When I had my sliding glass doors put in, I refused to get vertical blinds. I saw the sliding panel systems but they were expensive so I looked closely at how they worked and made my own out of canvas drop cloths. I found a double traverse curtain rod on sale at Lowes and bought a reel of ball chain at the hobby store, to connect the panels. Each panel slides behind the next and when closed, they look like the picture like below. When open, mine slide all the way to the right (or half way or whatever I choose). I'm going to paint a design on them but haven't gotten around to it yet. Much better than those vinyl vertical blinds! I haven't sewn in years, so I just used no sew tape for all of the edges.

Yes I remember I tried to reply but it kept saying houzz was going under some maintenance and I wasn’t getting other answers so I started a new one with a different question (I didn’t ignore what you said) also classic gray isn’t so gray though....it’s more of an off white i hear. I put a sample of a color with a yellow/Beige hue and it just didn’t look right either so I think I might have to go somewhere in between. And I have a few ceiling lights with a fanlight. The issue is in the day not at night. I don’t want to turn on those lights during the day at all. I want to work with natural light. Thank you though.

Reality check - If all you did was cut down the small trees and shrubs that were there, you will want to keep it frequently mowed for a couple seasons at least. Otherwise, everything that you cut back will just resprout from the roots. In the meantime, watch the sun and shade in the areas where you want veggies and perhaps set up poles of different sizes in different locations along the driveway area so you can determine the height of the plants that will work there without casting too much shade during the growing season. Depending on where you are, there may be a lot of variability in sun angles as the season progresses, so you will want to check at least once a week for one whole growing season. You say you want natives, but that you cut down what was there initially. Do you know what was there, as in did you get it IDed? For instance you mention hazelnuts, which to my eyes are just shrubby looking. They grow along my woodland edges and I didn’t remove them because they are site appropriate and provide food to wildlife, but they surely are not ornamental (a suckering mound of tangled greenery) and I have never harvested a nut because any that form are harvested by critters first. On my property there are various categories of ornamentals: - natives that provide flowers or fall color or a nice winter presence and so have ornamental value - natives that provide value for wildlife, but aren’t necessarily visually interesting - non-natives that are ornamental and provide some wildlife value such as flowers that attract pollinators - nonnative invasives. So you want to consider your goals for the space (do you really want to do yoga next to the driveway? Do you want flowers or wildlife or ...?), consider maintenance (once the initial woody stuff is mowed often enough so that it dies back due to not having enough leaves to survive), and then start looking at spacing and what plants should be used. Look at websites, books from the bookstore or public library or magazines to get ideas for what appeals to you and would be within your skill set. This may not be the advice you were looking for and I don’t want to discourage you, but planning and planting a large space like this isn’t a one and done activity. It can be overwhelming, so take it in steps. Perhaps this summer plan to get the veggie garden placed and started, and work on maintenance of the edges of the drive. Next season continue the veggies and maintenance, but also start planning for early fall plantings of your mixed shrubs and meadow. You will need to have access to a brush mower of some kind to mow your meadow once or twice a year (I have a tractor with a brush hog but there are smaller machines) because you live in an area where if a field is left unmowed it becomes forest in a surprisingly short time. Let us know how it goes. I love it when folks come back with progress reports.

I also think people are growing up thinking of only online, inexpensive furniture and don’t once much value on it. Of course I understand the concerns that young children will trash it, so are afraid to buy good pieces. Not really sure of that though since that would apply to every single item, plus people are choosing a lot of pale neutrals that show stains& dirt. Many don’t have color confidence, or décor confidence. Also perfectly understandable, except, where did these skills come from in the “ olden days”? Well, maybe didn’t exist so much because a lot of the nostalgic decor was ho- hum also. But to the point on custom upholstery — many people can choose from at least a range. But also, could have custom- made SOMETHING to add personality or the ever- sought- after “ pop”, or could search from other vendors & catalogs online to get something that adds more personality , but just don’t. It’s budget to some extent but not completely since people may spending a lot on other things. I already said this elsewhere, but I was really struck by Sarah Richardson’s use of so much custom upholstery, including pillows & ottomans. The result was the ability to control the color palette plus some patterns while getting the other qualities needed in the furniture. So, no worries about wrong combos of too warm, too cool, too drab. The point is not to go the whole 9 yards into expensive custom fabrics ( haha) and labor, but that it can be hard to put together even a good neutral color scheme if you only use a few quick ship/ discount store items, especially if you add comfort, size/ shape etc. So being willing to pay for a few custom pillows or small items would could really make a difference. Or vice versa, invest in a beautiful sofa or chair that lends itself to simpler easy to match items.