I've read a lot of the posts, and as a BUYER of cut flowers, I thought I'd put forth an idea, several ideas, really. It's awfully long, but I was on a roll. ggg Note: The trouble with writing this is that I keep saying, "you need to" or "you should" when I mean, "one could" or even, "possibly this would be of interest to you" -- that's not how it came out, but that's how I mean it, ok? Instead of selling from your subdivision driveway, why don't you think about starting at an antique store? With online auctions, some antique stores that are not located in antique malls are really in sad shape in a lot of places. Look for one with a lot of glassware - i.e. vases and vessels to use as vases. You don't want the one with the $20,000 mahogany breakfronts! Make them a creative offer. I don't know your business, but I would guess you have some artistic bend...am I right? You may have to inflate it a bit when you talk to the proprietor, but why not offer them a class for their customors in "Shabby Chic flower arranging". The benefit to the store owner is they would get more traffic because you'd be advertising the event and it would be a special event they could advertise. You could also use their wares for your demonstrations. And you could really do some cool stuff, I imagine, and possibly sell the finished products, your flowers & the vase. There are a million ways to do this. Seems like using 'Shabby Chic' would draw in a certain type of person who would prefer an informal arrangement,,,but if you change the antique store to a different kind of antique store -- say one that has more of a country feel, you change your class to "Cottage Flower arranging". Or say one who sells antiques with a few reproductions and also more expensive antiques, it would change to "Williamsburg flower arranging" It doens't make any difference - LOL! The REAL object of the game is to find a store owner you love and who loves you. I'm thinking you could set up a sort of French open air market in front of their store on nice days -- using those french floral buckets on a wheeled stand. Maybe they would actually SELL your flowers for you. Or buy your flowers to sell themselves. It would have to be a fairly busy place,,,at least with walking traffic. Near ice cream stores, Starbucks, Trader Joe's, that kind of thing. If this is not your style, then think about what is your style ...Gingham? Organic? Healing Crystals? Just find a store, library, art museum, historical center, botanical garden, living history museum, church, whatever, and find your niche to get your name and product out where people can see you. If you're not opposed to people calling you for flowers or even picking them up from your home, look for public places to hold your flower arranging classes...the public library, public park systems, and the local high schools all have classes, both free and for a fee. You could put something together, talk about your business, talk to people about when and where your flowers will be for sale, have flyers or business cards to hand out..extras for their friends. Offer your specialty -- arranging your flowers in their priceless vessels or possibly doing it at their homes if you're willing. (I realize for some people it's the gardening/farming aspect and for others it's the design element...these are just examples -- just sell what you're good at) Public parks and libraries sounds sort of low-end, so choose municipalities where you think the residents have some extra cash for things like fresh flowers, people to whom $75.00-$100.00 for a flower arrangement is sort of middle of the road figure might be good customers. (and also target places where they don't have room for growing their own... and if not room, per se, then in manicured &/or gated neighborhoods where a lot of blooming flowers would be sort of frowned upon.) Get email addresses wherever you go! Make people sign a sign up sheet for any class you give, any-anything you do, and get those email addys! Then, 5 days before an event, or your sale, or whatever, email them the information. Set up a small website and have a newsletter / event calendar. A lot of people don't know what Agrostemma is, and if you grow it, you need to have a picture up! A way to do this is to tell people it will be ready "in two weeks" or whatever, and if they don't know what it is, say, "Oh, it's gorgeous -- lasts forever in a vase -- you MUST see it. Give me your email addy and I'll send you the picture." Of course, when you email them, just send them the link to your website with the picture on it. AND add the email addy to your list! If you wanted to sell from home, have a set day where people can roll up and get their flowers fresh. Even if it's only the 2nd Saturday of the month, make it EVERY 2nd Sat of the month during the growing season. Print that date on your flyers or business cards and at the bottom of every email and say it in about every third sentence in your classes. Farmer's Markets are fine and dandy, but they look like too much work to me! Sometimes the people working them (around in these parts) rarely smile and don't look like they are having fun at all. They just look hot & tired. I want to have fun choosing my bouquet and admiring their flowers. Ya know what else I'd like? To buy a bouquet and be able to add some super-duper stems to sort of make it my own. So buy a base bouquet and be able to add a variety of stems of my own choosing for extra money. Only 4 different add-on varieties would be enough. Love those giant purple/plum/lilac zinnias. Despise that millet or grass plume stuff. And the floppy faded-red stuff that looks like wilted ragweed. Yuck! LOL! I have more ideas, but I think that's all I'd better write for now! Lime

Our mudroom is also a long and narrow space....5'6" x 16'10". I don't have any definitive inspiration pics to show because I've found I want 'a little bit of this and a little bit of that' in my mind. In my real life with two girls (ages 11 and 13), a messy husband and two large dogs and in reading a ton of information on useful mudrooms I will tell you that I will be designing the following for our family: 1) About 6' worth of hooks and a bench. I'm not saying 'cubbies' because I do NOT want them to be individually divided for each person. My real world experience is that stuff spills over. Not everyone's stuff will fit neatly into 18" of space. I might take up 6" for my small purse, but my sport playing 13 year old will need 24" or more for a school backpack, sports bag, and 4 pairs of shoes. 2) Shoes will rest on the floor. Not on a perfectly painted white shelf that will look disgusting in about 4 days. They will also not be in a basket. We have that system now and shoes are always spilling out of it. Or really never get put in it, but in front of it. A wide open space will at a minimum let my kids and husband simply kick their shoes under the bench to get them out of the walkway. Good enough for me. 3) Individual shelves about the hooks. I'll have baskets here for each person to store their winter hats, gloves, scarves, etc. We live in Texas so this category is small for us. 4) About 24" of a 'drop zone'. - mail sorting section...'To Pay, To Mail, To File, To Sort, School Forms'. - closed cabinet with outlet for a paper shredder and garbage can. - One drawer for frequently used office items....pens, pencils, sharpener, envelopes, tape, scissors, etc.... - upper cabinet for other stuff that I don't want to see. Dog medicine/grooming supplies, key hooks or bowl, flashlights/extra candles and matches, extra batteries, etc. 5) 5-6' feet of 24" deep tall cabinets. I will use this for an overflow pantry. Small and infrequently used appliances, jumbo pack of paper towels, party size drink dispensers, extra step stool, paper plates/cups. All of this will go on one side of the narrow mudroom, leaving 42-48" of walkway. Plenty wide for a pass through assuming things get put where they belong. My mudroom is without a doubt the room I'm most excited about in the whole house. I've never had one with access to the backyard so this will be life changing!

Hi felllow Albertan! My husband is originally from up in rather rural Northern Alberta :) So while I don’t know your land, I can guess as to what you are dealing with in terms of surroundings, climate, what is “normal” for exterior elevations...much often function rules over form with all these considerations. So I love the idea of using the office as a flex space for visitors. We are doing something similar in our two story build, with idea we may ourselves need to sleep in there one day as our master is on second floor. So we also made our “half bath” into a full bath. But it is right across a little hall, disguised from front door and main flow of rest of house. This would involve some rearrangement of stair plan. At least instead move the door to that office to be by stairs than rather right by the front door for a shorter walk. Just something to consider. I’ve lived most of my life in Manitoba (my home province) and Alberta, and there is nothing pleasant about walking by a front door during a Canadian prairie winter in the middle of night to use a washroom! Over time even new front doors get drafty, etc. Plus privacy factor! Plan for the garage now. An attached garage is a lot more complicated than just adding it on side and putting door through wall. It affects roofline, foundation, and in Alberta there are requirements for the barrier between home and attached garage that would need to be considered now (to account for fire risks etc). It will be costly to add on later. Honestly, it would probably be “cheaper” to put attached garage on from start. As unfinished space (just dry walled and taped) it is a lot less than finished space.

Thank you for the advise tj. This is the first time I posted anything, do you know how I can add insect forum?