I left mine last year. I had just redone my entire front yard, had spread the last bag of mulch and the next day, my DH came to me and said "what would you think about moving to Saint Louis?" @@ I was heartbroken. Lived in the area my entire life. Family, friends, and now my roses too? :( I gave a few of my containers away to friends with love notes written in sharpie. I ran out of time to take a cutting from my favorite climber, and I still regret that. Moving from a happy gardening place to what felt like the 7th level of hell in August didn't help any. Having my first long winter that didn't include gardening, didn't help any. Losing four zones of planting possibilities, didn't help any...Buying a lot of books and learning about my new zone and getting ideas as to what I wanted to do, did help some. What did I get that was positive? A lot more space to garden in which was a first. The excitement of seeing things come up in the spring that belonged to the previous owner without having a clue at first as to what they are and mostly being happily surprised. Learning about an entirely new style of gardening...And yes, also learning from my mistakes in texture and color from my first attempts. Really getting the point of imagining a mature plant, not being taken in by sales of small plants. Not overdoing particular colors... Went back on vacation this spring and saw my old front yard. They hadn't killed anything, but damn that stuff needed pruning! LOL I told DH "that place would look really nice if they GAVE IT A HAIRCUT!" One good thing about an apathetic gardener is that they're less likely to do something criminal like rip out that 13 year old wisteria over the back pergola. Seeing it look similiar but scruffy made me feel better about it all. If I had it to do over again, I would have physically worked faster to get involved in my new gardening space immediately, beyond just the boxes. Having lots of stuff come up in the spring that was MINE, would have helped me more. I did do some bulbs, and had I not done that, I would have still felt like it wasn't 'my place' at all...I would have brought some plants with me that were MINE too. A handful of my old friends would have helped with the homesickness. Btw, regarding selling and taking plants, et al: The prospective buyer wanted ALL of my stuff. But when it came to containers, I made sure that immediately the point was made through my agent that the container roses were NOT staying. Included in this were plants that my children had planted which were going to their grandmother. I did not change the 'landscaping'. This was a good compromise and it worked fine. What might help with this is when showing the house, put some small signs on the items that are 'going' so that there is no misunderstanding, right from the get go. And if there are any plants that would be physically removed from the landscaping that this part would be in writing so that nothing comes back on you. I do not think that one needs to take an entire garden or even large parts of it unless the new owner doesn't care at all about it. I think that when we live in a house and create a beautiful space, that stuff belongs to the space. It's like the house numbers that we purchased on our honeymoon. They belonged to the house, kwim? And it's a charming thing to tell a new owner "I bought those on the Island of Capri"...and when she sells, she can pass on the trivia...a legacy of this home for others in the future. Leaving a garden behind does bring with it homesickness. But there is also the excitement of doing something completely new. I do have some 'homey touches'. In my old place, I had massive MW geranium plantings. I foudn two of them here and planted them in containers on my back porch. On our vacation, I brought home some CA poppies in my tote bag (now THAT was an effort with all of the kid junk I had with me to not kill them). They're thriving in the heat here! I also ordered and planted some bareroots, my children's favorites. Add that to new things and it's starting to feel like home in my flower beds. So jump in with both feet and get something going when you first move, that's my best advice. Make your mark on the gardens, even if it's not about implementing a full plan. You can always change your mind later. That's one of the great things about gardens. Good luck with your move and your patience in reading this. Obviously you struck a nerve.

No, kirkhall is right -- I messed up. I was so focused on the main living quarters that I forgot to throw a few of the extras into the mix. There is also a powder, pantry, entrance hall and stairwell on that main floor, but yes, 800 sq feet for covered decks and balconies beyond the open air basement. Sorry about that! AnnieDeighnaugh, thanks for the tip. I'll head over to the smaller homes forum and have a look around before posting. Maybe someone will have posted a floor plan that will calm my nerves. I have read and enjoyed Sarah Susanka's books; I'll have to pull them out again and reread. Kirkhall, we don't have a floorplan yet, just some basic concept sketches showing the footprint and possible room interactions. Right now, the kitchen lies across one end of the great room, so would live in a space that measured 20 x maybe 12 feet (the 20 feet is based on external measurements, so actually less than that. We've been looking at small but clever kitchen designs to see how we can manage the space more creatively. As for closet space, no, we don't really need a coat closet -- just a "pool and beach closet" for toys and boogie boards. ;) That would be on the ground level. We don't actually have a great amount of clothing since the weather is pretty much the same here all year long. Ski stuff and clothes for traveling to the "real world" could easily be stored downstairs in a closet designed for that purpose -- good idea. I do think we would need a "master suite" with its own bath and a reasonable closet for resale, unless we can design something extremely cool! This post was edited by caymaiden on Fri, Mar 8, 13 at 13:37

I like timeless tile schemes also, like your all white...and have learned from experience and too much analyzation of inspiration images that texture and layers trump color for impact. Break your white up by using shadow as a color- variences in tile depth when trim pieces are added (chair rails, bullnose, baseboards...) break up the flatness of simple field tile. Adding a horizontal line with trim at a traditional or non-traditional height and/or changing the direction of the subway for some portion of the room- breaks it up and keeps your options open for adding color to less perminant layers in the room. Also, you're right on about adding a bit of color between the floor and walls- I don't think matching wall base tile to the floor border tile is the best solution...keep the plane-change-line sharp. If you use small hex for the floor, consider a contrast by inserting a grey hex every 1/2 foot or so (the wide-spread polka dot effect will open the area too)or add the grey hex as a 3-4" solid or checked floor border around the entire room. Since there will be little color contrast on the walls, a contrast where floor meets wall is warming because it grounds the room. This is fun, huh? kat

We are adding a bath and went for a larger version of this floating vanity - ours isn't installed yet, but I really like the idea of making it easier to clean the floors (and that's a good idea if you're hoping to age in place!). You do need extra support, so it's worth being sure of that before choosing a floating vanity. I like the look of a floating vanity - the Ikea Godmorgon would be fine with me except that neither is this a DIY job nor is there an Ikea store anywhere near here. A truly floating vanity may not be feasible anyway, because the plumbing runs down through the floor. On the other hand,the pipes are close to the wall, and because the room is so small, a box enclosing them would not be visible (nor would the pipes themselves, I realize). it will bum you out if you redo your bathroom and sell your house only to find they've ripped out your new bathroom to do what they want with it I would probably never know! The seller of this house and I never met, and if I were to sell the house within just a few years it would be to move out of the area. In practical terms houses in the immediate neighborhood go to first-time buyers who are financially stretched and can't afford to make any large changes for a while. While I love the idea of putting in a retro bathroom I might feel differently if there were anything original to work with beyond the door and window frames, and if the flowering of mid-century design had reached bathrooms by 1951. I have some pictures of original mid-century bathrooms that I like, but they are all from houses built about a decade later. Some of the design elements in them have now come to be considered fresh and new. Thanks for your comments.