porportable queen bed rolling out from dresser

Have you considered turning that part of the wall across from the bed between bedroom and the ?patio? outside the living room into some kind of a window wall -- perhaps creating a garden bay window area with a glass roof : http://www.renaissance-online.com/photosCloserLook2.asp?iCategoryID=5&iPageNo=3 Check for windows weather rated in your area or at least be sure you choose double pane glass. If excess heat/cold might be a problem, you could build it to enable you to close it off with bi-fold doors as if it is a closet using the same wood finish you use for your window trim. Creating a niche with a comfortable window seat would be a plus.

I cannot find a foldable one, I don't have space for a non-foldable one such as this. A tray would be more than enough it would just sit on our lap. We are using a piece of plywood on our laps now, it works fin but I would have liked something that looks nicer.

If I use gravel boards (treated 6in x 1inch planks), typically used at the base of closeboard fencing, they last around 10 years. Scaffold boards or joisting timber would last longer but I usually do a cost/benefit analysis and was already 'in the trade'. I would, very much like a fully raised table-top growing set-up for my strawberries...ground level gardening was a total bust for me, this year as I found the mollusc numbers to be uncontrollable...but I feel that a fully raised bed will definitely offer a bit more protection, especially if I am vigilant (and I bloody well am!). Of course, this has to be weighed against the extra irrigation needs - tricky with hosepipe bans (which I mostly ignore unless the city was experiencing anything remotely drought-like). Having a metalworker in the family is useful too (I have some beautiful arches and trellis configurations...and the new fruit cage is almost built)...so I am hoping for a long metal cradle, I can line with either a permanent wooden trough or fabric 'hammock' type containers for the strawberries. Have removed all the other currants apart from a coupla blackcurrants and buffalo currant. I had been giving up more and more space to ornamentals...and after the absolute wash-out of this years grow season (the worst in over 25 years...by a huge factor), I am only keeping the moveable potato beds and growing some greenhouse vegetables over the summer. The only in-ground edibles will be herbs (as most grow well for me, requiring little attention and nearly always enhancing my dodgy cooking. Like laundry, if only vegetable growing was as simple as popping a wash in the machine/seeds in the ground...but nope...this is just the beginning of an endless list of chores, all of which must be performed to a deadline and all of which take 10x more time and effort than the initial hopeful tasks. And, with just a moment's inattention/negligence, the whole edifice collapses into a chaos of unpicked vegetables/tottering piles of clothes which end up on the 'floordrobe' Now, at the end of the season, is a much better time to make decisions, mxk3...when practical reality tempers the wild optimism of spring. Are you decided on what you are aiming for next year?