Hi Annette!!! I see that you had a great time making this mix. It isn't easy, but it will get better in the way you go about making your mix... I see your hard work paid off and will continue to do so... Bravo for all of the detail and the continued effort you put into making this your best!!! Many give up on a good thing and you went right to town and I am very impressed with what you have done I also but the five gallon buckets from Lowes an I use them with the covers to protect the sifted fir bark. The other is for the Turface that I have already sifted . I fill those container and work from them. My last containers with the gran-I -grit I just don't sift that at all. I may rinse it, but it is fine to use right out of the bag as well as Cherrystone. This might make it easier for you as well. The strainer I use for my Turface is a little kitchen strainer that I found at Walmart. Here in this post I have put together for the other forum you can see the strainer . I do have some other larger screens that my DH copied from Al's screens. But my DH used 2x4 instead of 1x4 to build my screens, lol they are a little heavy, but they work well.. Hope to see more pics... The others pics at the top of the thread aren't working tho. I would love to see what you did!! Remember. I like to use the five gallon and buy the lids. It keeps it fresh. Then when you need a scoop here and there, it is so convenient to use.!! Take a look at how I bareroot my Adeniums. It might help!!! ... It really easy!! Here is the link Pretty work... Strong work as well!!! ;-) Take care, Laura Here is a link that might be useful: Barerooting Adeniums... This post was edited by loveplants2 on Mon, Sep 16, 13 at 9:06

Congrats! It looks great. I was at this stage when I was 7/8 months pregnant. The baby is almost 3 months now and our basement walls go up this week. She was definitely a good distraction through the last tedious loan and permitting approvals. Hopefully it will be the same for you!

Thank you all so much!!! We had company last night and put the dimmer on about half way and the light was just beautiful. I am so happy, our guests loved it too and thought it was perfect. I will have to keep the shades in mind; the only problem I had with them before was the circles they left on the ceiling. Our ceilings are so low that it made me crazy. I'll pick some up if I see red ones though; the worst is I would return them. Mailynn---yes, our kitchen was Blonde and now is Shaker Beige. The front wall of our dining room is also Shaker. The front wall is our dining room, front door and living room and I needed one color for all of them. Our hallway is Shaker too so it joins it all together. No pink, no green, no tones at all no matter what time of day or night. We couldn't be happier about that either, esp. DH who is my resident painter lol.

I get your inspiration and I think it's a great direction. However, I feel a little hamstrung as you want to add pattern, but don't want to change out the drapes or the artwork and want to keep the upholstery solid, and even the stone bowl has no color. So I guess the only way to add pattern would be to use throw pillows and maybe an afghan or throw to the sofa. I would like to see some of the color from the rug moved up into the room. I would look at the blue and red and add it somewhere else in the room at least twice to pull it in. Otherwise, I'd consider not using that rug in the living area, maybe in the dining area instead and using a neutral rug to keep it consistent with the rest of the room. I think I would prefer the latter as I like the all neutral look and I think you'll have a decent amount of pattern with the flooring and the ceiling treatment already.