I think you should subscribe to some deco blogs if you're not reading them already (there are some great ones coming from young adults and who are on a budget...lots to learn from them -- where to splurge, where to save) and also find some home magazines and/or decorating books to look at. Not so much because I think that you should try to copy what you see, but so that you can get a better sense of what your own style is. You'll get a feel for what you are really drawn to. And you might be really suprised at what you find your style to be... Don't just go out and buy the first leather couch you see because it's leather, brown, and on sale. What style of couch do you really want? Something with straight/modern lines...or big and poofy? That's the sort of thing you should be thinking about before you start spending cash. There's not much worse in decorating than realizing that something is absolutely not your style after its been in your place for just a few months but now you can't afford to replace it!! Save your money, get what you really want the first time...or what you can live with for a set number of years. Take your time. You are lucky because you have a few things to hold you over until you can afford different.

Thanks for the photo and the suggestions. I will have to ask the kitchen cab guy how much money this will save me. Aside from $$, I think looks wise, fake cab doors in the color I want might not look that great anyway. I think the cab guy just wanted to load up my kitchen, there wasn't any wall space that wasn't covered with someting when he did the first layout...It looked like a cabinet showroom! hmm, maybe he isnt' the right kitchen guy for me!

I would second (or third?) Raymond Carver, actually. Picassocat stated it very well. He could take a story and strip it down to the most fundamental elements--yet his characters are so alive. I would agree with the choice of "Cathedral" and would add his collection "Short Cuts." (Robert Altman actually directed a pretty decent adaptation of "Short Cuts" a few years back.) Since I seem to be in the short story mode, I would also say that Flannery O'Connor is an essential author. Her works epitomize both the Southern Gothic and the Grotesque styles. I wouldn't say that she's my favorite author in the world, but she was good at her craft and her startling climaxes are unforgettable. The two works I would recommend would be "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and "Everything that Rises Must Converge".

zzackey I agree Meanwhile, I am thinking of trying bonsai pots for AV's. Suyudor Part of the cluttered look is the display. My houseplants are all in cache pots, beautifully displayed. The violets are expected to be beautiful but not even all those flowers can completely disguise those orange plastic pots. I am collecting cache pots. Your idea of having all the pots identical may be a simpler solution. Speaking of pots, using all the available light spaces for Dixie Cup Horticulture..such as rooting leaves on the living room coffee table. Tacky Dixie Cup décor..the solution might be shelves and light stands in a closet. I am about to gather up all the plants, sort by size and tuck the Dixie Cups back of beyond. Then I can dress up the remainder in nice cache pots.