The trouble with trying to put cacti or succulents in a totally enclosed space is that they require sun to flourish, and that will build up too much heat. If you leave the terrarium open, you really are just using it as a glass pot, and none of the closed terrarium rules apply. Mr. Breeze: At the Brooklyn Botanic Garden they had quite an extensive collection of lithops growing on waist-high benches covered with what looked like small marble or limestone chunks. The benches were enclosed in wire fencing because people kept stealing the lithops. They had to make the screens finer and finer because people would even steal them thru the screen. In any event, the succulent books I have say to grow them in full sun (or slightly shaded if under glass) in a wide pan or large pot (with other succulents if desired). They do not do well in a small pot. In spring they need a very fine overhead misting daily, with slightly less in summer. Cool and dry in winter. Diana

2boyz, you asked if we still like our Ark floors. We are really happy with the way the floors look but we have a golden retreiver so our floors are scratched. The scratches have not damaged the finish, they are more like dents in the wood, but if you look at the right angle you can see them. The scratches from our dog on our old oak floors were much more evident because the flooring had a gloss to it. Our Ark flooring does not have a sheen to it and the slight distressing helps to hide the scratches, but I know they are there! We don't have any areas where the wood has chipped and you see a lighter, unstained color. I love the width of the planks, the color, the very slight bevel but I believe there is just no way to avoid scratches on hardwood floors. So, yes I still am happy with my Ark flooring!

Why did we go with Kvanum Kok? Easy answer - because we pass their showroom frequently, and my wife fell in love with them the first time we saw them. Plus, we both wanted as much wood as possible, including in the drawer construction etc...we looked at Siematic also, for example (which would honestly have been far more practical, in terms of efficiency for the space),but the metal drawers really turned my wife in particular off - plus they were even more expensive. Kvanum has a lot of nice details...hand painted on-site finish, dovetailed drawers, interesting shelving and detail options, nice internal organization options, and they also fairly recently added the option to have the interiors of the cabinets and shelving all be oiled oak veneer, which is very rich looking with the painted exteriors, instead of white or painted. In person, everything about them screams quality, and they are just put together really well with a lot of attention to detail. The fact that they are so unique and uncommon is also selling point, if I am being honest with myself...but I like to think it is more than that. Finally, I love the fact that they are scandinavian...we have a lot of Danish Modern furniture in the house (for example, our dining room table and chairs), so its kind of a theme for the house. The biggest downside is the cost, both monetarily and ecologically, of shipping cabinets halfway around the world. I am sure we could have saved a lot of money going more local, and I am 100% positive that we could have gotten 90% of the look for 2/3 of the price. I can't really justify going with Kvanum other than by illogical gut desire. Our current floor is really bad square ceramic tile...contractor grade, chipped, ugly color. We have wood floors in the rest of the house. I don't have a problem with standing on the hard surface, and it is worth it to me for the increased durability and water-proofness of the tile floor. The reason wood is a backup is because our floor is currently quite uneven, and our KD is worried about the cost of levelling it enough to use such big tiles (the current are like 8" square, but the Xylem boards are about 36x8). We are waiting for the contractor to give us a firm opinion/estimate on it. If it is too expensive, we will do probably oak planks stained/died a similar dark Wenge-ish color.

Long time no post over here - so forgive me for that. I've moved onto basements now. We are still happy with Waypoint. I do think the top drawer of the stacks is a bit shallow but have no comparison point with other brands. So far they have held up well in terms of the finish and durability. We STILL haven't put up a backsplash!!! We know what we want, we bought about half the supplies and still they sit waiting for us to find time. We've had another baby so time is scarce. The honed delicatus looks the same as when it was installed. I still wish we had honed the perimeter too but it wouldn't do to not have a few regrets, right? Hubby is still happy with the polished choice and they sure are bulletproof but also fingerprinty.