Craftsman style house goes with my cottage style of gardening. One of the two blue spruce in the pictures, the one on the right, came down in a big rain and windstorm early this spring. So there is a lot more light in the front. That side is now in full sun. As to lots of land, I don't have it. I have a typical suburban size lot. What makes it all work here as far as everything I have planted is that the yard is all multilevel. Harder to deal with but more things can be squeeezed in. It would never all work if it was just level. The parking lot you can see across the street is to a 16 acre park and beach so its really very nice here in the summer. Its for our City residents but never crowded just afew people arounhd weekdays and not that much more on weekends. Next to it immediately adjoining so you can walk from one into the other is a large county nature preserve, this time all wooded. Also with shoreline accress. I remember going fishing there with my dad when I was a young child. Well, I went with him. He fished, I played around.

On Feb 9 2009 I purchased 5 two packs of the FEIT Electric ECObulbs Dimmable Compact Fluorescent 23W=100. In the first week 3 fried. I spoke with their customer support and explained what I have and on their suggestion I replaced my 1000W digital dimmer switch with a 600W mechanical dimmer switch. I went back to Home Depot and they cheerfully replaced the bulbs. Since then 5 more have failed. For those of you that haven't done the math thats 80% failure in eleven days. today is Feb 21 2009. Unless FEIT can come up with a reasonable explanation for their products dismal performance I will be returning all 10 and going back to incandescent.

I can't stop playing with the ceiling in this one. I sort of like a cathedral tray in this room. After removing the Tuscan detail on the columns, I am not sold that it is an improvement. I think they were used because the house was built in the post-modernist period and any house that is designed to be contemporary to its time (versus a historical recreation) is going to be influenced by the period. No matter what the primary style is. This is why there are light fixtures that are Deco and Colonial Revival at the same time. These two houses were designed by Venturi, Scott-Brown Associates. The house in Stony Creek was designed by Steven Izenour specifically. These are strongly post modernist and the columns here are caricatures, really. The fireplace in the Stony Creek house is a single fat column. Anyway, the house above took period influences. In Architectural Record there is a discussion of the removal of the "columns" on one side of the Stony Creek house. It improves the view but it also strongly dilutes the façade. And the cathedral-tray:

Bestyears, thanks for posting the BW interview. I found her apartment interesting, I no longer care for so much stuff/layering, but found her place overall would be a pleasant place to visit. But no matter how costly the items I need far fewer in my own home. However, my porch windows have finally been installed, and in the Spring after the trim is painted white to match the windows, I'll get the curtains up that I fell in love with that have been waiting, new in their packages for 7 years...a soft sage-y green, natural and white muted cabbage-y rose print, not at all a shiny chintz material but a similarly dated look. I still really like the print and hope I still love them when installed because, well, you know....