I plan to extend my front slope garden bed which I have posted about before. Kudos where they are due, it was inspired by Susan/Thyme's gorgeous front slope garden. This year, as I was digging it up closer toward the house, I did run into gravel over landscape cloth that I later found out is part of the septic leech field(?). So no shrubs or plants with big roots there. The field stops about halfway lengthwise. I'll plant Benary giant rose-collored zinnia mixed with cosmos for height there. And where it stops, I'll put my red twig dogwood and flowering almond -- the two shrubs I have decided to buy for this spring. I'll tuck in more boxwood for accents of green, and add more purple-leaved heuchera and purple sedum. I had to make a small vertical path up to the house thru this bed for the oil delivery guy. On the other side of this path, I got a big (for me) smoke bush, and planted lots of pale yellow daffodil bulbs that I can't wait to greet this spring. I REALLY want to do a stream of blue crocus twining around this bush and up toward the house -- someone did a great post on this in the fall, does anyone recall it? But alas, it was too late for me, all the crocus bulbs were sold out. Ahh, next year. All this doesn't sound too ambitious, does it? Right now, all my plants are sleeping beneath a big thick blanket of Conn. snow. It's up over my knees in the backyard. At least two feet. It is the perfect time to dream and plan. My only outdoor chores are shoveling and filling the birdfeeder. And another storm on the way this Wed! Enough! So it is GOOD to think about spring. lucia

I agree with adding the column. What is the overall style of your home? In our neighborhood, there are many "vintage open floor plans," circa 1900-1930, and all have columns between the living and dining rooms. I love the combination of connectedness and distinction between the spaces. The square column pictured is in the style of our area homes. But if you have a more modern aesthetic or neighborhood, perhaps do a search on Houzz to see examples of simple and more creative columns. Personally, I really dislike pony walls. They're elbow-catchers, clutter-catchers, etc. I agree they look unfinished, and they are structurally suspect. We have one in my organization's recently-renovated open workspace, and people are forever running into it. The contractor tried to talk our management out of it -- said that it always leads to dissatisfaction because they inevitably get knocked loose (this one's stand-alone, not anchored to a wall). It's not wobbly per se, but it does not inspire architectural confidence. Plus, all us office drones end up leaving piles of files and coffee mugs on it (it's a little higher than bar height, perfect for leaning and chatting and leaving things behind). Good luck and have fun!

I would like to make it clear that the reason I don't have a coffee table is because of lack of space! I have gone for a nest of tables in my small sitting area. I used to have a lovely glass topped one which was given to me when I lived in the UK but I had to leave it behind when I moved back to Australia. I used it for pot plants and put it where it would catch the sun,,,so still no books on it! Woodnymph, you could be right about the glue. The worst dog damage I had was when one of my deerhounds decided to tear open a couch to make a nest of the filling to give birth!

Mariannese's comment is EXACTLY what the concept of my post (well, actually the WashPost blogger's post) is meant to imply. Not a book for someone who has never read a book, by his or her own choice. But a book that has moved you to some great extent -- whether by teaching you a lesson of compassion or love or understanding, or encouraging you to follow a dream, or simply by transporting you to a different world that you would probably never have the opportunity to experience. The kind of book that you know you always want on your bookshelf to reread over and over again -- one that you must own. And for a child, the ownership factor can mean a great deal, esp if that child comes from a poor (financially speaking) family. (The first book, for a child, that I thought of was Dr. Seuess's "Sneetches.")