Well, we live in a mid-19th c farmhouse with most of its original details intact, so I am somewhat constrained by that. I want a plain, workman-like space for the kitchen essentials, with nothing pretending to be something it isn't. (No faux wear marks or fly-specking details on my cabs for instance - at least none applied at the factory; we're not talking about what will happen naturally if someone leaves the doggone screen door open again! For those I've got my Spic 'n Span bucket ready.) I know this sounds drab and dull, but that's not the case since I have details like 14" tall skirting boards with deeply curved moldings; an open staircase with a second-floor gallery and the underlying (also rigid) balance and symmetry of a full-on Greek Revival building. With such strong elements never out of the picture, I have just had to learn to get out of the way. Since almost all our stuff is passed down from our families, (some period antiques and but mostly just old pieces, approaching legal antique status of their own, but not period, IYKWIM) my "style" of decorating is pretty much "what we found in the attic", combined, now, with what we've inherited from our parents. I can't really imagine what it is like to choose to decorate in a defined "style" or go out intending to purchase stuff to go with a particular style. When I read or see pictures here of what people are working on, I often wonder how you ever decided which one to choose. Seems like a lot of energy is expended working out those details. I just concentrate on 1) What do I need to make this room work for how we want to use it? 2) What do I have that will do the job? 3)(If I have more than one option for #2) Which piece looks best (mostly scale) with the other stuff in the room? 4) What can I/do I have to do with it (or to it) to spiff it up enough so make it presentable, if necessary? (If I can't find a suitable piece for some use, then we usually do without until a solution appears.) In general I find that my old stuff tends to look well with my other old stuff, providing the scale of the piece is right, particularly in the context of it all being old stuff, in an old house. And to some degree, after attending to comfort and practicality/feasability and cleanliness (which can include cleaning up a wood finish or redoing upholstery), I really don't care to do more. The only place where I can fall in with the forum's decorating mania, is color. That really lights my fire! I can spend weeks and months thinking about, testing and generally feeding the decorating part of my brain while contemplating which color to put on my walls. L

There is an HR. And several women talk about going to HR on a regular basis, but mostly how they are treated by two women higher up in seniority (and perhaps rank to some extent). There were three women at the top seniority wise, the current department head and two others who had been department head at one time. (it is supposed to rotate between people). Two of the women have hated each other for 20+ years and the third woman has always really been the puppet of one of them. One of the really negative angry ones in the 20 year standoff finally retired, and currently the other is on sabbatical. But the current department head (3rd person) feels a bit vulnerable I think because the one who just steamrollered over everything is on sabbatical. Honestly I feel as a male, I kind of get through all of this unscathed because I don't get involved in the interpersonal dramas. But there are a couple bullies at the top, to some extent, it's clear who they like and don't like; it's clear which students they like and don't like--it's just not very professional. But really... I can't imagine going to HR over this in my case. What am I supposed to say? "They give me repeated, unsolicited advice about my haircut, my facial hair, my weight and some of my clothing". I just don't know what good it would do. Believe it or not I have a relatively good working relationship with everybody there and a somewhat friendly work relationship with some of them. I felt one great relief when the one angry woman retired and another great relief when the other went on sabbatical. And yet, they were really two of the people who never said anything like the above to me. They were professional in that respect. They were just difficult to work with because they were always right, always the best at everything and uniformly condescending to the students. Most of the women who have said the stuff to me are generally fairly nice people all things considered. Not always to each other. So I don't think going to HR and tattling about the running commentary would do anything to improve relations with anybody. This is a blip on my radar, really. But despite the fact that it doesn't really bother me much (these are not the types of comments I actually mull over, believe me)...I just can't help noticing that there is a gender-biased double standard ( albeit probably one of the few against males, really ). We are trained to say absolutely nothing personal about women coworkers and to tread very carefully with questions or comments about race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, transgender status, appearance etc. of our patients. But I bet if I went to HR about the "unsolicited advice" and commentary it would be treated as trivial...and maybe it is. Maybe we've become ultra-sensitized to take offence at the most offhand comment. I know some people whose favorite pastime seems to be dissecting everything that was said as to real meaning, ulterior motive etc. and so forth and finding something to be offended about.

Elmer, you said, "...times have changed and I suspect views and practices of the modern day aren't what you assume them to be." I don't live in a cave, Elmer! I'm not assuming anything! I know my DD and DS still call the parents of their friends and my friends Mr & Mrs. My daughter uses a dear friend of mine as her broker - she's known him all her life and she still calls him Mr. I have not lived in Los Angeles in over 34 years, but when I did, I never heard a child in my neighborhood or at my church, call an adult by his first name. And my CA friend's children still call me Mrs... I know what my children's grown friends on Martha's Vineyard call me and what my children call their parents. NEVER by a first name! My DGS informs me that only one of his professors at his Ivy has suggested that his students call him by his first name; he's quite young. All the rest are Professor.... One of the professors there is his godfather and he calls him Uncle Professor... and he loves it! He was a groomsman in my DD's and DSIL's wedding - he had been their professor - and they still call him Professor...and he has never suggested that this change. Elmer, I could care less where you've lived and worked. Clearly we move in very different circles, I would suggest that you not assume you know the social norms in mine. I do know them. The use of honorifics has nothing to do with being stuffy or not being casual; it's a sign of respect. We could use a bit more of that these days.

> @joseph_corlett Depends upon what part of the country you're in also. Do you get hurricanes? West Coast -- no hurricanes. Just forest fires. > @User. You're going to need an engineered curtain wall assembly to do that justice. We probably won't do any curtains at all. Our backyard when it's finished will be totally private. > @lkbum_gw I'd aslo reccomend contacting a local glass company, one that does commercial installations. Google "commercial glass" for your area. Ooo. That is an idea. I will do that! > @palimpsest One way I am thinking of getting a more open look back is to reduce the number of divisions I am giving that some thought too. Ours isn't too bad from a divisions perspective, but even fewer would be even better. > @dan1888 Thank you so much for linking me to specific product lines. That is REALLY helpful. I will definitely thoroughly look through all of them this week. > @Shasta We considered replacing the sliding glass doors but were able to repair them by replacing the rollers and adjusting them so we just replaced the glass in them too. Who did the repair on your sliding glass doors? Was it the same people who replaced the glass, or are there companies who specialize in sliding door repair? If so, what is that specialty called? Because that would definitely be of GREAT interest. If someone could make these glide smoothly and quit leaking, that would solve everything.