Hi Kurt.. Yes we've had several gun shootings on the freeway actually in the pass few months.. unusual.. but not unusual are many other shooting unreported (in the news) in the less desirable neighborhoods. I was told by a reliable source that the moso does not like our S. Ca water... too much Cl? And also, I think you are right... I don't remember exactly the words.. it's either too warm in general, or it does not get cool enough in the winter- specifically in the winter. I think it is the latter. At any rate... it has to do something with the temperature as I remember it. Even if it gets as big as golden bamboo in 3/4 years, I would be interested in trying it. A plus is if it's no more invasive than golden bamboo- in this particular climate. But is no one growing this marvelous boo in SoCa? I certainly do not recall seeing any at L.A. arboretum, Huntington Library, or Quail Botannical. The specimen I saw was on a slope growing in shade. I drive by it everyday after work and sometimes stop to admire it... I'm doubtful it is moso, but... Record breaking rain (the most since 1883/84) and a cool spring and early winter could account for interesting plant behavior?

Thanks to all of you for your advice and comments. I emailed the seller and he responded immediately that he, too, was disappointed with the size of the fans, and that he had very bad weather conditions this year. I responded back that I appreciated his honesty, and I will just leave no feedback at all. BTW, the LA listing did not mention anything about the size of the fans. In the end, I'm still disappointed, and I feel empathy for his unfortunate situation, but don't feel that the problem should have been passed on to me. Shive, I think we are talking about the same seller. He said that if the plants did not grow, he would send a refund. He did not send two plants due to small size and one of them was the one I wanted the most - Last Snowflake. I think I will order next year from the nursery on the LA which sells 'clumps' and the listings show a photo of the grower standing there holding monster fans. Christine

So are you saying that the new space will be 12' x 23', and you want to divide it into bedroom and bath with either the bedroom 12' x 15' and a bathroom 12' x 8', or the bedroom 12' x 14' and the bathroom 12' x 9'? Is this the space you are working with? Sketches of the outside walls with doorways and windows marked would really help. As to a just a simple comment about it being overkill - although it might seem like overkill to you, the next owner may have different feelings. If the layout works well to include all those pieces, I would go for it. Seems like even if it is rarely going to get used, people seem to be excited about a separate tub and shower in the master bath and disappointed when there isn't a separate tub. I think double sinks would be the one area I would skip if I had to. As long as you make the vanity at least 5' wide, someone could come in later and change it out into double sinks if they wanted by just changing out the vanity and some simple plumbing changes to use the existing lines and drain.

I've roughly compared prices to Brookhaven, Ikea, Scherr's, and a local SF area cabinet guy (I suspect the bay area is as overpriced as NoVA). Very rough comparisons of course because by the time we get a quote we have a new plan but our space is small enough it can't change TOO much! The custom guy was about the same price as Brookhaven BUT did a lot more custom stuff for the price, like weird sizes, custom depths, and creative strange things. His price also included installation, which the BH didn't. I don't think my BH quote included any custom sizes--I think it's possible with that line but the KD at that particular shop kind of ignored our wishes... Ikea was less than a fifth the price, but of course wasn't all custom fitted to our space and doesn't include installation. Scherr's was about 2x Ikea for a paint-ready cabinet. So, fully custom, but unassembled and unfinished. I'm not sure how Brookhaven compares to Kraftmaid on the price (or quality) scale, but I did like that my custom guy would do full custom (very helpful in a small space) as well as installation for around the same price. He sounded a little skittish about frameless though so we may go with Scherr's. They're helpful and have some great customer reviews. If you're willing to do a little DIY OR pay your GC to do some extra work, it might be worth asking them for a quote. Some people here have picked out their cabinets at a bigbox store and then ordered them online for less. So, even if you decide to go KM, you can still shop around.