Have you made a scale drawing of your property? The suggestion to make lists of the plants you have is a good one. If you know how to use Excel, you can do it on a spreadsheet, making it easy to sort by light requirements or height. Note the plants' ultimate size as well, to use in placing them on your plan. Once you have a drawing, you can pencil in the evergreens you have on hand, using near-mature sizes, to see how they might fit your lot. Maybe you could use the Leylands as a fast growing screen and remove them when some of the other, smaller ones, fill in a bit. They can also be trimmed into a hedge if you like. Group them together in one "bed" so that you don't have to mow or trim around individual trees. Staggering the placement a bit, rather than using a straight line, will give you a more relaxed look. Once you have your privacy screen planned on paper, you can decide where you want to put beds for the rest of the shrubs and flowers. They should be sited and placed for easy mowing, as well as for viewing from your living area. You may be able to incorporate them into the same beds as the screening plants, using them as a backdrop, if they won't block the sun. Beds will need trimming to keep the edge neat, and the lawn grass will try to creep into it, so you may want to think about some kind of physical barrier-type edging. A holding bed is always useful, especially for single plants. You can let them grow for a season or two until they're large enough to divide and plant in a larger clump in the beds. If you have multiples, or don't want a holding bed, go ahead and plant them in one bed and remove some to additional beds next year as they increase in size. Perennial and mixed borders are for tinkering, IMO, so plan on moving things around a lot as you discover that one is taller than expected, or another doesn't do well or you don't care for it, or whatever.

Lucky Joe: Yes, itâÂÂs a âÂÂhackâ fix for a custom kitchen. You can add a filler to the right corner of the base cabinet but that will likely cause far more problems. TheyâÂÂll need to remove the granite and all base cabinets to the right. To add the 2.5â or even a 1â filler will need to come off somewhere or the granite top may be too small. They may break the granite while removing it. Without seeing the layout, itâÂÂs hard to recommend the best answer. One option is narrowing the sink base cabinet openings (equal on both sides) on both top and bottom by adding to the inside of the stiles. Depending on the hardware and overlay, if done well, it will look balanced, nobody will see the fix unless you open the door and/or tray. The sink base gets a lot of wear and tear so if this fix is done poorly, it will look bad and give you headaches forever. If the door overlay isnâÂÂt wide enough and the fix is done poorly, it will be an eyesore. They will need to order smaller sink front tray door(s) and smaller base door(s) but itâÂÂs much easier, cheaper and doesnâÂÂt create all the problems of removing and reinstalling everything. They may even have enough scrap material to widen the stiles which is good for color match. Adding to the stiles behind the tray fronts isnâÂÂt a stress point so as long as it was glued and clamped, it isn't bad. If it was only tacked in with trim nails, it will loosen over time. For the lower cabinet doors, they need to glue and screw the stile extensions (or better) as the use of the door will loosen the extension unless rock solid. Depending on the hardware, they should be able to hide the screws behind the hinges. Even for custom cabinets, a good carpenter can make this fix. The headache is the time to order the cabinet doors and stile extension pieces, and making sure the color and finish is a good match. Good luck,

Yep, Tom Wolfe may have given the best description of Edward Durell Stone: "...The moment the New Delhi embassy was unveiled, Stone was dropped like an embezzler by le monde of fashionable architecture, which is to say, the university-based world of the European compounds. Gold here and luxurious there and marbled and curvilinear everywhere […] How very bour— No it was bourgeois ne plus ultra. There was no way that even Mies himself, master of the bronze wide-flange beam, could have argued his way out of a production like this one. What made it more galling was that Stone didn’t even try. He kissed off the International Style..." Mebbe don't go there...

High gloss will INTENSIFY the look you are seeing. The only way I can explain it is low-gloss is like opening your eyes underwater. High gloss is like wearing goggles while doing the same. The CLARITY of the gloss level will intensify what you are seeing. Most of the work is absolutely STUNNING. I agree the white is a bit more intrusive that most people would want...but that is a stained concrete floor. Things get "organic" very quickly. Sadly, your inspiration photo is showing "white" concrete. That is very different from "natural". The 'natural' look of concrete that your contractor created is different from your definition of "natural". The movement you are seeing in your photo is actually the look of shadows on a white concrete floor. I'm sorry but the contractor needs to be paid. I know. That's not something that is nice to hear but the contract clearly states that payment is owing regardless of how you feel about the finish. The "oopsas" created by the foot prints are to be corrected at no extra cost. The colour is not. If you were to attempt this again, you will need to look at white concrete...not "natural".