Patty_cakes, I debated doing the trim in black, but instead went with a nice clean glossy white. I do love black though, so I painted my staircase and foyer in the black and I absolutely love it! I'm leaning towards the idea of painting the bedroom and sitting room furniture black (with crystal knobs..for a little "bling") I adore taupe, and I could easily have painted my whole house in taupe but I am trying to break out of my "taupe shell". I'm halfway through painting the sitting room right now (dark sagey green) and at first I thought it was too dark, but now I'm feeling all cozy in here..and the white trim makes the green pop. I need to find a fabric or drapes for the windows...and definitely need new accessories. My kitchen looks like the Cracker Barrel decorator threw up in there, but it's appropriate for a farm house kitchen and everyone that comes in loves it. I really do want a warm cozy feel for the sitting room and bedroom..but I also want it fresh..maybe not so down-home country (definitely no roosters! lol!) I want to break out of my rut a little...but still stay in my comfort zone also so as not to have the rooms look like they belong in someone else's house! Oh the decisions to make..LOL! If anyone has any suggestions for fabric or drapes for dark sage green walls, that will also maybe bring in blues, reds and golds please share with me, it also needs to go well with bright white trim and black furniture, please share with me!

Sorry guys - we went on a camping trip for the week. It was SOOO nice to be away from cell phones, texting and drama for a while! So lets see . . . SD and I have deep talks about boys, sex, responsibility, pressure, priorities - you name it - ALL the time! It's pretty much a nightly standard - we both look forward to it. It's difficult though - she knows all the 'right' things and can talk and agree with me on all the 'right' things, but when it comes down to it I don't really believe that she will do the 'right' things. The 'wrong' things can be so much more fun and so much more in sync with what everyone else is doing, and at the end of the day I don't know that all my talking and explaining will keep her from going down the path of her mom. I guess this is a standard concern every parent has, but it's so much more in my face because of her mom's example. With regard to SD's sister - yes, we are very worried. We're trying to come up with a way to alert her father as to what is happening without throwing SD under the bus at the same time. More to hopefully come on that. Yes, SD is there for a week at a time for summer break. She is already talking about not wanting to be there for extended weekends once school starts, but mom isn't so thrilled about that. We could attempt to go back to court for it, but I'm hoping once BM gets tired of the driving and SD's complaining things will work out that way naturally. SOOOO - fast forward to today. DH and I met with BM to talk about SD's abundance of time with her (SD's) boyfriend and share our concerns about things we've learned/noticed about him. That part went okay - BM didn't really 'get it' until we started talking, but I think we made our points. Then DH broached BM's dating and pulling SD (and her sister) into it so early on. BM totally doesn't get it. She thought it would be best to let SD decide when she wanted to meet the new men. DH said no - this isn't a choice for her to make. It's not safe, it's not setting a good example. etc. I explained further than SD will look to her mom on dating since I am not, so we want to make sure she has a good picture of appropriate for age 14 dating. BM kind of laughed that she could be the what not to do role model, and I replied maybe SD doesn't need to meet all the 'misses' and just meet the 'hit' when you KNOW that he is - then she wouldn't have an idea that BM was doing something 'not to do.' BM thoughtfully seemed to agree with that. OH - I forgot to mention. Since last Monday - 7 days ago - BM dumped the guy from the weekend, met a new guy online and has seen him three times already - already took her other daughter to the zoo with his kids. Her theory, as she told us, is that her daughters are her world so she wants a potential BF to meet them right away. GOOD FREAKIN' GRIEF - seriously?? How about sheltering them from your need to get your hump on? Though the talk ended on a good note, she was understandably a bit put off. It wasn't easy to bring up her dating life, and we treaded very lightly. What left DH and I shaking our heads is how clueless and self centered she is . . . and the fact that she will NEVER see that. Just to listen to her is mind blowing. Me Me ME! I guess I feel a little better, but I know BM won't change. At least now we can tell a judge we tried if it comes to it. I just worry every day about what SD will pick up from her, and what I don't even know about that I can't counter-attack. Teen age girls are hard enough - teen age girls with a suddenly trampy, self centered mom are hell!! :)

Your weeds are out of control - welcome to the club. This happens to ALL of us at one point, sometimes many points. First, don't move anything you want to keep right now - we are coming to the hottest part of the year, which is not a good time for transplanting. Second, triage what you've got. If the front is most important, spend what time you've got there. Start weeding! Pull out the weed(s) and either compost them, if you have room for a bin, or put them in the garbage. It looks like you mulched the front, so after you weed, put more mulch down - you need at least a couple of inches to make a difference with the weeds. For the hosta bed, weed there, and put in an edge of some kind to keep the grass out; it should go down a couple of inches, as grass roots will spread. That applies to all the beds - metal edging, landscape timbers, something like that - where the beds meet grass. For the former shrub bed, if all that's there is weeds, then just mow it until you have time to deal with it, or think about it. Same goes for the part you plan to expand into next year. If you have the time, pitchfork it over, pull out the worst weeds, and cover it thickly with newspaper, and mulch on top of that - that smothering will work on most annual weeds, and you'll have easier digging when you're ready. I can't see the particular weeds closely enough to identify; if there is something that is giving you fits, post a closer picture of it here and you will get help. You have the bones of a nice garden shaping up there. Maintenance is a pain in the neck, but is part of gardening, I'm afraid. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

I loooove those beams. They don't seem oppressive at all to me. And, no, I wouldn't paint them. What does look odd to me, though, is that only half the room has beams. The other half has a modern-looking ceiling. Someone would need to be more creative than I on this, but I think it would help to coordinate the halves of the room. Something that bothers me more than almost anything, and it's so easy to fix..... The furniture arrangement. It looks like you're all set up to watch a hockey game in the middle of the room. Instead, optimal would be a set up where it looks like 5 people can be there and have a good conversation with each other. This guides the furniture layout, even if you don't frequently have 5 people conversing . Where would you want people to sit, so you could all have a good friendly chat? IMO the space needs a big rug, a coffee table, some side tables, and some lamps. With a good rug, I'm not sure you'd even need to do the floors!