I love old Victorian homes. I would suggest that you widen the front walkway to equal the width of the steps, then put (by the street side) a low fence on either side of the walkway to visually link the boxwoods(?) and plant flowers on both sides of the fence. I know that doesn't answer your question. As for your foundation plantings, I love those purple flowers, and think they just need some bigger evergreens in back - are the plants back there now going to get bigger and fill in? If so, just give them time, if not, I would replace them with something a bit larger.

With the advent of walk-in closets, not only are dressers and chests not needed in a BR, they are inconvenient in a BR. You are dressing IN the closet. Now...are your closets big enough? LOL Your BR is big enough, but does it have the wall space you need where you want it? I wouldn't clog it up with a lot of furniture. You and your DH should be able to walk past one another anywhere in the room without having to "tango". You will have to stack your W/D if you have a laundry sink on that wall. You need a minimum of six feet for those three things to be along one wall. The "laundry" area of my back hall is about 7 X 7. Sink, Washer, Dryer on one wall and an 5' X 18" deep cabinet & countertop opposite. Upper cabinets over all but sink. Window above the "aisle". In the two extra feet next to the cabinet & countertop I keep a waste can & a stool. (Gotta put that dryer lint someplace!) BTW, how about a pull-out waste bin next to your kitchen sink? You'll get very tired of trekking to a closet with everything. We have a double deep pull-out with one bin for waste and one for recycling.

Ginny, I had this very question a while back and found a solution at userstyles.org. In Firefox I was able to accomplish this by 1) downloading the Stylish add-on and 2) going to this site: http://userstyles.org/styles/27916/bigger-gmail-compose-box-tested-2010-05-04 and clicking to install the script for Stylish. Works like a charm. My compose window area almost fills the page ! :-) Once the script is installed, you may need to go into Stylish on your browser and change the numbers to suit your preferences -- click the Stylish icon on the status bar or address bar (if it's not in either place, right-click on a browser bar somewhere and select 'customize' and drag the Stylish icon to a browser bar). Here is a link that might be useful: Stylish

Loves2read it sounds like your vacation house has much the same vibe going on. I absolutely love (and envy) that you found a faux bamboo set-- I watch for those kinds of pieces (even before the MCM house) on ebay. There seems to be a lot of it in the mcm/hollywood regency style available in FL. My biggest issue in needing to change out much of my furniture is that much of it is english country cottage/library-esque. It just doesnt mix well with the mcm vibe-- especially in scale. That said, I think thoughtful planning will let me go step by step through the house as time and budget allow. I know the kitchen will have a sleek modern look if not MCM.. and when I redo the kitchen, I plan to get the MCM dining table of my dreams. The office is going that direction now.. so trying to bring a little into the bedroom makes sense if I can find the right pieces. The main living space is my biggest challenge. I'd have to replace everything-- and I intend to-- but it won't happen overnight. I want to be thoughtful about it too-- because I want a warm cozy mid century look vs one that is very modern. Is there such a thing as mid century cottage LOL? No really, what I want is a layered look vs austere. I've seen a few designers do this BEAUTIFULLY with a few iconic pieces. That's how I'd want to go too. I've strayed off the bedroom topic-- but wanted to address your post and to thank you!! Would love to see photos of your vacation house. Here's a small peak at the swirled ceiling throughout the house. The photo resolution doesnt do it justice. It's all hand done and beautiful if you like that kind of thing. Originally I'd wanted to undo it-- but I am warming up to embracing it (especially since my grandfather did it all by hand).