Carrie,I just bought a new SLGB this summer - my old one (bought in '99) was sadly lacking in things this one has - despite the date of publication, I think it is fairly newly out - and all the illustrations/drawings are in color, as well as the entries being much expanded! To quote from the book - General for Michaelia: Magnolia relatives native to China & the Himalyas. When in flower, they might be mistaken for some kind of magnolia - but unlike magnolias, they bear their blossoms among the leaves rather than at branch ends. M. figo has been in gardens for some 200 years, and M. doltsopa has been in cultivation in North America for perhaps half a century. The other species listed here are newcomers about which we have much to learn; they have not had time to grow to maturity in North American gardens. All are attractive, with lush foliage and profuse, fragrant blossoms divided into petal-like segments. Not usually browsed by deer. The cultural requirements seem to be for partial shade in the hottest regions, otherwise full sun, and they need average amounts of water. For M. yunnanesis: Shrub or tree. Coastal and tropical south. Another newcomer. To 15' tall. Blooms in early spring, when white flowers burst from dark, velvety buds. For M.x fogggi: Shrub. Coastal and tropical south. Group of hybrids between M. figo & M. doltsopa. 'Allspice' grows 10-20' tall, 6-15' wide, with glossy green foliage; bears fruity scented, 1.5" light yellow flowers bordered in maroon from spring to early summer. 'Belle Durio', to 6-10' tall & wide, is a spring bloomer bearing 3-4" white flowers with a purple style (reproductive structure) in the center. 'Jack Fogg' grows yo 18' tall, 6-8' wide; spring flowers are white, with each segment bordered in purplish pink. Hope this helps. And I wish I were in a warmer zone; the plants sound marvelous, but it's too cold here for them, except M. figo and maudiae! And I have more than enough things to plant out from pots right now - maybe next fall.....

Here's the pic's I took today... LindaC-You mentioned dove tailing, but I wasn't sure which piece you meant, so I took pic's of both. This is the marble top chest...side of drawer This is the chest with the mirror...the back. Does the hardware give any clues as to age, or whether the mirror is original? I do see the difference in the wood color...now that you point it out! Still very curious about the stickers on the back...any ideas? Hinge that allows the mirror to swivel This is a top view of the drawers on chest with mirror Side view of drawer (Mirror Chest) The Pine Chest...This is my all time favorite bargain! I love this chest, even with all its stains and imperfections. Linda-you wanted to see the sides, back and top... This is the right side...in looking more closely, I think you are correct that it's one piece. The "line" that you see is actually a crack...there's one on the other side, also. However, if you run your hand along the top of the side, it's smooth-no seams. Is that what you meant by "solid"? This is the left side...the crack is more pronounced. The crack on the left side actually goes into the top somewhat. See how it's sort of a diagonal crack? If that was a paneled side, it would be straight, right? The top pine chest...hard to get a nice clear picture of whole top... And the back Definitely curious about the dark color. Linda-you also suggested having new knobs made. Who does that...what would I look up? By the way, I wouldn't change the knobs...I love them. Can I add something new? As I was taking these pic's, remembered another bargain chair...about $10 in a resale shop. My first chair had a laminated seat, but I'm not sure about this one...could be just one piece. Need trained eyes to check it out. The bottom

Great find, John. Cousances was bought by Le Creuset in the 1950's. The little skillet is indeed the lid to the saucepan. They still make these, called the 2-in-1, at least in the U.S. The skillet part is my total fave, and the saucepan part is a new fave for induction. Edited, from the eBay Guide "Cousances enameled cast iron ... had features which distinguished them from their competitors. Among those features were the base, which was left without enamel, but sealed against rust with the final glaze, and the skillet design which was a French version of the classic American skillet popularized by Griswold and WagnerWare, having two pour spouts, a cast on handle, and a lifting tab on the largest of the handled skillets." You've got the care and cleaning right. You don't need to do anything to the enamel. If it's clean, it's clean. And if the bottoms aren't rusted at all, they're probably still sealed. The place to beware is the very edge around the top where the iron is sealed, but can get worn. You don't want to leave that soaking so that it rusts (but if that happens you can just scrub off the rust and do better next time). You can bake on some oil to season any truly raw iron parts, but it shouldn't be necessary. If you do get stuck on gunk, you can deglaze it on the stove. Just heat some water and use a wooden scraper or wooden spoon to loosen the gunk. If the gunk is on the outside, heat it in a larger pan of water. And if you burn the bottom or really thoroughly bake on gunk, it just takes longer and more elbow grease, but you should be able to bring it back if you're patient and gentle. The most important thing for caring for your enamelled pans is not to scratch the enamel. No scrambling the eggs with a table fork in the pan. Use wood, plastic or silicone. For clean up you can use a plastic scrubby, or a plant fiber one, but no metal. Like any cast iron, don't shock them. No ice cold water in a hot pan. Don't put a hot pan down in a puddle. Try not to bang the rim or drop it. Le Creuset make silicone handle covers nowadays which can be very useful. Congrats on the new friends. They can parlent en français with the Maviels, because you know those prima donnas flirteront avec les bad boys.

Hello everyone I am so sorry for the late response. My little one got sick .. Thanks for all of your suggestions and comments! I truly appreciate them! I understand that what I would like to have is not going to fit in the current vanity layout we have right now. There is no time for us to change the layout now. They have started installing granite and we want them to meet the deadline to finish the house or we will be left without a place to stay! So we have decided to go with the single mirror for now. There is no point now in worrying over not having extra storage that we may or may not need in the vanity in the future. If after living in the house for couple of months we feel like we need extra vanity storage, I will add extra storage under the makeup area or in the master closet. But I will for sure replace this vanity sometime in the future with a more useful one :) Sophie Wheeler we live in Northern Louisiana. I looked up the guidelines you are talking about. I wish we knew about these before. But are they firm rules or just guidelines? The builder already sold a house with a similar layout last year so I am assuming he had the same vanity there and it passed inspection. I do not know for sure but why would anyone build something knowing it will fail inspection? :/