Good Morning Idylls! Another early one, so I can make a quick post. I hear you V...I *live* for spring...it's my season. Oh well, I guess this year I'll live for June! :-) Now I'm wondering about when Sue's surgery is too Cynthia. I *thought* it was for Monday the 16th. I wrote it down in my calendar awhile back, so I wouldn't miss wishing Sue my best the night before, but from what I'm reading here now, I may have written down the wrong date...it wouldn't surprise me. You & Bug have Clivias?!? Oh I'm green! I am not a houseplant person, houseplants don't like me. But, if there was ever a houseplant I *wished* I could grow, *that* would be the one. Speaking of which...I just drooled over all your beautiful plant choices Bug. Your purple hellebore looks a lot like one I planted last spring. To my relief, it lived through the winter, looks to have maybe one bloom or two, but not open yet. I'm just thrilled that it made it. One of my "no-name" hellebores has made about 20 babies from my last count (that is if they didn't die from yesterday's snow). I'll check on them once the snow melts. I want to pot them up and bring them to the next place. LOL about my posting, Bug. You are probably right, but I have *so* much *fun* making them! :-) Eden - I *love* that bedroom you posted...that is sooo just the kind of style I *love*, the soft hint of colors, the lamps, the little chest (armoire?), the curtains, the vase of fresh flowers, well *everything* and that *headboard*! That is the sweetest thing! Hope you find just the right gate/trellis and will post your creation when it is all completed. I can see that being Cynthia's style too...in fact it reminds me a lot of some of the restful, beautiful home pics Cynthia has posted. BTW Eden...I *love* that pic of your GT and SS together...what a beautiful combo! Chelone So sorry about the headache with Lamee? Did I spell that right?...You know...that *sparkly* cloth! :-) Can't help it but hearing about *sparkly* things gets my blood going. Paul tells me I'm a lot like a crow...attracted to bright, shiny things...LOL! BTW Mary...what is that *gorgeous* flower in your BD pic to Kathy? YumMm! Oh before I forget...I wanted to share this with Deanne & Drema: Up on the top shelf to the left is Deanne's Fuchsia and next to it is a pot of about 6 of Drema's coleus. On the bottom shelf to the right is a glass of Drema's cuttings! :-) I know the pics are poor, but can you tell which Fuchsia this is Deanne? It's been a blooming wonder and a real joy. A close up of some of Drema's coleus cuttings. I don't want anyone to be misled. I'm *not* a houseplant person. The only reason these plants are still alive is because they only have to be in the house for the winter....LOL! Actually the poor begonias are crying to get out of my hands and into a container outside...hope spring comes soon! Okay...gotta run...mom has an appointment at 08:30 and I'm not even dressed yet. Hi to anyone I missed. Hope you all have a great day! Ei

Interesting thread. As a rookie I'm not sure I have that much to offer, but some thoughts (I'm home with the flu today, so apologies if I'm less than coherent!) - in looking for original plans for your house, can you check neighbours with the same model (assuming there are multiple examples)? Wwe live in a pocket of about 20 of these little bungalows (there were 3 original designs, although they've been so altered over the years sometimes it's hard to realise!) and when we started working on plans for ours, I looked at as many of our neighbours' houses as I could, mostly to see how they had solved the problems this old house presented. I learned A LOT, and it really helped when we started considering what could/couldn't be done, and where the original bones were (since our house had already had some alterations made by previous owners). - from your post I get the feeling that you want to hand off a lot of the "hard work" stuff to professionals, but also that you want to have tight control on decisions. I will say that in reading here and elsewhere, the folks who seem UNhappiest with their remodeling experiences are those who've handed off to the professionals on the assumption it would all work out the way they wanted BECAUSE those people were professionals (bad English, but I hope that makes some kind of sense). For a project as substantial as you're considering, I do think you'd really REALLY help yourself by finding a design program you're comfortable using and drawing things - both for yourself, AND for the people you hire. My GC has repeatedly told me that part of the success of this project - and one of the reasons he could keep costs down - was because the drawings I gave him made it 100% clear what I wanted to do. Sure, it was his job to figure out HOW to do it structurally, but by working together - often with the design on the laptop so we could show each other what we were talking about - we avoided costly miscommunications. There are a lot of user-friendly programs out there more intuitive than the two you mentioned and, in your case, it might be a couple of hundred dollars and a few hours well spent. And it will give you WAY more control over the project, as your own understanding of what's happening will be greater. - I think whether or not you need an architect or structural engineer will depend on local requirements; what you're doing sounds like a really good GC could handle it UNLESS there are CA-specific requirements which insist that specialists handle specific areas. We did a fair bit of structural work, but our municipality is one that has a very easygoing attitude about permits - basically, if you don't change the footprint, they don't really care (we heard this from multiple GCs, builders and neighbours, so it wasn't just one person's opinion). We have managed wonderfully with a GC who handled everything (literally - no subs). It's worked well for us, but I suspect in CA the story may be different. Talk to neighbours who've done work and interview loads of folks across the range of price bands and see what you can glean in talking to them (I learned a LOT talking with the other 5 contactors - the ones we didnt' hire). You need to get a feel for the many different ways a project like yours could be approached. - "phase" the work. This is something our GC did that made it HUGELY easier. He broke it down, in order, so we could see where we were going and how it would all work (essentially it was: 1. create access to attic ie build the new stairs 2. reinforce and finish attic 3. holiday break 4. work on removing or framing wall between kitch/diner as appropriate 4. install kitchen). We were never in any doubt as to the PROCESSS so, even when we had to make adjustments or there were (minor) delays, we knew how it would all fit in. - while obviously you will need to forward plan so that initial work doesn't then have to be changed to accommodate subsequent work, be prepared to be FLEXIBLE. One of the reasons our project has run smoothly is because while we had a clear plan, both sides were willing to adjust as necessary during the process - it wasn't a case of clinging to ideas which simply wouldn't work in reality once we got inside walls to see what was there etc. That's another thing, too - beware ANYBODY who can "promise" that something will work before opening up a wall or seeing what's really there (think of all the threads in here where people have been disappoinited and had to make significant changes once a wall was opened and revealed something other than was supposed). There is ALWAYS a workaround, but, IMO rookie opinion, it's easier to find those when you don't cling to fervently to one single idea . This is also where being able to draw ideas for YOURSELF comes in handy, since you can play "what if" and come up with possible alternatives (I know I keep harping on about this despite the fact you said you DON'T want to do that, but I truly believe it will help enormously in so many ways). I had several "contingency" plans already thought of just in case we had issues with, for instance, taking down the wall. In the event it wasn't a problem, but I figured I'd better have more than one way of doing it just in case! Sorry for the rambling nature of this - I'm not sure I'm necessarily addressing your specific questions, but just some ideas fwiw. Start compiling lists of local requirements/experiences/contacts via neighbours and local friends and colleagues, consider buying a user-friendly home-design program so you can play "what if?" for yourself and also create drawings of your ideas which will be clearer than any description (and also avoid a "middle man" interpreting what you describe, sometimes leading to misunderstandings and disappointment), be willing to stay flexible as variants arise when the work begins and things aren't quite as anticipated, and most importantly... ENJOY the process! I confess that I have found it HUGELY enjoyable, much to my surprise. Yes, stressful - particularly at first before I "got used to" people coming in and cutting my house in half as a matter of course!! - but fascinating and very rewarding. Best of luck!

I have never had a subscription to a cooking magazine - the only subscription I did have was to Illuminatrice, an Italian lighting magazine, and that was at work. The only magazines that I buy at the newsstand are Italian design magazines, some of which are quite expensive (I used to buy men's Italian fashion magazines, when I was more fashionable), and I have saved every one of them. I also buy Architectural Digest, Interiors, Veranda, etc. when they publish photos of my furniture designs, and I keep these also. My old magazine collection takes up one shelf in my garage, and I do refer to the Italian magazines from time to time for inspiration. I do collect clutter, but books and magazines are not part of that. I have one shelf of cookbooks in the hall next to the kitchen. I once bought a magazine on Feng Shui, but I decided that the magazine was clutter and got rid of it. I spent last week-end trying to declutter my bedroom because I also bought a new mattress that will be delivered tomorrow, and I want my room to look nice. Yesterday I made a runner with the fabric left over from making new drapes for my bedroom (to be able to block out light) and put it on the wide dresser beside my bed. The dresser on the other side of my bed has a runner I made from fabric left over from when I made my bedspread. I find that decorating or trying to coordinate rooms helps me get rid of clutter. However, I did put a bunch of books on the wide dresser using bookends. I don't have room for another bookcase. If I need to get more books, I will get rid of old ones that I have. Lately I have been buying and reading books on Anthropology and early human evolution. I read them at night to help me get to sleep, and so it takes a while to get through them. I cannot stand to watch Hoarders, but I will watch Clean House if I need inspiration to declutter. Making my house and yards look as beautiful as possible is one of my top priorities, and this helps me let go of clutter. I haven't gotten rid of it altogether, however, and so I think it is an on-going process. I have a hard time getting rid of old clothes that no longer fit, and I am convinced that sometime in the near future, they will fit again. Anyway, that is my goal. They may be terribly out of style or inappropriate by that time, however. Getting rid of old clothes is my biggest problem. One of the things I came across yesterday while decluttering was a printout from a Cooking Forum thread from 2005 that I started asking what was in everyone's freezer. It included a post by Ann_T on pitahaya (I happened to have some in my freezer at the time) that she had copied and pasted, bad Google translation and all. The translation was hysterically funny. Lars

Pretty rooms. One option is to hang roman shade bamboo blinds over the windows that you can pull up/down as needed, under a curtain rod placed up by the ceiling, with stationary curtain panels on the sides. The panels would be just for decoration. I'll attach a photo of where I've done this in my kitchen. I think this would look nice in those rooms, because it makes the room appear taller by using the space that you have over the windows. I have a similar space over my sliding door, and the bamboo blinds sit there while not being used. I'm sure my description isn't great, so hopefully the attached photo will help. How wide are the large windows? I got my bamboo blinds from overstock.com, they may go up to 72 in.