We recently had a bridal tea and the flowers were Casablanca lilies with those beautiful orange/brown stamens. We had a white faux embroidered (stamped) plastic table cloth by Martha Stewart we purchased years ago and has always been a last minute staple we threw over a colored cloth for punch bowls, etc. Stained from the lilies, I tried tape, Tupenoid, Goof-off, Oxyclean, and bleach! Nothing!!! Set the damned thing out in the sun for two hours and the stain is gone!!! My wife laughed at me telling the stories of this site, but you should have seen her face when I laid the white table cloth in her lap this evening with no stain!!! Lol! I cannot believe it myself, but it's perfect again! I don't know how many blouses, shirts, tablecloths, etc we've thrown away because of the stains!! The sun must have magical powers!!! Tell everyone you know and quit depending on the chemicals! I grow these lilies in my garden in the summer and this is a wonderful solution to an age-old problem!! Thanks so much!!!!

I setup an Excel spreadsheet with a tab for each room and put everything for that room on the sheet. You can put in the headings (lighting, electrical, cabintery, trim, Paint, plumbing, etc.) for the first room and then copy that page for each other room. Then fill in each room's particulars. We presented our package to the builder today and while he does his figuring by the square footage, the detail gives him an idea of the price point for the lighting we want for example so we don't end up going over budget. ( had even made a mockup of the balustrades.) But the spreadsheets were the most help to. They made it easy to check that had everything thought through for each room and hadn't missed anything. It's easier to see you forget something for a room with the room all on one page. What I am finding EXTREMELY helpful is Microsoft One Note. I bought it for this laptap based on the demo on Microsoft's site which I stumbled upon when I was going through the Tablet demo. It's killer! You right click something at Lighting Universe and click and paste it into One Note. the picture and the URL are pasted. Same with any spreadsheets, etc., and then you can scan in, an draw (with a tablet.) This has helped me see things all in one place for a room. I am a quilt designer, so it's much like the quilt fabric online stores that let you see the fabrics in your cart as swathes all on one page, with the ability to move them around to rehearse them. Again, One note is set up like a notebook, so you can set up a page for each room, one for the exterior, etc.

Just FYI, bamboo shades, at night, when drawn and indoor lights are on, might as well not be there as far as being see-through. I know, I had them. Can be lined though. Although I loved the green, I have to say that the white walls since they don't compete, really bring out the beauty of the wallpaper. Does that print come in fabric? If not, I'd go with something in a solid, nice fabric maybe suede texture, that matches one of the neutral colors in the wallpaper. Beth H. had some FANTASTIC inspiration ideas. Let your art and cool mix of furniture and accessories be the star, not the drapes. Or find a gorgeous matching natural texture fabric and make some, but off-the-rack drapes are mostly pft. nowdays.

Durham Designs, So funny you should mention Waterstone. I saw one in a showroom and not knowing anything about it I gravitated right to it. My friend who was with me knew what it was and she started laughing because I always am drawn to the most expensive of whatever it is I am looking at. And as a recently retired college professor I can seldom afford it. I can't have too tall of a faucet either as I have a window over my sink and it would overwhelm my small kitchen as well. Your house sounds wonderful. Very different from mine but definitely one that anyone who visits would be interested in. I have a somewhat edgy style that was once described by the teacher in a design class I took as "Bohemian Primitive Spanish"--whatever that is. It is always evolving. I have quite a few older things some from my grandmother and parents as I am the only child of an only child so everything has gotten passed to me. I have a big storage unit and I switch things in and out of my house. I have contemporary art as well along with a lot of color. Mothers must feel like they need to give pots and pans to their daughters. I just heated up some soup in a Revere Ware sauce pan that my mom gave me when I had my first apartment. I also have a set of colorful Corningware bowls that she gave me. I don't use them but since my mom gave them to me I let them occupy precious space in my kitchen cabinets My house is quite small (1300 square feet) so I can identify with your size limitations. I am in Central Austin near the University and downtown. The property values in this area have gone up so much since 1981 when I bought my house that I can barely afford the taxes on it now. It would be great if I wanted to move and cash out but I don't. Many people in the high tech industry have moved here from California and they are driving up our property prices (and taxes) by their willingness to pay extremely high prices for Real Estate. They will come into the area and pay half a million dollars for a 1940s bungalow and then tear it down and build a huge monster house on a tiny city lot. I guess this is progress but I have watched Austin grow from the laid back home of Willie Nelson to a high tech mecca and I really miss some of its old character. I know what you mean about the stock market--I try not to watch it daily or I will go crazy. My dad grew up in an Italianate Victorian house on a farm in Central Illinois. My uncle lived in it all his life and farmed while my dad left the farm to pursue another career. After my uncle died, my dad and I fixed the house up. I kept it for many years and visited there in the summer much like I did growing up. After a while it just became too much to try to maintain a home in a place where you don't live. Particularly during the winter. So I sold it to a wonderful family that I have known for many years up there. But I did keep a lot of the family items which range from Victorian Antiques to Homemade. My favorite item is an old gate-leg table that my grandmother inherited from her grandmother, originally from Pennsylvania and built by Amish craftsmen. I use it as a console behind my sofa with the leaves folded down. I was born in Hawaii and while we only lived there a few years, my mom had a beautiful carved chest with a matching set of nested tables that I am trying desperately to find space in my house for. I lost my mom in Dec. 2017. She was 96 and lived in a Retirement Community in Dallas. I still have not gone through all the things that I kept from my parents house from 2004 after my dad died and mother decided to sell the house and move. So much stuff and they had lived in the house since 1956. I did donate a lot of things to several charities and sold a few things but there are some personal items you just want to take your time going through. They are all in storage here in town and so now that I am retired, I hope I can have time to sort through things. I think I must have in my possession about a dozen sets of dishes (some probably quite valuable and others not worth anything). My mother had drawers full of costume jewelry from the 1920's on up and they have been really fun to go through. She never met a bracelet she didn't like it seems. I have integrated some things from my family into my house but have had to do so sparingly due to space limitations. I did find room for a lovely blue Lalique vase that sits in front of my bedroom window and catches the light. My mother kept it in a cabinet because she didn't want to break it. But I think it should be out where it can be enjoyed.