sorry for not adding pics originally. photo 1-the slightly larger & more awkwardly shaped (take it from the person rolling it home) of the two. taken last night. photo 2-the second log with the 'new' washtub & pot of lantana... photo 3-...& without. both taken half an hour ago. i'm going to need to get someone over here w/a chainshaw to level these out (volunteers from the SA area welcome!), then i think i'd like to try doing a mosaic on at least one of them. btw, i have to say thank you! all of a sudden, i have such wonderful ideas. i've always been a garage saler, i used to be very craftsy (before teenagers took over my life), and i only began gardening recently. it had not yet occured to me to combine the 3! thank you & expect tons of pictures in the future!

what kind of ground do you have? Most of the veggie growers I know buy a piece of rebar, pound it into the ground, then slip a pole over it (pvc, bamboo, copper-however much $$ you want to spend at the hardware store). IF your ground is harder (mine is limestone and caliche): I soak the ground for a long time, then drive in a 4 foot t-bar, and wire what pole I need to it with baling wire. Of course, getting the pole back out at the end of the season is the real trick....

Thanks! I put conduit (both flexible and rigid) inside the walls. Horizontal runs are through knock outs inside the blocks but I tried to keep this to a minimum. Plumbing is also inside (PEX and PVC for waste water) the walls. The main reason for the interior block walls was that I wanted a solid feel. The doors are fairly large (8ft tall, 3.5ft wide) and solid core so I was concerned that metal studs may not be massive enough. I used metal studs for a wall concealing a tank for a wall hung toilet but everything else is concrete blocks.

I may be misunderstanding your dilemma, and I don't know what that recess in the primary bedroom is (maybe a closet.) However, I think you could incorporate some of that footprint and the hallway to enlarge the area where you greet and send off guests. Allow more light into the area with a new set of doors that have more glass. As for the courtyard, have you considered simplifying it with fine pea gravel, stepping stones and pots for plants and dwarf trees, including espaliered fruit trees on the side walls of the long entry? Perhaps you could go ahead and eliminate the two flanking walls where the arch was, and give guests a less foreboding welcome by spanning that opening with a pergola.