Your past six years sound very much like mine, though you sound as though you're making progress instead of a mess like I did. Nonetheless, I'm finally making progress too, and what I find is that my attention is riveted by whatever is puzzling me at a given moment. But as soon as I figure out a solution, as you recently did with your new shrub, I stop noticing the thing immediately. For example, I recently moved a water barrel away from a spot where I was envisioning instead a large pot. Couldn't stop looking at the water barrel and envisioning what would be there instead. Once I had the pot in place, however, I virtually forgot about it - almost forgot to water the plants in it, even. But having said that, it may be something about the spot and the rock that do attract attention, for all the reasons SayPoint suggests. Specifically, I wonder if you have much other hardscape in the garden at all? You mostly are referring to plants when you talk about what you've accomplished - not to minimize that, by the way. But I find that even when plants (each and every one of which I value individually) are carefully and even perfectly arranged, they are basically a mass of greenery; there is very little architectural quality, and unless perhaps there is a big single flower or some such thing, there is nowhere for the eye to go. The greenery forms a background, and needs something to be a background for. Any focal point at all will do in this case. So I think what your very astute observation is telling you is that even if the plantings are perfect, the landscaping isn't done until some hardscape or structure is in. I doubt it has to mirror the characteristics of the rock pile; it just has to be something you want to look at. Even a piece of lawn with a notable shape might have this effect.

My ex didn't want me to get this birdbath and it is one of the things that was the final straw in our marriage. Actually the other thing was three round bales of hay. That was nine years ago. When I had this birdbath on the other side of my creek before I moved the garden over here, I had Ranuculas around it which looked really pretty. When I get my new bare root roses through the mail, the roses get put in the bird bath prior to planting. All the large rainfall last Summer killed my perianals around the birdbath. I will have to get some more My girls put this statue in the birdbath some years ago, the lady is nursing a baby and I thought it was appropiate. Too bad about her neck or head and I haven't repaired it yet.

Sorry about the missing windows in my plans - we left them off because we are undecided about placement. There is one now above the tub that needs to be replaced, and we also want to add one in the toilet area. Chisue, we know moving windows isn't cheap. But given what we expect to spend on this we want to make the space work right. The exterior is siding which is also badly in need of replacement. Everything is 30 years old. Right now the balcony is a wasted space. We need storage not a sitting area, or office/library space. There are 2 other bedrooms - one is on the other side of the master bath - 10 x 12 or so. The other is on the front side of the house and is much larger. On my proposed plan with the angles that everyone seems to hate, the bathroom door,entry door and closet doors were all in the same corner. I thought that was good to allow someone to get ready for work without disturbing the other sleeper. Funny thing is that I keep hearing/reading that angled walls create wasted space, but in this case they seem to work pretty well - a lot better IMO than the floating bed idea with the "hallway" between the bed and closets (which were both drawn on the balcony wall with separate entrances. There may be some wasted space, but it sure seems to make the remaining space more functional.

Yes those wonderful mounts work well but not for us because we still need the TV to be at eye level and the mounts can't do that. It would have to be pulled into position so it would be in front of the fireplace to get it where we need it to be in order to watch it pain free. Plus over heating the TV and almost frying it was a big problem. Regardless of what went wrong for us folks need to do what ever works best for them. Whether it is to mount it over the fireplace or on another wall. This room does present a complex problem for seating. So J., I wish you the very best in your new home and hope you find many happy days and fond memories to come. MAE