Thanks Don for letting me know which photos are your favorites. I know it's all in the eye of the beholder, but I like hearing other people's opinions. Photo #5 is Abiqua Drinking Gourd. I'm not that much into cupped hosta, but I think this hosta is special. Your black and white photo is beautiful! I, like Jo, am wondering which hosta that is. It is definitely a great choice for black and white photography. Thanks for adding your photo---and please do include more if you have them. Thank you for adding that you are a fan also. I appreciate that.

Sydney, Any news? Did you get a new camera? September 26 is day to mark. Why? Photokina will start that day. Photokina is a large convention in where all the camera companies show off the new lines, makes, and models. Some companies are already making announcements of what they will be showing. I see your price range and there are a lot of good cameras in that range. It seems that to meet your expectations you might look into getting a camera that allows you have manual controls over the camera. Do you want to stay with Point and Shoot or would you like to move to the DSLR range? Some things to think about: a P&S camera is compact and it easier to part from if you move on to another camera. If you go the DSLR route, you are just not buying a camera, you are buying into a system. Unless you have money to throw around you will most likely keep that camera a lot longer. You will have to buy lenses for the camera body. In most cases the lens can cost as much, or near, as the camera body. Therefore you find yourself dedicated to that company. There are some very nice entry level DSLRs out there. Nikon had the D50, I played with it for a while, but I decided to pass. I had the Canon XT Rebel, but I fell in love with the Olympus E500 so I gave the Canon to my wife. I can expand later if you want on these cameras if you want more info. Check dpreview.com you can find just about any camera there and it has customer ratings as well. Unfortunately, the best advice I can give you right now is when it comes to cameras, most salesman at retail stores donÂt have a clue, honestly, they donÂt. So donÂt listen to them. I get angered at times when I hear them make recommendations based solely on the amount of megapixels a camera has. This is just FYI but my current cameras are: P&S - Canon PowerShot 620, Olympus SP 500 UZ DSLR - Canon 300D XT/ Rebel, Olympus E500, Olympus E1 Zitro

Thanks Ramses, but my DH vetoed anything brown or tan immediately...he doesn't like brown walls. I know, there are different kinds of browns and tans, but at this point I don't want to argue over, I mean discuss :-), it anymore. I was also thinking of a gray, but thought that would be too close to the black/white I'm known for. I want color! So, we decided to go with the Cornsilk in the Kitchen & DR and Wedgewood Gray in the FR and, I think, the LR. My DH is out buying the paint as I type! The color opinions here & on the Home Decorating Forum were split about equally...half for Cornsilk/half for Wedgewood. We decided to go w/our original plans b/c, as David123 said, it's easy enough to change it if we don't like it...or if after this foray into color I get bolder and want deeper/different colors! I'm taking baby steps here...! BTW...I did call a couple of BM stores near us and neither had color consultants any more other than the store staff. They both told me they discontinued the consultants...didn't really get a good answer why. So, what does everyone think about A TP holder w/room for extra rolls and a similar one for towels that are recessed into the wall OR A stand for TP in the corner in front of the toilet & towel rack for towel hung over the toilet OR A TP holder mounted on the wall in front of the toilet (sides are too tight) and a towel rack above it OR Something else all together?

Thanks Beverly for the suggestions. I’m gonna try moving the table the other way. The light fixture was definitely a mistake size wise but were kinda stuck with it now unless I find someplace else for it in my house and get a new one for there. What’s even more frustrating about it is there is no option to make it lower than that height either. I’m going to go today to look for some things and will try to focus on rounds as opposed to squares I see what you mean. The pillows are from home sense which is actually a new chain from tjmax and Marshall’s. It’s a great store I found a lot of awesome things there! Anybody have any advice re drapes?