Beautiful property! I would plant some hosta, dicentra, astilbe (in any damper spots or near a birdbath where you change the water regularly, so the astilbe gets lots of H2O), heuchera, etc. Sweet Woodruff is a wonderful, evergreen groundcover with white flowers in spring. Your yard is exactly the way I envision mine. Sadly, the galloping gardeners have other ideas and trample everything in their path. We also have lost several oaks and a couple other trees in the past several years, so I am getting more sun which is frying some of my shade plants. I have planted more trees, but they are young yet. I also fear that new neighbors are going to pretty much clear their property (he told me he likes grass and the golf course look), so we will lose more shade as well as privacy and a lovely vista. He has already removed five trees and have plans for a pool next spring, so more are bound to go. Yikes. I had better get planting this fall! Can't wait to hear how you proceed! Congrats on the new house!

My mother and I are very close. We live across the street from each other. We see each other daily- if not several times a day. We run a business together. She talks to me constantly and I to her. She asks me advice and I her. This is the way we run our lives. She literally has no one else and I have only my husband. I can look at her face and she at mine and see if she is troubled or in pain. Prior to my son's change of heart- he was the love and light of my mother's life. She beamed with joy over talking about him- he is after all her only grandchild. When the problems started, I really tried to keep it to myself. I was in a state of shock and despression. When I returned home from graduation 2 days early- and she saw me and aasked why- what was I supposed to say?? She asked why I was home 2 days early. I told her that he told us to go home as he asked us to leave. What else was I to say? I am very honest with my mother and she with me. I then tried to say nothing for some time- but my sense of shock and depression were so great that I actually walked around like a cyborg. I tried to avoid people not to be asked about what the problem was. I was in a state of grieving over the situation. One day, a neighbor stopped me and asked what was arong with me as he had seen me walking for weeks looking so sad that he was worried about me. This is a neighbor I have little contact with. My friends sensed something was wrong also- people who are close to you know when something is wrong- my mother the prime person. I did not say anything to my mother about it- tried to shield her from the situation. When my husband became seriously ill and was in the hopsital for 2 weeks in my mother asked when my son was coming out. My mother helped care for my pets and watched my house as I sat in the hospital but the logical question was where my son was. I finally had to tell her that he had not been in touch for months and that when I called to tell him about the hopsitalization he made no offer to come out. He sent nbo cards, flowers, did not call and seemed not to care. I coul dnot make my son apperar for my mtoher's sake- she told me she was personally hurt at the disrepect he was showing for a ftaher who loved him with all his heart. Those were HER words and not mine. She is not stupid- my son sealed his fate with his actions. When the holidays came- 2 Thanksgivings and 2 Christmases and there was no call, no card, no visit or contact- what was my mother to think??? She is not stupid- she holds an advanced degree and runs a business- she is not senile or too simple minded to see what is happening. She wrote him a letter and asked him to call her- as she missed talking to him and wanted to know when he was coming here. He never answered. What exactly was she to think??? She finally asked me what was happening and I told her. When he came here in May 2007, he was here 3 days and never made a move to see my mother. As she lives across the street she was heartbroken. When she called him over and spoke to him he was cold and said little to her. My mother was devastated. Those who are chosing to criticize me here do not understand the closeness I have with my mother- I can look out the window and see her and vice versa. We are out together whether on business or shopping trips all the time. She knows me like a book and I her. In December of 2006, after he had started to pull all the ignoring, she was going to send him $12000 as she did every year. She asked me if I thought it was wise. I said no- but that if she wanted to buy him savings bonds or a tax free bond and keep it for him. As he did not have the courtesy to call or contact her- why should she send him anything??? She bought savings bonds to give him at a later time. After a year went by with no contact- she told me that she was changing her will as he was ungrateful and inconsiderate and that my late father would not want the will to remain as it was. It was her choice not mine. I did not say it she did. She reacted to HIS BEHAVIOR toward her. I did not have to fabricate stories his blatant lack of contact and caring sealed the deal. I cannot act like I am joyful and happy when my only son ignores me. Stories about him being too busy would not cut it- a 2 minutes phone call on a holiday or birthday are not too much to ask.

Hope you have found a solution by now. We hired a "retired" plumber who knew where to find the older stuff needed to replace some of our fixtures. If you can find an "old guy" you may find someone who can and will help.

I stand by my comments. It will not be an easy house to live in. Yellow is all your hallway spaces. The red arrow is your path from your bedroom carrying loads of laundry. Better you than me. The green is your kids moving from the public room to their rooms. BTW: Solar tubes are great but they don't take the place of walking towards natural light, i.e.: windows. You still have a convoluted hallway leading to the two bedrooms. I don't have the doors labeled but the two bedroom doors and the bathroom door are all clustered together. Seems pretty efficient to me. It's not the fact that they're clustered together. That is fine. It's the fact that it's a twisted hallway leading to their bedrooms. If using the real hallway (and not through the kitchen), the bedroom furthest from the main part of the house would require 4 turns just to get to the main hallway. Why would you want to make 4 turns just to get to a bedroom? It's just POOR design You still have everyone who will be walking through your kitchen instead of going around it because people take the path of least resistance, so why bother with the hallway? This is a great point. We considered going with an L shaped kitchen (eliminate the walkway near the fridge) but we were worried about the resulting access from the garage. Any thoughts on how to improve upon the current layout? Not without redesigning everything else. You still have a very dark kitchen that will get no natural light. I disagree. We have a similar amount of windows now and we have plenty of light. Our property is situated such that all of the windows will be uncovered. Plus, its PHX so sunlight is abundant. Will you be putting a deck on the back of the lot? You still have a powder room that butts up against your master bedroom, so if anyone stays up late and uses it, and you're sleeping or visa versa in the morning, you'll be hearing them using it. Good point but I'm not concerned about that. You might be once the kids are staying up later than you or having guests. The back hallway will still be dark and dreary. Considered that we expect that the glass double doors on the office will help that. Please explain to me how having double doors on your office will help light the hallway with the twists and turns. It won't! The laundry room still hasn't moved and will be difficult to vent as well as dark. We've confirmed that venting isn't a problem and we'll rely on a solar tube for natural light. Where will it vent? Even with a solar tube it will still feel like being in a closet because we as humans want to feel as if we can look out. With some real thought you could actually build it closer to your bedroom and have real natural light.