Gracie, It is OK. Perhaps, if we are successful, we will help you grow into a gardener. You know, as beautiful as any home is and can be, each home needs a lovingly planted and well-maintained landscape to showcase it to its' best advantage. If you are in the Oklahoma City area, you are in zone 7. If you have clay soil, the absolute best thing you can do for your plants before they are planted is to amend the soil so that it both holds water well and drains well. To do this, add the following to your soil: peat moss OR compost, composted manure and finely shredded pine bark (or cypress) mulch. You don't have to add tons and tons, but at least 2 to 4 inches as a minimum. Till it into the soil (if you don't have a tiller, perhaps you can rent one or borrow one). Then, rake and level the soil, and plant. You will notice that the improved soil is mounded up somewhat higher than the surrounding grade, and that is a good thing. Improving the clay even a small bit will help your plants to grow faster and to maintain good health. If you want to go one step further and make the area low-maintenance, cover the prepared soil with a cloth-type landscape fabric mulch. Peg down the ends of the fabric mulch with the landscape staples (U-shaped metal things) or plastic pegs (usually green, they look like large green plastic nails). Cut an "X" shape in the fabric and plant in that spot. When you're done planting, cover the fabric with the mulch of your choice. This extra step will repay you many times over by making that area low-maintenance. The plants will benefit because they won't have grass or weeds competing with them for moisture or nutrition. Now, about the plants. In order to decide what you want to plant, figure out what you like. I'd rather plant shrubs and vines that have a look to them that I like seeing, and not just a plant that someone recommended. If you don't know what you like, go to local nurseries or to the Botanic Garden or to the Myriad and look at the plants. When you see one you like, try to find out what it is. (Hopefully the plants are well-labeled.) BEFORE you buy, research the plant and make sure you understand its' needs. For example, some plants need full sun, some need full shade, others tolerate partial shade/sun and some (especially the holly family shrubs) can grow in either one. Also make sure you understand what the plants mature height and spread will be. It can be tricky. The red-tip photinias, as Randy and I have already said, can get very large. I have seen them get 20 feet tall and 10 feet wide in less than a decade. Since most people plant then only a few feet from one another, they begin to crowd each other out. Pruning them works for a while, but after several years of that, you have pruned them back to the point that all you have are huge limbs with lots of stubble covered by leaves. They are also overused, and I like using plants that aren't as commonly used. Your clay soil may be a faster-draining clay because it has some sand or loam, or it may be a heavy, thick clay that bakes brick hard in summer and holds pools of water in spring. Take the type of clay you have into consideration when choosing your plants. Last year,I compiled long lists of clay soil-tolerant plants for Emily. I'm going to go to this forum's back pages and find those and bump them up to the top for you. You might find some additional ideas there. You'll know them when you see them as they are titled "A Tree List for Emily....", "A Shrub List for Emily..." etc. Good luck and keep communicating with us. We'll do our best to help you. Dawn

I don't generally get sick often, either, but I'm used to "pushing through" whatever I've got because I have 3 kids, a PT job, 3 dogs...and a DH who works long (and inflexible) hours. I have now felt not-right for a month now, though, so on Monday I'm heading back to the doctor and asking to be tested for mono. I actually slept 13 hours last night, but I'm still dragging. Fortunately we are at our beach house in the pouring rain, so I'm just sitting around reading all day and watching the rain from the porch. DH commented to me earlier today "you never rest!" Well, duh. Since I arrived here 3 days ago with my youngest DD, I've emptied and "power washed" the porch, assembled 3 pieces of furniture, gone shopping, carried heavy night stands from garage to 2nd floor bedroom, and bought a headboard at a consignment shop with the intention to sand and repaint it before we leave on Sunday. Okay, maybe the headboard can wait. I don't know how to rest but I'm practicing today!

I am SO an armchair decorator, but first of all-you need to always prime walls (after a good cleaning), let it cure for a day or so, then paint. Any plastic moldings on the edges of your walls? Use Rustoleum paint-it is much harder when it dries & won't chip like regular paint. My favorite prime is from Home Depot-its called 'Gripper'. Awesome stuff! I have even primed my mobile home's formica furniture with it, then a semi gloss paint-looks like real wood! As my home has more of a 'cottage feel', I had no problems with the paneling's cracks showing. One idea for your headwall is to consider using material! YEP. If you use thin cotton material, you simply cut it as you would wallpaper, place each strip in a pail (about 1/3 full) of Niagara liquid starch! Saturate it well, lightly wring out the excess by pulling it thru your fingers-NOT actually wringing it. Place on your wall, secure at the top w/push pins while you finish smoothing out each piece-working from the center out to the edges. Let dry overnight, then remove push pins. You could make/buy a bedruffle or valences to go w/the cloth wallpaper. Nice thing is-it's inexpensive, can be removed, lightly washed, re-starched & put up again, if you ever need to. OR...how about the white 4x8 sheets of wainscott for the bottom half of your wall & then paper the top half? In my master bath-I painted my walls above the counters in a deep mauve then added the vinyl lattice over it-looks really cool & opens up all kinds of ways to hang decor items behind your bed. The other wallboard you're speaking of is really just a paper covered masonite board. Again-the primer I mentioned, is a bit thick-a couple of xtra coats of that, in the torn areas before you paint, may hide that portion. My smaller bath was lt beige w/taupe vines on it. I primed it & painted it in a sage green w/cream woodwork.

Onerae...I'm sorry to hear about the delay in your plans and the problems your family is experiencing. I pray things will get better soon so you can get back on track with your kitchen plans. However, I can certainly relate. We are purchasing my MIL's house where we plan to put on an addition and remodel the kitchen. The day before we were to put our house on the market, my DH got laid off. It is suppose to be a temporary thing, but he probably won't go back till after the 1st of the year. Anyway, we had to put our plans on hold for now. So in the meantime, I am just planning out my kitchen so when the time comes, I'll have all my ducks in a row.