I personally don't think buying seeds for someone else is necessary. Nor is it expected. If you want to, I guess that is fine. I look through other's lists and some are getting 3 things and others are not getting any (from me). But as I see it, others that have things that I don't have, and will have some for them (the person I din't have any for) and perhaps none for someone else. If someone has a short want list they might not get much of anything since we can't fill their wants if they don't want anything. The host will have to fill in the gaps for them with extras seeds, and hope there is something in there that might please this person. If the person with a short list is not sure what they want, perhaps they can be vague and say I like blue flowers that like the shade. Or any flowers, I am new and I have no clue what will grow here yet. Then maybe someone can toss in something that fits that requirement. Personally, I am tossing my extra veggie seeds in the extras baggie. So, if someone that asks for any veggie or any tomato, Fran can fill in with my extra veggies in a fair way. I have no way of knowing if one person needs more seeds and another has an overflowing amount already. But really, I think this should be fun, and as Fran said it is not a one for one thing, just share what you have, and it will all be ok. (really) For example: I once participated in the give to a newbie thing as a newbie gardener. I really did not receive much of anything I could use (mostly flowers). But is was still fun. I kept what I could use and SASE'ed what I did not need. So the seeds found nice homes, even if not mine. All is good. Surprises are fun. Giving is good for the heart, and sole. I hope my interpretation of this Swap is not not way off. Yes I should try starting seeds inside in early spring. I found out out that natural beginnings seeds starter mix is a very good all natural mix from gardens alive. My rutabagas did very well in this mix. I had always thought of starting seeds inside as a northern thing to do. But I guess it is not. We are trying to beat heat and the northerners are trying to beat the frost. I have some soup peas in damp paper towels now to try to give them a early go for it this spring. Last spring direct sowed peas took 3 weeks to come up. So by the time they matured, it was too hot. I'm learning. My garden is on the side of the house were veggies get shade after 2 pm. First year I made the mistake of thinking full sun, I will plant on west of the house. UG. Learned that, that is too much sun for Texas! So this year all will hopefully be better due to: water ditches starting some things under pop bottle cloches Sprouting peas inside living mulch verses dead mulch cover crops over winter reorienting garden beds so sorghum and sunflowers can help shade off the rest of the garden. avoiding overly thirsty crops smaller tomato varieties trying beany things along ground But anyway, time to go to the dentist. I have to realize I am not the only one having garden woes. It is just that since I am a new gardener, all years have been extreme weather years. I have nothing to compare it to. Hope every has some fun with this SWAP. Mary

Our oven was an issue. My kids are 8, 7 & 5. It's not unusual for them to run down the adjacent hall into the kitchen. Coming from the hall, you can't see into the kitchen at all, it's a blind corner. If you saw the other post where I mentioned placing an overhang into the family room (the pic with the orange stool), what you see from that hall is the load bearing wall. I use the oven fairly frequently, so when I was using it, I'd have to yell out a warning that the door was open. Our wall opening is only 29" wide so the oven door would completely block that opening when it was open. Even the kids couldn't squeeze by. If you don't have young children, then this is probably not a big issue for you or in your layout you might have more space. In the very first picture above, that house in Northern CA had the oven to the right of the fridge. It was a totally open space, so anyone could see the door was open even though it was sort of in the traffic path. As for that pesky window, I was hoping for a bit more wall space. The view isn't great, but that was just an argument for losing it all together. DH says, it has to stay in some form or another, so I'm thinking onee that's not so wide. Yes, it's definitely darker. That picture was taken with no artificial light or flash. We've already cut power to the kitchen. There's about 66" from the corner to the window. If I do a blind corner cabinet opening on the fridge wall, that will take up 24" of the 66 leaving 42". My range is 37.5" wide and needs a ~38.5" opening. Basically, the range would end up sandwiched between the corner and the window. I'm thinking if I could gain that 20" of wall space, I could liberate the range from that tight corner, even if it's only a foot or so. DH and I were hashing this out earlier. He works from home ; ). We both think this might make venting overhead a little easier too. With a smaller window, we could vent directly outside. Defnitely a bonus. I'm just curious, if this was your space what would you do?

I have most of the colors in this thread on my walls now. I tested Gray owl and Stonington Gray in the bathroom and am going with Gray owl. Stonington is too blue. I have Revere Pewter, Edgecomb Gray and Balboa mist on a few walls now and am leaning toward Balboa Mist for the living room and dining room and Edgecomb gray for the bedroom. Revere Pewter is too dark. All the colors look different depending on the amount of sunlight in the space. Have you considered changing out your lightbulbs to a 4100K or 5000K colors?

Too much dark wood can make a room seem dark. Maybe you could paint the TV stand and the sideboard. And yes, there is too much "stuff" on the walls. I would also not put the words on the walls, it is a dated look. The windows need some kind of treatment as they look unfinished. Sheer white or cream curtains on each side (don't cover the whole window, as it will get darker). When you paint the furniture, just paint the bases and leave the tops in the stain. Annie's Chalk Paint is what has been recommended here on Houzz, although I have never tried it myself. Supposedly, you don't even have to sand or strip the present finish. Also, the Queen Anne coffee table just doesn't seem to fit with the style of the room, and is maybe a little too large. I would look for an oval with simple legs, in keeping with the rest of the style, which seems to be a modern Craftsman. Consignment stores are a great place to look for classic furniture, and a good place to sell any furniture you want to eliminate from your decor.