YA'LLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!! The point is serving cake on THE STACKED PLATES! I learned it here on the forum from you!!!! You can have one in 5 minutes (cake not included) if you have the plates, candle holders, skinny vases. Ya'll saw chocolate and forgot how we can live larger for less. We are blessed. Our guests will think we are THE ACE OF CAKES if we use our stacked plates this way. Am I standing here with toilet paper stuck to my shoe again????? Have ya'll been making cakes forever and stacking them on the stacked plates????? OMG (grimmiced the newbie who just fell off the turnip truck). OK-OK-OK "Let them eat cake!" I'll just go off somewhere and invent the wheel. What's that you say??? Been there, done that????? LOLOLOLOL That's a good one! I never heard that before. Yuk Yuk Yuk susie

You said, "I'd like to slowly convert" You've already got the idea. My first thought as to what you could do is think that plants might be ready to go in NEXT year at this time. I would spend real time reading and looking at pictures 'til I got a grasp of what it is that I'm trying to accomplish. Even if you start with an Ortho type book or maybe Sunset, these will work you into the mood of contemplating your part of this earth where the garden will evolve. Of course, it would be great to read Saito's "Magic of trees and stones", but it probably won't be available except by a purchase (maybe $100). Don't worry about doing the "wrong" thing. There are many lurking here who will keep you straight. ;-) Meet your rocks, is there a slope or berm already there? Will there be a natural place for a stream or pond? Put it all on paper and then think very small (for place) and very long (for time). The idea is to have fun and passion about the whole thing. Dave

Have use seed and/or division to propagate this genus/species but cuttings have never worked for me.

If you move the dining room to what's now the Hearth Room, you can still have the wall of windows. Okay, you like hallways because they can be made to look formal with molding and chair rails -- but you're not going to hang out in the hallways, and they're massive space eaters. I suggest that you install the formal look you like in the entryway, which will be visible from the great room -- you'll see it on a regular basis, whereas you will just be passing through the hallways. Since this is a modern design, you don't have much wall space in the great room, but you could use the moldings, etc. there too. And you could install that look in the bedrooms, though the furniture will cover it in those rooms, making it something of a wasted expense. - I suggest you google Houzz master baths and when you find some you like, look at the questions/comments section -- often they give the dimensions. We are planning a no-barrier, no-door shower, and the drying area isn't a need -- not for that purpose. The problem with your toilet closet is that it's 7' deep -- 7' is a long, narrow, deep space, and it will not be comfortable to enter that tiny room. Mark it off with tape in your house, and you'll see that it'll be a room with odd dimensions. - ADA bathrooms are easy to google too. I'll draw up the bathroom we're planning and post it tomorrow -- I'm not in the right place to use the scanner today. - I've been measuring closets in model homes, and 7' wide is a nice, comfortable width; thus, you can lose a whole foot here and be in the nice, comfortable range. Once you have the width covered, the length can be whatever length your space allows. 11' on each side = 22' of hanging space. That's roughly one entire side of a garage. - I personally wouldn't mind a five year old being downstairs. However, since you do, I'd build his current room with the intention that in a couple years he'd move downstairs and you'd get the office you need.