As for feeling guilty, keeping fish is no different than a cat or dog. Most fish are farm raised. Very few are wild caught. "Most" fish sold now are hybrids and are a little more colorful than their wild cousins. Also, in a properly maintained and established tank, the fish usually outlive the wild ones. A far as low maintainance, it depends on your water chemistry and quality. Not meaning your tap water is safe to drink and has no bacteria, just pH,nutrients and hardness. For example tap water that is hard and higher in pH is going to be more work for the fish that require a more acidic environment, also the type of plants that will do well in it. This can be reversed for acidic water for the needs of hard water fish. Any way you can save alot of money by building your own tankstand. They usually cost as much as an aquarium kit. For live planted tanks with the "red" plants you like (my favorite also), you need a high amount of light. A few plants do well in the low light that is usually provided in "complete" kits. I can go on and on (I normally do), so I'll post a few sites for you that I found usefull. This first is all around the best IMO. P.S. Goldfish only become a problem if the tank and filtration isn't sufficient. A bowl is way too small for them. When they grow they emit more ammonia and poison them selfs. Also they can grow to 12"+, a min 30 gallon tank with good filtration will work great. Here is a link that might be useful: Best info IMO

One of the first places I look for a description of what I am enamored with is the NC Invasive Exotic Plant List. I have several books that I refer to often: Gardening with Native Plants of the South, AHS Plant Propagation, and another prop book by Alan Toogood (What a cool name!) Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs, Southeastern Wildflowers, Tree Identification for the Southern US, and, Southern Living Garden Book (akin to Sunset's Garden Book which is written for the Western States). These have all been dogeared, dirtied, and watered on, but the most information I have gleaned is from this Forum. Joan_NC got me started on it and I have learned so much from her too. I totally think that the swaps are the best way to share information about plants since we always bring home something we have no idea what it is and then pick everyone's brain for care and feeding and get lots of enjoyment from the sharing. I love going to each other's gardens and listening to the lament of 'soon' this or that, all the while seeing what they have done from basically nothing to today's spectacular when I see it. We all tend to put ourselves down for not having the garden at perfection - ready for the cameras, but others see it as an expression of the people who love their space - some yell, some stroll, some yank and twist, some touch every petal and leaf, some wax profusely about one particular growing thing, some just smile and rock in the chair enjoying what they spent 47 hours getting de-weeded and watered, and some of us do all of that everyday. This forum provides technical information, but also the human side of making things grow. We are not so proud as to say everything we plant will grow, will not have bugs and diseases, and be prolific enough to share. Here we say, 'been there, done that, got a T-shirt', but we'll try again next year! And, there are so many people who point us to web sites or books that provide an ever expanding realm that we would not have been exposed to otherwise. There is just so much surfing one can do... Glowing writeups about Artemesia 'Limelight' for sale has nothing on 'this stuff is rhizoming its way to the back forty!' from someone who was smitten by the lovely leaves and has regretted it ever since. I surf the web for plant descriptions and growing conditions, I look at the pretty pictures and read the sales-hype - then I go to my books and search the forums here at the GardenWeb. Here is a link that might be useful: Invasive Plant List for NC

I hate to ask this, but if you have no idea of what to do with the space then why are you doing the renovation? Also, when working with large, open rooms the general idea is to partition the space into smaller units using furniture. Think groups of sofas, table and chairs, etc. You will need to choose furniture which looks good from all sides (which can be difficult with case goods). And you will need to place some plugs out in the middle of the floor. Regarding books or websites, try your local library - look for books about loft interiors. Good luck! Paul

Do you have a good local library? I go to the garden or craft section, and peruse the books, and usually leave with an armload. What I've found is maybe one project in each book that I even have an interest in, so there isn't any one book that I can recommend...