juliann i am truly sorry to hear about your bad experience with building your home...that is a stressful enough time without adding something like what you have described to it. On a up note you have a beautiful home and a huge area that you have all the time in the world to make the way you want. I kind of get that the reason you have not checked with a landscape designer may be financial reasons...i mean after all you have sounds like you have alot of money tied up in your home and now seem to be on your own trying to amend things that your builder obviously done horribly. I think this is awful, people work hard for their money and they expect to get quality work when paying the kind of money it takes to build a house. Now on a brighter note you get to add your own touches to this already beautiful home in the way of landscaping. I think grass is a great starter...at least you will feel like your accomplishing something. I would like to see a picture from the edge of the yard up to your house...front pic, to each side and maybe your backyard. I suggest you ask on the tree forum what may be the best tree's for your area unless you have some in mind... you might ask about wide growing shade tree's, ornamentals and maybe ask for pics. You can also go on the arbor day foundation and put in your zone for ideas for tree's for your area...although i would use this only for idea's as i have read that alot of people do not have success with their tree's. But at least it gives you a good idea of what you might like. http://www.arborday.org/index.cfm by the way bradford pear tree's are beautiful but don't last long and stink very badly in spring when blooming...it smells like cat pee! here is a site for the fastest growing tree's for new york...although i would ask questions on the tree forum about each tree i like...for instance how far do they root, as a tree for you close to your septic system may pose a very big problem. http://www.fast-growing-trees.com/NewYorkT.htm tree placement site: http://www.garden-services.com/tree_placement.htm I personally think that staggering some tree's up your long drive may be very inviting...although some may not agree i like the look- to me it says come on in! I hope in someway this helps a little for now :).

Thank you for all of the suggestions. So far for fall delivery I have ordered the following - Magnolia 'Butterflies' Magnolia 'Genie' Magnolia 'Vulcan' Chrysanthemifolia Star Magnolia Chionanthus virginicus Cercis canadensis 'The Rising Sun' Cercis canadensis 'Appalachian Red' Cercis canadensis 'Burgundy Hearts' Cornus kousa 'Blue Shadow' Cornus kousa 'Akatsuki' Syringa reticulate Fagus sylvatica âÂÂRoseo Marginataâ (tricolor beech) Kwanzan flowering cherry Weeping Double Red Flowering Peach Acer palmatum 'Coral Pink' Acer palmatum 'Oregon Sunset' Ginkgo biloba 'Mariken' (a male) Definitely excited! Still keeping an eye out for things that peek my interest. If any of the good mail order nurseries do end of season sales or anything, I would love to know about them! I am also still debating the purple cherry I asked about as I ordered the rosebud Burgundy Hearts which is the color and size I was looking for. Thank you for the suggestions! Also, everything above is mail order and smaller than what I see at nurseries (on purpose for saving reasons). Being in zone 6b and with the property having a windbreak all around, should I be doing anything special for these trees for the winter? I will be planting in October. I have planted shrubs and perennials at that time and been fine through the winter but don't have any experience with trees. Thank you again for all of the help!

I love the hinged top drawer idea! That is exactly why I posted, thanks F2BH. Would you mount the TV on the wall above or just house it on the dresser? Pre-reno the TV was mounted on the wall awaiting a nice stand but never got the chance to get one before we had the "pipe freeze-up" prompting the gut job! So I have all the mounting hardware if I decide on wall mount. Plus it has an adjustable arm since it is in a corner. Thoughts?

Because it is such a large area and the remainder of the room is very neutral I would suggest a gallery wall with perhaps one or two rows of art to the right of the TV, a row or two above the TV and then more art on the left, going down as far as is aesthetically pleasing. You can google TV with gallery wall to see what this might look like. Balance this with art on other walls in the room.