Thank you Deanna! The thing that surprised me the most, was that all those gorgeous plants were already there when I moved in, but I just couldn't see them through the weeds and overgrowth. Like finding a hidden treasure. :) Thank you Rita! Thank you Christin! That patio set was such a lucky find...$35 on craigslist. I love sharing pictures.. seeing them through someone else's eyes is like discovering them all over again . :) thank you. Thank you Flora! I had not even thought about annual vines, like sweet pea, but that might just be perfect! I think I 'll be able to take care of them more easily than perennial ones. I do have one clematis vine against the house that's just beautiful. And it has its own trellis, so it's fairly easy to maintain. The trickiest part is remembering to trim it back before everything freezes! Thanks for the info, min! Could you help me find those posts about shrinking my lawn? I tried searching for them on the CA forum, but didn't see them. I'd LOVE to shrink back all that grass! Any ideas on user - friendly annual vines? Or where I could find some pictures for inspiration? Thanks! Betty

sheesharee - thanks! Now here is the long story about the curtain rods: The lady who made my drapes took me to a place called Nassau Windows in Paramus, NJ. They had beautiful rods, expensive with a capital E, but way beyond my budget. Of course, she showed me those first and then took me to the back where they had similar looking ones for a fraction of the cost. The finishes, although limited, were rich looking. The FR ones are the faux tortoise. I went with french gold in the rest of the house. The rods are twisted and very heavy. I believe everything is wood. I had so many windows that I needed rods for that I bought out everything they had and had to special order more. While I was waiting for the special order to come in, I googled the brand name of the rods and somehow I found out that Linens N things sells them under the brand name "Paris Texas Accolade". It is identical except for the brackets (the design is a little different). Best of all, they regularly have sales for 20% off total purchase. I could have saved a lot of money if I knew this before. I bought all the rods/rings/etc. for my upstairs from Linens N Things. They should be stocked at your local LNT store or you can search "paris texas accolade" on their website.

I like to use sodium bromide in conjunction with bleach and a 12-14 hour filtration cycle to go from green to clean. Put in the appropriate amount per 10k gallons plus 2 gallons of bleach per 10k gallons. Let it run through the cycle and sit idle for the next 10-12 hours. If it didn't clear up in the 1st 24hrs brush aggressively and repeat the process again. This is a must because the ingredient is activated by chlorine. On the next morning, after sitting idle, vacuum to waste. Then add bleach daily until you can hold a residual reading. This process blows away bleach only for clearing up a nasty pool. Try a search for a product called YellowTreat I hope this helps See ya, Kelly

Thank you again all. Here are a couple more photos when we moved the rug out a bit. We actually want the grey, just couldn't go all grey with the walls since there's some warm tones in kitchen. Now on to throw pillows, throws, window treatments, accessories. Any recommendations??