The Victorian style of gardening was dead, dead, dead right around 1900. It survived in public parks and railroad stations but most people had come to dislike it intensely. One of its chief features was the bedding-out of annuals, both flowering and foliage plants. I am now seeing some of these foliage plants, like coleus, so popular in the 1800s, popular again. Huge foliage plants such as cannas were also big with the Victorians and scorned after 1900. William Robinson and Gertrude Jekyll began a revolution in English gardens. They advocated naturalistic planting styles and perennials. They also wrote books. Jekyll designed gardens for the very rich in England, never stirring from her hidden home at Munstead Wood, which I have had the great good fortune to visit. Jekyll was inspired by English cottage gardens but her gardens were planned for the upper class. Her books were very popular and well-to-do Americans bought them with enthusiasm. However, American gardeners soon found that English garden books do not translate very well in our climate. A whole new garden literature, most of it written by women gardeners, arose. These books were, I believe, the largest influence on American gardens from 1900 til WW2. They generally showed naturalistic groups of perennials in geometric beds. Borders were hugely popular, as well as the style described above, so often with a sundial at the center. Sorry for the long post!

CANDY RED Steel Cabinets, Oh My !! I really needed a good laugh - still grinning! Our realtor just suggested the Red color on the day that our contract was accepted - this buying and selling of our house has been a real experience, in these times - roller coaster of negotiating on both ends! Our nerves are shredded but we remain steadfast - maybe this is the reason that we just cannot decide what to do with our new, OLD Cabinets!! We need a VACATION on an Italian Beach, maybe we would see something there that might inspire us? We love the tropical, warm breezes and all of the colors that feel so relaxing! Candy Red cabinets might be nice for a visit but we need a more tranquil space, I think! Turquoise is my favorite color of blue but then I like most all of the cheerful blue shades! What if the Old cabinets were painted a light shade of Turquoise and then the walls, one or two shades darker. Perhaps the hues of the Sea will look good with the sandy tones in the ceramic tile floor! Our current house has most every wall painted a medium hue of Sea Blue with softer shades of complimentary blue in some smaller rooms and two rooms being a warmer sunny shade! May sound like a bit much but we have never grown tired of these seaside colors in all of these years! So if we use some - Turquoise hues in the new kitchen - what accent colors do you see? Maybe a bit of the Red or perhaps some Coral or even some warmer Peach? Is this why some of you have a decorator? Most of my friends ask me to help them with design but these Metal Cabinets have just been an unexpected challenge and we know that we will only want to paint these ONCE! Very tempting to sell them and order our favorite Cherry Wood Cabinets!! And we still have to figure out how to remove the old plastic wall tiles in the Kitchen or else we will be painting over them just like they did before! The new house is 80 years old, with plaster walls and lots of wall paper to be taken down, also!! We did order the new Bosch Dishwasher, today - have an Asko but DH wanted to try the Bosch, hope this works well for us. Like to have a new Frig. with the freezer on the bottom, we have that now with our Sub Zero and it is wonderful, will miss it! ANY suggestions for a more affordable, SS Frig, counter depth and not too tall - because in the new Old Kitchen there are vintage, wooden pantry cabinets built into one corner of Kitchen and around the Frig. Just wonder, should these wood pantry cabinets be the same paint as the metal cabinets, or the darker Turquoise like the walls or re-paint them white! ALL of your Ideas are so very Welcome! Rose

I also use the Lee Valley stainless steel bucket and love it. The handle makes it easy to lift it out from under the sink and it holds a lot. I've never had an odor problem with it, and find I can go up to 5 days before it is all full (there's just my husband and me - bigger families will fill it faster). I keep a compost pile working across the yard from the kitchen, so It's easy to dump the bucket, and shovel a scoop or two of soil over the top (makes the composting go faster and discourages critters). Because we get a heavy snow load in the winter, I have an alternate winter process - My husband lines a large garbage can on wheels with two heavy garbage bags, and keeps it in his downstairs workshop. Once or twice a week, during the winter, I just dump the compost pail into the garbage can, and sprinkle some shredded paper (from the den paper shredder) and/or some sawdust and shavings from my husband's woodworking. I do this all winter long and there is never an odor from it. Come spring, we just wheel the whole can of semi-composted scraps to the compost pile, spread them out, top with a little soil, and within 3 weeks it is all totally composted. Works like a charm! And my roses love it. HAPPY ROSES

Run the great room off the entire side or across front of structure. One position only for opening to bedroom and bath corridor. You have two openings to bedrooms ... not feasible. Don't you want to run the great room all across one side or the other w kitchen contained within....toward the rear, envision French doors to outside deck or patio. Use a table at a position within the great room that is an easy position for real use. There are lots of manufactured homes popping up w similarities...maybe you should have a look Instead of wrestling w something nearly impossible.