not be too hot to sustain plants. I had a nearly six foot tall cherry tomato and some healthy globe basil in there. I didn't use any dirt. The last layer (top layer) was about four inches of compost, and I planted directly into that. If you use "greens" or "hot" stuff....kitchen scraps, lots of green grass, fresh manure...the author recommends an entire season of cooking before you plant. I've heard that you can speed the process a little with black plastic over the top, but it seems like too much trouble to me. As far as I know, nothing short of chemical warfare will kill bermudagrass...and sometimes even that doesn't work. Fortunately, I don't have much in my St. Augustine. My mom has Bermuda lawn, and we have a terrible time keeping it out of the beds and the mulch in the walkways. Have fun!

I'm sorry you haven't gotten any answers. People probably look at the post count on this and assume you have. I'm not one of the people who is good at the "guess my favorite color because I can't guess it" questions, and we get tons of those here. I can't even guess what color *K* like, and have a garage full of paint to prove it. lol! But I'm happy to give your post a boost so someone else will see it. What colors do you think you like anyway? Happy... I think of yellow, or gold, or something in the softer red tones. Green is happy for some and depressing for others. Blue is a calming color so no happy energy there, though if you mix yellow with it so it's aqua, that helps. Also, could your problem be that you need more lighting in the room, or need to change the type of bulbs you use? If you're depressed, try full spectrum. Different types of bulbs can give different casts to your wall. Your room is attractive as it is, I think. Maybe you just need a stronger accent color, like some red tossed around? Interesting contrast with the white furniture and the heavy masculine leather furniture. My suggestion is did you look at the living rooms thread in our gallery? There are tons of gorgeous pictures there. Save the ones you like to your own folder, then think about what you like about them for the next few days, and see what they have in common. You might even find an inspiration room. Here's a link to the gallery but you can always find it by exiting the thread and looking for a link near top right, and on the bottom of the page. Check out the room threads, then check out the color threads. Enjoy! Here is a link that might be useful: Gallery

If you want the couch to be focused on the FP, then park it dead center opposite it. It looks to me that that may solve the half-in-front of window issue. But if it's still too long, then I'd float it forward (off the wall) and have circulation space behind it by moving it closer to the FP. I'd get rid of the upholstered coffee table for the time being until you can get one that fits the scale of the big sofa a bit better. Also you have three things in the brownish print, so I think your room would look better if you "shopped" the furniture in your house for a different chair and another coffee table. You don't have to have two upholstered side chairs in that arrangement. I'm not suggesting you toss the removed brown items, just find other places for them in your home. And bring in another style of chair (it could any kind of chair) if you want a symmetrical arrangement. It's hard to judge the color of the blue chair because monitors are so different. If you wanted to change it, it might a good candidate for a slipcover, or even if you're feeling bold, a first crack at re-upholstering by yourself. I would remove the arm protectors, and perhaps look for fabric to cover a pillow that tied the brown-ish print and the turquoise together. The sofa would be perked up by some less-matchy throw pillows, as well. As for the antique end of your LR, well, to be frank I would recommend you edit that collection. Having them all together makes that end of the room seem a little over-concentrated and sets the area apart in a way that seems to waste the space in a kind of no-you-can't-really-sit-there zone. A little antique-ness can go a long way and I think you'll get more effect if you separate the pieces and sprinkle them around the house more. The settee and the rocking chair appear to be Late-Victorian sort of Eastlake-ish (all those little squared-off angles), but the coffee table and the end table are more in the Queen Anne style (the curved legs and pad feet). And as such, though all older pieces, these two distinct style genres kind of smack each other around. (Hard to imagine the ladylike QA stuff packing a real punch, but I have no doubt the sharp-edged Victorian pieces can rumble if they're in the mood.) You might try the "antique alley" coffee table in front of the sofa. It looks narrow enough with its leaves down. If you float the sofa, you might consider getting some kind of rug undeneath that assemblage, to anchor it visually and also to hide cords to lamps on end tables. The interesting bent slat rocker (the one set beside the FP on the right) might make a good companion for the sofa. It's hard to tell, by it might be worth trying to see if the scale is right. I live in an house full of inherited furniture of many periods in the 19th c and 20th c. Both my DH and I come from savin' and passin' on families so I've faced many of the same dilemmas you have. I have never bought a single new piece of furniture and I am in my 60s (Well, except for a couple of dozen Billy bookcases because we also inherited all their books, too !) You just have to be open to moving stuff around, and sometimes just temporarily moving stuff "off-stage" to storage if you can't figure out how to make it work. And never lament an empty space that you just don't have the right piece for at the moment. - or at least can't picture what you do have in that place at the moment. Empty space is very powerful in its own right, and highlights whatever else is in the room. It may be helpful to you to learn more about older furniture so you can become more knowledgeable about the difference between period (furniture made when a style first came into use) and style (furniture made later in either an exact reproduction or a derivative style.) And sometimes derivatives (stuff made "in the style of ____") actually become so stylized that they become an authentic style on their own, and are described as in " _____. -Revival style." Training your eye in these differences will make it easier think up good potential combinations among the furniture you have. One thing to keep in mind regarding upholstered pieces: a good upholsterer can often make substantial style changes, even to the frames, backs and arms. Nowadays much upholstered furniture (including some in "good brands") is made so shoddily that even medium-grade old stuff is better quality. So when you're ready for some changes you might considered having what you've got re-styled. I hope I haven't offended you with my suggestions. If anything is useful to you, that's great. If it doesn't work, or doesn't strike you as appropriate, then feel free to ignore it. BTW, you aren't doing anything wrong by not getting multiple pics in a single one post. Using the GW picture thingy only allows one picture per comment. To get multiple ones you have to have them on a third-party host like Photobucket. What you did (serial posts) works just fine, and you're not missing anything by doing it that way. HTH L.

First we have to figure out which door. I think I don't like Pal's for this exercise because they have a less pronounced grain than most of the golden oak I've seen. I'm thinking along the lines of LWO's 2, 5, 7, 8, 10 or 11, or the one I posted. The grain is too fine on Pal's, the color isn't yellow/orange enough on LWO's 1, 3, 4, 6, 9 and 13. Twelve is so ratty it's impossible to believe anyone would keep them (maybe they could be painted). Speaking of which, is the rule going to be no painting? I think it should be. What about staining? I've been thinking of the exercise as how to work with the color as-is. What's the consensus?