Outsmarting the tree rats (squirrels) around my house is a full time job. This past spring I hit on a new idea. When I plant a container I invert an empty wire hanging basket over the container and the plant gets sun and can be watered but the squirrels can't dig in it. Another idea: I bring in a lot of plants to "over winter" under lights in my garage. I have so many that it is hard to reach my hand under the lights (4 shop lights) to the middle for watering. So I bought a pump sprayer with a long wand and it works great! In late winter I add a little liquid Dawn detergent, few drops, to each gallon of water and not only does the soil get wet easier but the worms that are waiting to hatch into distructive pets just don't hatch. Don't know what it costs me to run those four shop lights all winter but I don't care. It is a small price to pay to be able to "garden" every weekend in the garage. Many people have mentioned that they mark their outdoor plants with a "permanent Sharpie". In my experience there isn't a "permanent Sharpie", they all fade and quickly too. A grease pencil/china marker or expensive "no fade" garden center marker are the only markers I have found that won't disappoint you by fading. Eight years ago I decided to learn about gardening so I tapped into my local library. I checked out nearly every book they had on gardening and learned so much. The Gardenweb forums are also a wealth of information and entertainment. There is always something new to learn and I appreciate all of you who take the time to write in your ideas. One last idea from me...I keep a small notebook on my computer table and jot down any idea I find that's new and I will want to try. Little pieces of paper get lost but I always know where my notebook is and also use it when I order "on line" so I will remember the name of the company and the order date. Tina or Trowelgal

jterriynn, the steampunk fashion stuff definitely has a sexual edginess. As for the steampunk decorating stuff, I've decided that it's not for me. ____ I really did try to take up this challenge but I've given up. Just thought I'd record a little of my journey and why I am going to quit. Surely a better thinker than I am will conjure a fabulous kitchen from the ashes of my fabulous ideas. First, I looked hard at the Metropole subway entrance and tried to channel it into a design. Didn't get anywhere. Without a grand high ceiling and skylight, this aesthetic is tough. Sure, I could have invented a high-ceilinged room with amazing glass and spidery separations between glass, but that's an architectural feature of the house or apartment that would be the impetus, not the muse itself. So then I got to thinking about Madame Curie and her cohort--now there were visionary scientists of the period! I asked my DH what he can recall of the huge science classroom that he worked in for roughly 30 years, in a c. 1900 building. He says "Hard maple floors. Oak cabinets--a whole wall of them. Long lab tables with a few sinks and bunsen burners. Tall curved faucets. Tall windows and window shades (the latter were removed when they got tacky looking. Not sure when this equipment was installed." I started working on a Marie Curie's lab theme for the kitchen olioboard--canisters lettered in that art nouveau Metropolitan typeface (see photo above) with "radium" and "pitchblende" stenciled on them and gaslight fixtures in ceiling and a steam radiator painted in an outlandish color but decided the whole thing was not worth my time. This was reinforced when I located a photo of Curie's lab, which made me recall that she had been allocated space in a "shed" outside of the physics dept, a silly woman working outside the mainstream. How's this for a setting for real-life science fiction? To quote her: "Its glass roof did not afford complete shelter against rain; the heat was suffocating in summer, and the bitter cold of winter was only a little lessened by the iron stove, except in its immediate vicinity. There was no question of obtaining the needed proper apparatus in common use by chemists. We simply had some old pine-wood tables with furnaces and gas burners. We had to use the adjoining yard for those of our chemical operations that involved producing irritating gases; even then the gas often filled our shed. With this equipment we entered on our exhausting work." All this just made me mad on behalf of Curie and did nothing for my peaceful kitchen. Besides, she was working with radium so the radioactivity might be hard on the family life and the cuisine. Here's another Curie laboratory image, I would assume for her later work== perhaps inspiring for another GW'er? a 40 x 30 print of this can be had for $200 Gotta admit: Science and cooking aren't in the same department. In fact, people make fun of modern "operating room" white kitchens--they are antimatter for a relaxing, gentle room. Then I tried to work up wallpaper based on Steiglitz's photo of a train yard...plenty of steam there! But I couldn't find a source of a blown-up version of the photo and I became afraid that the photo would be taken as being about trains--not a peaceful kitchen for me either! Then there's Joe Stella, a painter of 1920s who did numerous Brooklyn Bridge stylized paintings. I messed with his arches and colors. But this got me nowhere either. The truth: TNT explosiveness and edgy are not me and decorating with a steampunk science muse doesn't connect me to any worthwhile kitchen design. Sorry to be cranky, but I'm done here I think. I know it's fun but not the fun I can really enjoy. I look forward to somebody else's fun stuff on the postings Steampunk thread. Have fun stormin' the castle, visionaries! Here is a link that might be useful: Marie Curie lab poster from All Posters

IMO I would first solve the function issues you have outlined and then address the style issues you have requested. As with every design problem there may be compromises to get most of what you've listed, but function shouldn't be one of them. I've attached a layout and some examples of furnishings & unique equipment that may accommodate many of your requests. Please carefully think about keeping a frankly huge armoire, that you still have to spend time and money to refinish, to hold a printer that could reasonably fit on a small shelf. The printers seem to get smaller everyday as do the computers/laptops. How many of us got stuck with armoires to hold huge TVs? The local Goodwill where I live won't even take armoires anymore because no one wants them in their homes. That item in particular, from my perspective as a designer, is like fitting a square peg in a round hole. I often look to the RV industry to provide me with clever equipment that does double duty, like hidden work surfaces that can pull out of standard cabinets when needed, and slide away when not in use. I think you can assemble a workable room, with the special style you're looking for & even that special settee, but I would build in files and storage which is always needed, find a clever way to close away your DH clutter so you don't have to nag, & look for high tech items to help you reach you goals. Built in wall units are not inexpensive, but everything doesn't need to be custom. Cabinets from any modular kitchen cabinet manufacturer, even IKEA, could be used to assemble your workstations. Good Luck

Also remember one important thing. Humans are very adaptable. It's how we've survived so long. However one thing that adaptability managed to do is make us believe that we have something that works well, when in reality we can do better. For example, your island is a barrier. How much better would it be if you didn't have to walk around that small island every single time to get from your fridge to your sink? Right now you don't think it's a problem because you've adapted. Those who have MW's over the cooktop think it's ok because they've adapted. I have one in both rental's right now. I have to reach up every time to grab hot bowls out of the MW (and I'm vertically challenged). I have adapted though so really don't think about it. However, I know that in reality for me a drawer MW works better because I'm not reaching up. In my rental kitchen here in FL my corner butterfly sink is literally right next to the stove. There is no space between them. And to the left of the sink, is not enough space to prep. The only space to prep is to the right of the stove on the peninsula. However, I've adapted. I wash my stuff, and then carry it past the stove to the peninsula. I grab utensils and bowls from all over the kitchen since there is no place close to put most of the stuff I need. However I've adapted and now that I've been cooking in this space for several months, I tell people it's not as bad as I thought it would be. But the reality is, that if I had a well laid out kitchen, DH and I wouldn't be constantly bumping into one another (especially at the sink) and all movements would flow better. I wouldn't be dripping water and who knows what on the floor each time I cooked. I wouldn't have to keep running back and forth between the sink and the only prep space. So really think about whether you've adapted or if your kitchen really is the best laid out it could be and the most efficient.