Just today read this post. I also prefer Yardvaark's and Timbu's design to yours. Yardvaark's plan provides a inviting, welcoming look to the front of your home and softens the hard edges of the house, while still remaining symmetrical to complement the architecture. Timbu's asymmetric design adds a uniqueness that kind of replicates your tastes on the interior, but it's still calm and appealing to the eye. To my mind, the mock-ups you created with those jagged edged are jarring --- I don't know how else to say it. You said that you don't like how plain and rectangular your home is, but your designs actually emphasized those qualities. You might wonder how that is possible with all those different plant elements I've put into my design? How could it end up being so rectangular? The reason is that when looking at your designs, the eye does not know where to "rest". The eye wanders from shape to shape, edge to edge, and color to color and finally settles on the symmetrical house facade. The fact that you like wild, free-form garden design but own a very traditional, very symmetrical house is hard to reconcile, so I'm glad you've decided on hiring a well-known landscaper from your area. The end result will be a house that's even more beautiful, that pleases your tastes, and that looks as if it's properly settled into the ground. Definitely post the results when done! Molie

Got mine today too! Walked down the street to the mailbox in the snow and ice for it lol I saw carolinaflowerlover got seeds and i had to check!! SO many things, i really wanted from my list so thank you for the thoughtfulness put into this Sassy! And in my madness, i ripped alot of gifts open without putting names to them but thank you everyone for the gift ones too!! I started off with so little to try this year and I have so much to revitalize alot of the old gardens!! I can't wait to share pics with everyone later this year! Since I didn't really keep everything seperated to thank everyone individually for the gifts (i'm sorries :( ), here's some of my favorite things that I thought I wouldn't get or that I'm looking forward to trying the most: Lavender Hyssop....never really thought about it till i looked it up and it attracts bees and butterflies...well thats a keeper for sure! :) Docmom, i was looking at an old post about your malva and i was so impressed with the deep purple and i really wanted it so I saw you had it on your list and searched in vain yesterday, to find something to impress you lol well I guess someone heard my prayers on that one! Daylily! (poisondartfrog) - really didn't expect to get any daylily seeds to try this year and i can't wait. all i have is the wild orange ones and stella de orro lol Trumpet Lilies....love lilies! :) Zinnias! (yes i said zinnias!), again i was looking at old pics by people and i saw someone who had a bed of these and they looked so pretty! so i will attempt to make a bed of these, just as nice! lol so many more, in fact, i could probably keep listing all of them but really i am so happy with my seeds!! thank you and i hope this swap will take place again! :) Happy winter sowing everybody!! :) ~Michael

When the Prep & Cooking Zones are so far apart like this, a prep sink is usually needed to make the zones work efficiently...sometimes just to function at all! Right now, you have to cross a very wide aisle (> 7 feet) and through a very busy thoroughfare just to empty a pot of boiling water. Not very safe! Nor very functional! The reason NewbieRemodeler's layout works so well is b/c she has the Prep & Cooking Zones together (the prep sink on the peninsula) and her Cooking Zone and range are protected from traffic (again, the peninsula does this). Also, notice how much workspace she has in the right places...around the range and on the peninsula. Your workspace is very spread out and you do have a lot of it, but it's not in the right places. Ideally: Prep Zone...works best when it contains a water source and is next to or across an aisle no more than 48" wide or so from the Cooking Zone. Trash & recycle bins should also be in the Prep Zone. If across from the Cooking Zone, the aisle b/w them should not be a busy aisle (i.e., no through-traffic and very little other kitchen traffic). Cooking Zone...works best when next to/across from the Prep Zone (see Prep Zone). It's also nice to have a water source nearby as well as trash & recycling nearby. Cleanup Zone...works best when separated from the Prep & Cooking Zones. This can be on the opposite side of the sink in a one-sink kitchen from the Prep Zone or it could be in a completely separate location (the latter usually only works well if you have two sinks). Obviously, it also needs a water source and the DW. Right now, you have the Prep & Cooking Zones separated by an aisle more than 7 feet wide...much too far. While having the Prep & Cleanup Zones together isn't bad (see above), in this situation it doesn't really work. Here's one idea that might work. I have other ideas, but I don't have time right now to draw them up...I'll work on it some more later, if you like. [Let me know.] One idea, btw, is to switch the table and kitchen...but that depends on how high off the floor the bay window is as well as how flexible you are with water, etc. Are you open to a banquette? A banquette might solve some problems regardless of the table/kitchen configuration. So, how high off the floor is the bay window? .. [You could reduce the prep sink to an 18" sink base and gain those 6" for either an 18" cabinet on the left or a 21" cabinet on the right.]

I'd get it if you have a place for it. Otherwise send it to me LOL, it might go well with my Lippi Madonna! Does Babelfish do Latin translations? I looked and didn't see Latin listed. My high school Latin is rusty, but it's mostly names. The first line is the famous "The Senate and the People of Rome" then I think it says something like (I'm assuming "given to" or "in honor of" is implied) "the divine Titus Vespasian, son of ("f." for "filius") the divine Vespasian Augustus" After an emperor died he was deified, hence the "divine" - this was apparently erected after Titus's death, not to celebrate a triumph.