Hey there, Brenda. Lots of research does make things easier and total immersion in the topic, just like learning a new language, helps you catch on to the things that are important. This forum has a lot of info being talked about by lots of people, some of whom get pretty technical. There are plenty of others who keep it simple. Now I am going to be mean. Sometimes the limitations we cannot change make us give up some things we really want. A list of each can help see the realities. After I looked at the pond you like and read what you wanted, I realized you can't have all of it. I don't want to discourage you. You can still have a lovely and totally satisfying pond/water garden. The pond you like is a rigid preform. It is probably 72"x48" and 18" deep. It holds 125 gallons and will take 3-4 3" fish. Those dimensions are for Maccourt ponds which seems to be the most common preform. There are some new ones that are foldable made of virgin vinyl but that doesn't seem to be what you are looking at. There are also some pond kits that include plastic liners and EPDM rubber liners are very versatile. The volume of water in any of these ponds would prevent you from having koi. Koi grow to very large proportions and soon your fishies wouldn't have room to turn around, literally. I have a 1000 gallon pond and some of my 6" koi are now 12-14" after only one season. One that is 3 years old is now even larger than that. In addition I have a population of comets, sarrasa and other related fishies and they started breeding last year. Many of them started as 1" feeder fish. All of them need room to move! Fast! I'm getting nervous. There are many colorful fish other than koi that you would enjoy but you would need to control the numbers and figure out a way to keep them over winter. I put my gourami and guppies in the pond for the summer and put them back in aquariums in the winter. The cold would kill them. In your zone, it is possible for an 18 inch pond to freeze solid but more likely it would only have ice to 4-6 inches. I would wait through a full winter to see just how deep the ice goes before investing in fish other than goldfish. Gases that accumulate in the water could kill larger fish with only that much free water. An EPDM or plastic lined pond could give you the depth you need but the volume still would limit the number and type of fish. Don't despair! No one ever got it right the first time they were designing a home and you are designing a home for fish... and plants. Now that I have managed to scotch some of your dreams, (sorry, sorry, sorry) the necessary hardware can be put up for discussion. Sandy Here is a link that might be useful: preform ponds

I really am liking the last 2 also! martia8 - I don't have anything immediate that I can think of... will need to trek down to our barn but there is about 2 feet of snow blocking my way! I think finding something sorta flat-ish might be an issue. prairiegirlz- I definitely like the oval one empty and probably the twine wrapped one too. The twine one was just a thin ugly frame I painted so I just wrapped it - I love the texture of it! shesharee - ctlane - betty - thanks for your input! : ) busybee - fantastic idea with a word or letter! I only have a small aluminum w to fit but it looked way too chunky. I will keep looking! Thanks!

Thanks everyone, for the kind words! This site is amazing. I really learned so many great tips by visiting here. Squirrelheaven- Thanks for the photoshopping!! I filed that in my clippings so I can refer to it. Where do we keep the nuts/? There are 4 of them currently residing in this joint!! Trying to keep out the rest of the nuts is the challenge, haa haa. Lauraa- yes, I used a foam 4"roller. I also used 1 1/2" good quality purdy brushes (angled). I would definitely recommend waiting til spring to do yours b/c it takes about 2 weeks or so with all the prep time and wait time in between coats. You dont want to be out in the garage for any length of time when its really cold. Momto4boys- if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer as best I can. I actually followed step-by-step instructions that I found in the paint forum under "Cabinet Coat" although I used SW paint. carriem25- love the temporary backsplash idea. Was considering changing out my 3D tiles and putting these in- what do you think?? I would take these kind out: and replace with these: Not sure how difficult it is to remove random tiles, that's something to consider. Oh yes, I definitely will replace the light fixture too, as someone had mentioned and I will put in some version of a track light. Thanks, again, everyone for your helpful input and suggestions!

I am always grateful for another opinion, Mom. You see things I don't and with a more objective eye. I guess it is not very clear that each color of cabinet is built as a stand-alone piece. It's hard to come up with something for the Napanee Kitchenet and the ss frig. At one point, they didn't have any 'new' cabinetry surrounding the two pieces. Maybe that looked better. The cabinet designer didn't like it at all. Maybe because there were less cabinets to be built? The peninsula is built-ins: a sink and DW. Any ideas about that? The sink faucet is mounted on the raised wall behind the sink. The back side is cabinetry: 6'' deep behind the DW and to the right of the sink the cab in 36''w x 30''d and accessible from the table side. The Nap Kitchenet should be fine where it is. Nearly all the baking is in the little oven to the left, and all the baking supplies are in the Kitchenet and the left cupboard. The view, I wish there was a good viewscape. The back of the pantry overlooks the street. There is a small kitchen garden between the street and the house that is visible from the cooking wall windows. The best view is toward the side of the house, out the windows of the prep counter. It will change once the garage is built, but landscaping will be with the kitchen view in mind.