It really depends on how involved your landscaping needs are, or how good your contractor is.... I know that doesn't help much. You're right, one zone isn't enough, assuming that you have more than one type of plant. I forget - does Creative do design-build or strictly design? I would *definitely* call them and ask for another consultant or your money back - I wouldn't accept a design from someone who doesn't know their plants (and how much water they need,) never mind their City codes - which can get you in a whole lotta hot water. The DBG has a Desert Landscaping course that is pretty intensive. They list some of the graduates of that course - they at least have training on irrigation (which is more than I can say, having just graduated from ASU's landscape architecture program). It's a good place to start. I also caution you, however - if you find someone with time on their hands right now, you might give them a miss. Just about everyone is crazy with work right now - consider this from an inside source. Schedule well in advance with plans in hand. HTH, good luck!

Love that fabric and can't wait to see the shades in your breakfast room... They will finish it with a lovely softness! The reason I think you need curtains in your Maine house is that the room is crazily proportioned and has so many disparate elements it is a big jumble. Different windows, on the same wall, no regularity to the size or placement of them throughout the room, several woods and all those blue fabrics you're planning to use in pillows and cushions and chair seats may make it even more higgeldy piggledy. You need a unifying principle in that room...maybe yards of unlined white muslin banded in blue grosgrain at the hems and leading edges...if white, hang them on mahogany or walnut finish faux bamboo rods tho. Or swath the room in a toile--- there are plenty of American toiles and you might even find some of whaling ships or clippers, how cool would that be, and use it everywhere, curtains, upholstery, etc. Anyway, I have given my opinion twice so I guess that's my four cents :-)

Your cabinets will likely look a lot 'calmer' with different paint on the walls. I bring home paint chips from multiple stores to have the best selection of color. Your SW store can mix paint from other lines and match the color for you. Your floor is BEAUTIFUL and I would use it as the basis for color selection. I lay my paint chips on the flooring and walk around, viewing them from different angles. I spent a long time making my kitchen paint decision, even taking a sample of flooring, counter top material, and back splash sample to work. I'd lay out the paint chips and eliminate them one by one. When I continuously was left with the same color sample I had the paint mixed.

annz - thanks for the download. twochicklets. - you don't have to do very much to fix the disconnect between your house and your furniture. for eg - back to the mirror for a sec - the mirror in your DR is quirky and I can see why you like it but the problem is the DR is not the right home for it. The curvy lines in it are too effeminate for the room - they're not strong enough to hold their own presence in the room with the strong lines of the ceiling. This is in contrast to the curves in the buffet/hutch and in the chairs. They may not be the right pieces of furniture for the room But they are strong enough and weighty enough to hold their own in the room. If you like the mirror you are doing it a disservice by leaving it there. It needs a space where it can be the star of the area. The chandelier in beverly27's first pic is an example of one that would work in your DR. That one does not fight the room and the colour of the metal would connect with your furniture. In that same picture the coffee table or the one in the next picture are ones that would work in your living room, actually the one in the second picture is better. The darker wood ties in with the built-ins and the wood in your furniture and the metal adds that more modern/contemporary style that the house needs. The glass table is too small and too light-weight visually to hold its own in the room. The furniture that you have can work with just a couple of pieces to connect them and the house together. Like the others I agree that leaving the fans is the best idea. I know it's hard to work with a house with a strong and definitive architectural style. I live in a post and beam house and have struggled with it and like you have pieces of furniture that I love but don't go with the house. I use smaller pieces to tie them together.