Hi Dogridge, Just wanted to let you know that you are not the only one with this dilemma! I went from half acre to 6.6 acres of farmland and 60 acres of timber and at least I DO have horses. The immense scale just makes it frustrating to figure out how to afford the size of plants I need. Are you feeling that too? I see that you did what I did, hire someone to help me define the bones and then I went against all advise and made a list of plants I truly loved. I am slowly acquiring all the lilacs know to planthood, all the clematis I can find and peonies, peonies, peonies. What plants really capture your interest and make a collection. I chose soft pastel shades in the blue family and plant at least three plants of the same variety so it doesn't look like I threw it out there all by itself. When I plant, I would rather plant grand scale of only five varieties than many varieties hodgepodged like a crazy quilt. I will wait and buy the largest, healthiest specimen I can find. One thing I have had to learn is patience since unless you have all the disposable income in the world, these thing will take time to become the huge gardens we all drivel over. Lastly, I looked at my hardscape (barns\tin shed\greenhouse) to help me define my areas. When I see your VERY NICE arena ;), I can see a little playhouse for either you or your children, perhaps a tongue in cheek "racetrack" for them to run around in (lined in shaving), drifting sweeps of grasses (there are so many fun ones now), SUNFLOWERS - at least three rows of them! Have you seen "Claret", it's the gorgeous shade of red and Moulin Rouge - yummy! and don't forget native plantings. I'm crazy and have been know to plant 3 orders of "The Works" daffodils. My idol is Tasha Tudor :). You are so LUCKY to be in your zone! I converted an acre of my land to protect pheasants and little grouse. See if you are in a watershed area, your local extension office can help you contact people who will provide seed and trees for free. Like one person said in here, this is an amazing spot and your house is beautiful. Maybe, keep the English rose sheltered nearer to that darling house and use native grasses, plantings, perennials and a few trees to transition naturally to your pond? Anyway, all my friends drool when they see all that I have planned, I'll be busy for at least 60 years ;). Aren't we the lucky ones???? Mindy

I can't see the pictures. it maybe because I am at work. 1. Sodastream and French Press for coffee. I use both. My soda stream is in the walk in pantry. We use it about 1 x per day. It was not worth the trouble of keeping it on the counter. I use the electric kettle to boil water. I use the kettle 2 plus times per day. I keep the kettle on the counter. The french press goes in the drawer when not used. I keep the kettle close to the faucet so that I can fill it easily. I find that the electric kettle boils faster than the gas range top kettle. I have high power gas range. Even so, the electric is easier/faster. It is also easier for the kids to use. I have a large island. that is where I do most of my prep work. So I can afford to leave some stuff out on the perimeter counter. 2. I have a 30 inch range plus a Miele speed oven which is a combined MW and regular oven. It was expensive but it gives me the second oven that bakes well and allows us to have a MW and saves space. We only use the MW to heat stuff. I only put glass or ceramic in the MW. So even if i have already started to preheat my oven to bake cookies and I forgot to melt the butter, I switch the hot oven to MW setting, put the butter in a pyrex, melt the butter and switch the oven back to preheat mode. It works fine... 3. I have a L plus island configuration. Ref/range on one leg and sink/DW on the other leg of L. I put the speed oven under counter on the island. I opted to not have a second sink. Sometimes i wish I had one. When my kids are doing home work for hours on the island and the paper doesn't get splashed by the water or I need the large surface to layout stuff, I am glad that I did not put the sink in the island. there are pros and cons to every decision you make. Another thing about the L + island versus a galley is how the room feels when you are in it. The L has a more open feel since there are multiple ways out of the working space. So you don't feel as locked in. This is an important concept in design. How does the space feel when you are in it?

Composite materials might not be able to accept the heat or conduct it well enough to radiate it to the room effectively. Find out what the conductivity and emissivity of the decking is and ask what materials the wiring can be placed directly against. Being able to disconnect the cables may not be allowed by the electrical code. Heat of this nature is first conducted through the decking material and then radiated by the face of that material through the air of the room to objects in the room. Of course, the flooring also heats the room by convection. Insulation added below the decking will help to reduce heat loss downward and increase heat movement upward but if you want to also use a radiant barrier to help with that effect (I doubt that it does much at that temperature) at least a 3/4" air space is necessary since otherwise the energy transferred will be by conduction through the foil and the other materials in contact with it instead of by radiation and there will be no benefit. In a house, radiant heat can only exist in air. Therefore, it is not the heating cables that provide "radiant" energy, it is the warm surface of the flooring/decking where it is in contact with air. I suspect increasing the thickness of the extruded polystyrene foam board (Styrofoam) would be just as effective if not better. Don't burn the house down to save energy.

I re-read your question; you have heated/insulated rooms below a porch. Therefore, the wooden decking has no air movement underneath it, so it can never fully dry after rains. Any rain is able to penetrate through the many seams in the flooring and get the insulation and framing wet, and they can't dry out either. You need to understand the construction details that are necessary for this situation. It consists of building a seamless flat roof, that is impermeable and drains water away from the house, then building a walking deck on top of it. I have done three projects like this. The first one. we used a torch-down adhesive roll roofing, then 2x4 floating sleepers and a 3/4" traditional wood flooring. Second one, a subcontractor put down a EPDM rubber roof (we had to tear off everything because the old rubber roof failed and ruined the decking and a lot of the framing) then we built modular, removable hardwood duck boards that fit into the space and were removable for cleaning underneath. Third one, the metal roofer came in and built a flat copper roof, and we did a normal porch floor on sleepers as in #1, but this time in mahogany (more stable and rot proof) , painted. I just wanted to point out that there are more issues in play than you may realize, and your path forward is not simply choosing the most maintenance-free finishes. Casey