You're right Amy, there is a problem with searching. I don't think it's you though, I just typed tipsey pots also and it didn't work. I wonder if it has anything to do with the Web administrators fixing the slowness of the forum the past week or so. Sal

Hi Melle - The member names that end with _gw are because the GW member name was already in use on Houzz. It could be the same member who might have an account already on Houzz or the name was already taken. The good news is that even if you can't claim your original name, you can still have it display on your posts by going into your profile settings (top right corner of the page - click on 'Your Houzz') and scroll down to 'Display Information'. Search can be found at the top of the page. Hi Maddie -- If you look towards the top of the page, just above the title of the post, you'll see a breadcrumb trail in green. If you click 'Home Decorating' it will bring up the list of posts in the forum.

Thanks all. I HAVE done what rob333 suggested, and somehow when I select latest, I swear it then forgets what I am searching for and just brings up the latest posts on any and every forum. Honestly, I have also searched on google with those keywords as well- to no good end. I appreciate the suggestions, and will try them all ((AGAIN)). I do remember when the search function on this site used to work properly so I guess that adds to my frustration.

You used to be able to search in a particular Forum, even with Houzz. However, I noticed last week that they've removed that ability. Now, unfortunately, it searches all Forums -- useless in most cases! In the past, if you went to a Forum and started a search, it would pop up with "in Kitchens" (or whatever Forum you were in). NOW, it just says "in Discussions" and then searches ALL forums. As mentioned by SushiPup, Google (and other search engines) are probably going to be your best bet for searching -- but if you are searching for something that was posted on Houzz after it took over GW, you will need to specify Houzz, not GardenWeb. It doesn't work as well with Houzz, but it's often better than Houzz's internal search. Personally, I don't understand why Houzz gets less and less useful/user-friendly over time instead of the opposite like most other sites do!