I have no first-hand knowledge of the bubble-wraps; I hope someone who has had a chance to compare these will have some advice for you. In the meantime, the Charlie's Greenhouse catalog claims their bubble insulation is superior to bubble packing material and seems to run about 25 cents/square foot compared to your 20-cent/square foot material above. (Of course, there's also shipping.) You can check their website, www.charleysgreenhouse.com for details. There are several other suppliers, Farmtek is one, can't think of the others just now. BTW, my solar pool cover is a clear one, so doesn't interfere terribly with light transmission. In addition to flowering plants, I grew lettuces/mixed greens and herbs through winter without auxiliary lighting, even the cherry tomato produced lightly. I realize, however, that you are considerably farther north, so have correspondingly shorter daylight hours. Good luck this winter! I trust you'll have a very enjoyable time. Di

I would suggest a good anchor plant. I loooove hydrangeas, be careful to the light needs, everyone is different! Honestly my approach is to buy what ever i like, i have a spot for it all!!! I love anything thatll attract bees and hummers, or butterflys too. What do you like? what colors are pleasing to you? Thats how i do it!

Thanks for the encouragement! Sochi, I think you're right, that is the quintessential french light fixture isn't it? I tried to mix it up a little with the different pendants over the island, but I do really like the shape of that chandelier. I'm really looking forward to the rustic modern. A lot of the homes close the ski resorts near my home would really do well with rustic modern interiors. I can't wait to see the great ideas.

Hello cpartist, here are the elevations which have the deck running on the two sides of the house. I was also digging through the plans this morning and found a spec note from the Architect about the Deck Coating & Waterproofing Deck coating: Liquid applied elastomeric two part urethane traffic bearing surface. Install per manufacturers specification. Minimum 60 mils multi-coat DFT, finish with walnut shell non-slip aggregate. Finish embedded aggregate with aliphatic polyurethane topcoat. 24 gage GSM perimeter flashing, saddle flashing provided and installed by deck coating subcontractor. Prime flashing, center spun polyester flashing fabric over joints. Vulkem 350NF/351NF or GacoFlex U66. There is definitely going to be waterproofing done but the top finish coat(material) is what i was going after. From the note above, it appears to be 'Aliphatic Polyurethane'. I am not sure I've ever heard about this product before. I wish I could see an example of this on the internet somewhere. @jannicone, yes, this is definitely sloped and will be water managed.