I'm bumping this up. I'm hoping the posters above who were using the CFL's are still around & will update me on how their plant(s) are doing. Irina, you said you were surprised that there is such an interest in CFL's and that we can only grow one plant with them. That's the whole point! lol I have my setup of the other AV's in another room, but I think many of us would like just one plant on a table in other rooms because we love the plants and want to see them all the time. It's not only a growing thing, it's also decorative. I have many regular houseplants, cactis and succulents, I grow them not only because I enjoy it, but I also use them to help decorate my home. AF's are too pretty to "hide." Now I'm thinking about buying two inexpensive, matching table lamps for my table. Those, a doily and a plant would be pretty. :)

I've seen photos of free standing bathouses (they look a little like a ski chalet, with very angled shingled roofs). I'm interested in finding plans for a structure like this, but can't seem to find one :( Its really more like a shed with a VERY angled roof. Anyone know of a link or book where I can find something like this? TIA!!! PS I made a smaller (medium sized) traditional bat house, I got the plans from Bat Conservation International and I seem to have tenants! But I'm hoping to get bats to migrate to the bathouse from our barn before we start construction on the roof. (the bathouse can be temporary housing, I just don't want them to leave!!!)

luvs2click, now *that* is a brilliantly-displayed collection! I love it because it's in the room that the pieces normally would have been in as functional elements, but made into design elements instead, with their functional significance still resonating. Great work, DH :) I'm finding myself collecting NW Studio art pottery and Blenko/studio glass, and a bit of vintage NW fiber art and other craft...the last is the most challenging to display, since it takes up so much room! We're planning to create some dedicated, fishing-line-protected shelves in the living room for the glass, so it can be up where we can see the sculptural lines. I like collections of originally non-decorative items displayed where they would normally have been used. I could see tiny lamps being displayed somehow near their larger cousins, in a few places throughout the house, rather than isolated from function in a display shelf somewhere. I have a vision of maybe two other little lamps put on a little riser near a larger functioning lamp, and repeat that maybe two other places in the house. Rotate the collection. That way, the lamps are in dynamic conversation with their environment and you get a sum that is more than its parts, iykwim. Decorative items? Somehow in significant groupings or in such a way that each one can be appreciated, rather than the whole seen as one big obsessive mass LOL (I'm not excluding myself from this -- a bit afraid of the day my Blenko/glass collection tips this point).

Wertach, keep looking at all thrift stores. Some are better than others. You might also ask on FreeCycle. Cut the collar off above the collar stand. If fraying, you can use zig zag stitch. (Get a decent used sewing machine ;) ) Here are some links that might be helpful. What you seem to want is a Henley or Nehru style collar. He lets can be made looser and in cotton broadcloth or linen instead of the traditional knit fabric. Note the link for the Civil War period costume shirt. Perhaps you can find someone to sew you up a few or you can learn. I take it that you're not aiming for Brooks Brothers. Men's Henley or Nehru collared shirts https://www.google.com/search?q=men's+shirt+sewing+pattern+nehru+collar&client=safari&hl=en-us&prmd=sivn&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&fir=vJbbDZk7u-BEQM%253A%252C3h8T-6KZhWPrHM%252C_%253BFVELkYEZ2kZEnM%253A%252C7eB3A5jX3EDfdM%252C_%253BKmjWyHzD9812rM%253A%252CE0dTP_xA1Ohp0M%252C_%253BQv-mfuSqqNCp-M%253A%252CE0dTP_xA1Ohp0M%252C_%253BOEwL2nu6rdrk9M%253A%252CMsBVegirwvis6M%252C_%253B1ttsTqOrzADUPM%253A%252C-uFFSq4TooeyPM%252C_%253BBh3VzSPEaQuYHM%253A%252CY-fsvw0o3zBcQM%252C_%253BwVLxkb0f5HNorM%253A%252CfzkYG1pY43DfCM%252C_%253BvBU687xnRpd9FM%253A%252CrogslHIEL3jeYM%252C_%253BahW9mp-Ww76KpM%253A%252CFAt0BG8DjDaCOM%252C_&usg=__gAQhy_8XabWjRzf39rsokD1GYCs%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwje2LeGwv_MAhWE2D4KHdaxBX8Q7AkIGw&biw=1024&bih=672#imgrc=1ttsTqOrzADUPM%3A https://www.etsy.com/listing/231536560/mens-nehru-collar-short-shirt-kurta-in?ref=market https://www.etsy.com/listing/244074836/pre-summer-clearance-vintage-1970s?ref=market https://www.google.com/search?q=sewing+pattern+men's+henley+shirts+long+sleeve&client=safari&hl=en-us&prmd=sinv&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&fir=lerCpYnkE3jM0M%253A%252C_xAOkJPo3su9oM%252C_%253BASf7pT9NrvFqPM%253A%252CirnkXeIEFR2Y_M%252C_%253BaX0O80SgQzVhGM%253A%252CEnaBwzSHuRQfJM%252C_%253BUubfcAid_NZ43M%253A%252CSSNfZBl_faVznM%252C_%253B3_COxMfdHTOK2M%253A%252CInE0xmC7ePoP9M%252C_%253BNREgQ6TL5nVW7M%253A%252CSSNfZBl_faVznM%252C_%253BkBDl0ZwQ_1wXjM%253A%252CRPrfkm2mcBKH3M%252C_%253BXiWbXN738UPrzM%253A%252CAhkYyBNgZ-tvWM%252C_%253BwSK6rB2V_qmZsM%253A%252C_xAOkJPo3su9oM%252C_%253BlWEQ6iN61mFxkM%253A%252CnpYDkeq96yKdmM%252C_&usg=__YSecoyMzp9y12wLyqWMqL90y0cU%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwje1Piiw__MAhVMbj4KHcIeCW4Q7AkILw&biw=1024&bih=729#imgdii=6Pseg0lzgiY8LM%3A%3BjBgWuwLv4aV46M%3A%3BjBgWuwLv4aV46M%3A&imgrc=jBgWuwLv4aV46M%3A https://www.etsy.com/listing/248600625/mens-civil-war-confederate-regimental?ref=related-7 *** Burda pattern - Men's Linen Shirt (for garden shirt, you could have made with cotton) http://www.burdastyle.com/pattern_store/patterns/mens-linen-shirt-062011