I respectfully disagree, jterrilynn. I think it takes a lot of creativeness to do a white kitchen well. White is difficult and vague. Online pictures mean nothing when you're standing in your own space. One man's white can look grey or blue or yellow in another man's kitchen, depending on lighting and other factors. In college, I stayed with a well-to-do French family in Paris. I fell in love with their "classic" white cabinets, open shelving and glass front cabs, and white marble counters. It was a small kitchen, not ornate, but it just spoke to me. So that's what I drew my inspiration from in my new kitchen by picking a lot of white. That said, all my friends and family who did their kitchens 2-8 years ago did dark wood cabs with light or dark granite. I think their kitchens look great too! I just need a calm, light & airy feel, especially in a small house. And I do love creamy white like Donaleen. But the trim in the rest of our house is more of a pure white, and since I was merging the spaces I wanted continuity. And yup, gray cars everywhere here. Funny, I was just noticing that a few weeks ago! It would be fun to have some color in our cars, no?

Cornell's All About Birds site has a page about bird baths which has good information. Here's an old thread on GW on What to look for in a bird bath. How to Choose a Birdbath Claire

Sorry about the missing windows in my plans - we left them off because we are undecided about placement. There is one now above the tub that needs to be replaced, and we also want to add one in the toilet area. Chisue, we know moving windows isn't cheap. But given what we expect to spend on this we want to make the space work right. The exterior is siding which is also badly in need of replacement. Everything is 30 years old. Right now the balcony is a wasted space. We need storage not a sitting area, or office/library space. There are 2 other bedrooms - one is on the other side of the master bath - 10 x 12 or so. The other is on the front side of the house and is much larger. On my proposed plan with the angles that everyone seems to hate, the bathroom door,entry door and closet doors were all in the same corner. I thought that was good to allow someone to get ready for work without disturbing the other sleeper. Funny thing is that I keep hearing/reading that angled walls create wasted space, but in this case they seem to work pretty well - a lot better IMO than the floating bed idea with the "hallway" between the bed and closets (which were both drawn on the balcony wall with separate entrances. There may be some wasted space, but it sure seems to make the remaining space more functional.

The most inexpensive device to aid in transgressing a hill would be the step-ramp. Conceptually, it would be a bit like terracing a path. You place curbs (logs/timbers, etc) across a path at intervals allowing you to grade each section of the path at a slightly shallower pitch. Additionally, the switch-back is a serpentine route that allows for climbing the hill more gradually, as opposed to going straight up or down. The combination of these two devices could make getting up or down the hill much easier, without breaking the bank. What you "pave" the path in would be up to your preferences and budget. The cheapest would be shredded wood mulch. Then, whatever "floor" space you create at the top would, again, be subject to your budget and preferences ... just like building a patio. You'd make it a size that suits the needs you want to have fulfilled. It couldl be a graveled area, a wood deck, or something more expensive and permanent if that's what yo want.