Wow! Things look fabulous there. I really like the engraved rock in the Welcome Garden. ThereÂs a couple of people in the neighbourhood here that have something similar (but on a smaller, suburban scale :-) I would like to do something like that but IÂd like it to be on the lawn in front of the main bed. That would make mowing difficult though so we probably wonÂt do it. IÂll just have to admire the effect in other peopleÂs gardensÂ. I see you have a brick edging too. It looks a lot neater than mine! A question for you  does your brick edge have a barrier between the bricks and the grass? I have used a metal edge and IÂm worried that, in a few places, I didnÂt leave it high enough above the grass roots to prevent them from crossing it. Have you had problems with grass crossing over  or under  the bricks? Henryi is the clematis I planted under the wisteria in the summer, hoping to train it into the wisteria to extend the bloom season. So far, the two Henryis are doing well. IÂm happy to hear that it does a late bloom. That would be a nice timing to add interest to the wisteria if it all succeeds. Anything else I should know about Henryi? Your potting shed is definitely by far the nicest garden shed IÂve ever seen!

emagineer - This is from the blog Cote de Texas that I provided a link to in my post. Since it's been all about "Something's Gotta Give" I thought that Nancy Meyers' follow up movie "The Holiday" needed a closer look. Just as the star of Something's Gotta Give was the Hamptons house itself, the star of the "The Holiday" wasn't really Cameron Diaz or Kate Winslet, but their two homes, one in Los Angeles and one in the English Countryside, respectively. And in another connection between the two movies, the production team was led Jon Hutman - but Beth Rubino, so wonderful on the set of SGG, was absent for The Holiday. And just as with Something's Gotta Give, Nancy Meyers' personal interior designer has photos of "The Holiday" houses on his web site, but he is not mentioned in the film credits. The Holiday, coming so soon after Something's Gotta Give received a lot of prepublicity hype concerning its premise: two women swap houses for the Christmas vacation and both find love. For lovers of the SGG house, a new Nancy Meyers movie about TWO houses was almost too good to be true ! Jim

Thanks for your interest. Here's the "magnolia" floral fabric. It looks like magnolias in person, and less green. It's called "Diva Mist" and I think it's been discontinued, but I bought extra yardage. So I have an english roll arm chair in that fabric. It's kind of a big chair, and the print is "flamboyant", as my son said. To be honest, it is a bit much, but we've got it now, and once I throw some pillows with that fabric around, it'll pull things together. Hopefully. The two sofas are neutral and pale colored and luckily look really good with it. I'm trying to figure out what to do about the 2 chairs in the corner. Should they be the same as each other or different? Should I just stay with the taupe ones I already bought? This is what I'm asking myself. I'll always feel like I'm settling if i do keep them. If we're spending $$ on furniture now, I might as well get something I love. As far as the Studio line of RA goes, you make a good point. It is a lot cheaper, so I should wonder about the quality. It's sold only at their "retail locations", I was told. As far as I can tell, these are online only. The stores haven't even heard of them. Has anyone seen a chair similar to the Blanford chair by another manufacturer? As I said, I am a bit wary of making another online chair purchase. Personally, and maybe I'm crazy, but the comfort doesn't matter to me as much as the way it looks. There are plenty of other places people can sit. I like the look of the Blanford chair, and have seen very similar ones in English magazines. (I've also seen lots of weird chairs that I don't like, but I do like this a lot.) Unfortunately, I think I'm the kind of person who needs to see something in person before knowing if I'll like it....

I just wanted to chime in to say that I've seen pictures of homes with doors and window sashes that are unpainted wood paired with trim work that is painted, and I thought it looked beautiful. Basically, anything that opened/closed/moved was unpainted wood, and the rest was painted. So that's something to consider as an option. I wished I'd thought of that option before we went with all wood trim and doors in our main floor living areas and all painted trim and doors upstairs (bedrooms, bathrooms, and laundry room). We have lots of stained wood (trim, doors, built-ins, etc.) on our main floor, so I understand the challenges of decorating around it and finding colors that work with it. But when you find the right colors to bring out the best in your wood AND give you the vibe you want, it's worth the challenge. There were times (after spending too much time looking at trendy design magazines or web sites) when I second guessed our decision to go with so much wood, but I've come to love it more over the years because of its character and richness. I grew up in a house that had unpainted fir paneled walls in every room (even the bathroom, though the walls in there were varnished), so for a long time I just longed for light, bright, painted walls. After having those for years living on my own, I guess I finally came around to appreciating natural wood again.