Thanks for the frank assessment, marcinde. You can see gaps at the back corner because we haven't finished. We needed to get a rotor blade that could cut masonry, but we were trying to lay things out to get a sense of the sizes we needed. Yeah, the material we used was labeled "wall" at the big-box store where we got them. Perhaps misleading. Today we had a nice long talk at the local, independent garden center, showing them pictures of what we've done so far. They gave some advice on how we could salvage the work we've done and make use of the materials we have. First, they suggested using a surface bond on the inside of the walls, rather than dismantling the wall and using mortar. Next, line the inside with landscaper's cloth. Then, make sure to really tamp down that earth that we use to fill the bed, tamping down each layer as we go. Then leave it all for a week to further settle, before we start planting. We are going to give it a go, and hope for the best. But we welcome further input. Thanks, MSP & JLP

Oh sure, silversword, you have to recommend Gardenias and then give me that post to read. Ha! Ha! I only made it as far as the August 3rd posts, but I intend to read a little more at each sitting. Boy is it funny/eye opening. I, being a Gemini, get bored easily and can't finish things so I just skimmed a little to see how far the thread went. I happened upon the reply from "Jim" who was giving his wife a Gardenia bush for Mother's Day and then he was printing out the entire thread and writing "sorry" on top of it and running. That was so funny! I guess I am pretty stupid because even after reading all that, I am going to have to get a Gardenia at some point. I was sold on the description of the scent. I am just not sure I will actually try to grow one. I would probably do better to just have one and toss it aside like the Freesia. For some reason anything I try to actually put love into and take care of, dies on me, whereas anything I just neglect thrives. Perhaps my plants are suicidal too. The title of the thread reminded me of something Jerry Seinfeld says in his book Seinlanguage and it makes me laugh every time I read it: "I have no plants in my house. They won't live for me. Some of them don't even wait to die, they commit suicide. I once came home found one hanging from a macrame noose, the pot kicked out from underneath. The note said, "I hate you and your albums." It's so funny to think of plants as human. I'm screwed though because I am definitely a sucker for a good-smelling plant. The house we bought has some kind of lilac that blooms in the spring and fall. It is pathetic looking (not like back home) but I never grow tired of smelling it and reminding me of home. And I love the Freesia because it smells like Froot Loops (which reminds me of my childhood). The roses that I dug up were sad looking and not very pretty plus the fragrance was not that great. The funny thing is that I have NEVER been a flower person. My husband likes to do romantic gestures like buy flowers for me, but he won't buy roses on Valentine's Day because they cost much more than any other day of the year. So he likes to surprise me with flowers some other day. I am fine with that because we have a cat who tries to eat ANYTHING that looks like plant matter. I can't even have Easter grass in baskets because the dummy will eat it. So roses cannot be enjoyed because they have to spend so much time behind closed doors and I am not really one of "those" women who requires candy and flowers on Valentine's Day or birthdays, etc. I might give that Little John some consideration somewhere around the house because I adore watching the hummingbirds. :-)

Is there any way you can mock these up further, Jean? So you can get a feel for them? Cover the open shelves by the fireplace bumpout so the eye stops where doors would be? When I looked at your picture of the ex-fireplace wall, I thought partial-height built-ins could be very attractive and would create a nice display space above. Given your long, narrow room, though, would the horizontal line of the top shelf and filling in those two areas make it feel more so, or would the open depth above negate that? I can tell you from my own experience that shallow wall storage works very well, and you'd have a nice amount of it. Would building in partial height only to the left of the fireplace bump (and letting the remaining wall stay open) open give you enough storage, though? It sounds as if you're in an urban area, so perhaps don't need a great deal of food storage for day to day use. (You need enough food stored at home to carry the family at least 2 to 3 weeks if the power goes down, but would there be room elsewhere to tuck a few cases of canned goods?) I'm not crazy about the idea of a corner cabinet on the right side of the door if it meant a gap on that wall before the bump-out. Would it somehow be extended down the wall to meet the bump? If not, I think I'd only do one to the left and use the other wall for art. Aside from that, from this side of the screen putting a pair of freestanders or built-ins on each side of the doorway would make sense in terms of the room's proportions. Why does your designer recommend curved fronts? There must be a reason, and I imagine a good one. Would they echo kitchen cabinetry, carrying that look down the wall, or be handsome furniture meant to add ambiance to the dining side? With the bay at the other end, it would seem nice to copy those angles, but your designer is not recommending that. ?? As for built-in or freestanding, not a critical issue in itself, right? What are the recommendations and costs involved? Freestanding could look like pieces of nice furniture and be used to advance the feeling of a dining room, and they could move out if you decided you didn't want them any more, unlikely as that might be, given their intended purpose. Built-ins would never have to be cleaned behind or under. :) Any way I look at it, there seem to be nothing but pleasant possibilities, and a little irregularity can add interest, instead of just another iteration of the usual. Hope we get to see pictures of whatever you decide to go with.

Would do either brick or stone over the foundation only and siding above that. Use only one kind of material in the gables -- perhaps horizontal siding the rather than vertical. Would not put any hip roof on any part of the house. Stay with gables and steep slopes with straight edges at the bottom of the slopes all around for your gutter. Would change the roof to have one and only one ridge line height -- the higher height -- and decrease the number of gables to be one facing the left end of your home, one facing right end of your home and one facing the end of the angle of the garage -- not over where the garage doors are now shown . Would not cut corners in the cost to cut corners and create angles in the garage. Would keep the walls leading from the home to the outer left edge of the garage straight all the way to the end and would seriously consider putting two garage doors the same size in that angled end of the garage even if that means adding and additional few feet to the garage length -- definitely would not pour the front yard in concrete for a driveway. Extend the width of the forward facing gable over the front entry to cover both the front entry and those two larger longer/taller windows to the right of it. Extend the depth of the forward facing gable to cover a porch at least 6' deep. Where you currently have windows in the upstairs in gables, the slopes of which will take away room from your upstairs rooms, add dormers there rather than full gables enabling you to have more/larger windows and more room / headroom in the upstairs rooms. There are different kinds of dormers with different shaped roofs. https://www.google.com/search?q=dormers&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiHsdacuJPlAhVJmuAKHZ9AB4sQ_AUIESgB&biw=1328&bih=617#spf=1570770556130