nil13 I wasn't dismissing your advice; please, please don't take it so. I sincerely appreciate anybody who takes the time to read my posts and respond. I didn't mean to impugn your knowledge or advice, and I'm sorry if it came out that way. Not everyone really understands my climate or conditions, and I'm used to getting inapplicable advice from people living in other parts of the US. I know what a rill is, too! It can be a really beautiful feature, and harks back to indigenous water management techniques, which we don't pay enough attention to, imo. The landscaping in front came with the house and is not what I would have put in. Those are not native plants out there, the "landscapers" (and I use that term loosely) plopped big boulders in a very random way, they made that dry stream to point uphill, I don't know where the irrigation system lines go, etc. etc. However-- Right now my biggest concern is simply maintaining the front in a neat manner while I put my attention and money on the back, which up to now has been merely a rectangle of dirt. One of my biggest problems has simply been to find somebody to do the work of cleaning the front, because they'd promise me and not show up. I'm also culpable because being a new homeowner, I didn't understand the maintenance required (i.e, blowing the dirt off) to keep it looking nice. In fact, I have workers coming tomorrow to start the landscape in my BACK yard -- building a low retaining rock wall, extending the drip irrigation, putting a sleeve for future lighting, and delineating a circular feature with steel edging. That's a big project -- for me at least. A major problem still remains with accumulation of dust and sand over every surface. I've decided to wait to put gravel down in the back until it's more finished, because until all of the houses get built and more of my neighbors plant up their yards, it will continue to be a problem. Probably will still be a problem forever just because of being on the edge of the sprawl, but I'll do what I can. My intent with this post is to update you that for now, at least, the front is okay. This forum has been, and continues to be very helpful to me; and again, I appreciate the advice. This post was edited by Violet.West on Tue, Apr 8, 14 at 22:15

Hi Caterinms, I sort of agree with brickeye in the respect of the 'One Solid' wall enclosure is a bad thing in a flood area. I believe the reason is that your foundation may float in a bad storm. Imagine your basement as a large bathtub. You have walls and a concrete slab. I agree that it will not be 100% water tight and some water will seap in. The failure mode is if the water rises sufficiently fast such that your basement become bouyant enough to shift. That will essentially take out your foundation. I think it may be worth looking into housing building techniques in Dubai. The artificual island homes build on reclaimed land have water tables just below the surface, lots of sea water pressures. The technology I used is Dutch which allows for basements below the water line. Granted however that there are fewer storms of Katrina magnitude in that area of the world. In your situation what would it take to add the extra four feet of concrete height? Also could you try and divide your basements into smaller enclosed chunks? This will add cost, the question is how much? Also I guess is will it look different to what you have already in mind. 4 Feet of fill is alot of fill dirt, and trucking will be expensive. Just an idea, say you did not fill. Your house would not be anchored, and your door will be say 4 feet above grade. For aestetics, you would like your house anchored to grade. Maybe there is a deck, porch, or other structure that may facilite this? Difficult to suggest in that I cannot see your picture for some reason. From the height requirments, it is almost as if the best solution for your location would be to build the house on some sort of stilts, almost like a pier. Then you would not have to bring in all that fill. Stilt houses are quite nice. One example is the Farnsworth house by Miles van der Rohe. This is sort of late into the process to think about a redesign, but I think some sort of redesign is required in that I think the local inspectors are not going to sign off as is. For piece of mind, I think building it higher is better. Also you would get a better view. Warmest regard, Mike.

lol, rebunky! I never thought about running the tile over the edge of the counter like that. Definitely worth considering, thanks! Did I say on this thread or the one in the bathroom forum that I figured out that the tile will only be about 8 1/2" high. My elevation made it look much fatter than it will be. In fact, it's likely closer to what you did above. I met with my GC yesterday and my KD today. They were both very productive meetings so I'm feeling a whole lot better about this project. GC said, "yep, we can do the angled bench, no problem" which put the Kohler shower pan in the running. Yay! He also had great cost-saving ideas. Yay, yay! When I met with my KD today, I reviewed everything with her, especially my concerns about a tiled shower floor. She said, "do the Kohler and the angled bench" without missing a beat and we headed off to a local showroom to look at color chips. Found a winner in no time: Sandbar is perfect! It's a wonderful color with my other choices but there's enough contrast that it's a great compliment, too. I'm a happy girl! DH and I liked A and B the best of the tile patterns for the shower. GC said his favorite was B and that it would be a cheaper install. KD voted for B as well. So B it is! On the bathroom forum thread, mayflowers voiced concern that the mosaic tile reads too brown in my photos. My sample doesn't look brown but I stopped at a local showroom and asked about it. Oh, yeah, there's a lot of variation and I could get a batch that has a lot more brown than blue. Not good. I want blues not browns and especially not a golden brown since that would look awful with our other choices. So I stopped at a tile distributor to see what else I could find. I brought home 4 choices, 2 of which were discarded when I got them home in my light. One was neon bright in my light. Oops, not what I was going for. The other was wishy washy. But I have 2 very good choices to replace the glass mosaic. I may need to swap out Aquarius glazed option for another in that line for the 1/4 round but that's not a big deal. Choice #1 is Lunada Bay, Tozen series, in Iodine, in 2 finishes. Here it is in silk (non-glossy). And in natural (glossy) Tile choice #2 is also Lunada Bay but in the Agate series in Pisa, silk finish. These will also have some variation between batches but they won't end up brown. Not sure which I like better.

Hi Megan- You have some lovely furniture besides the Noguchi cocktail table and the Eames chair and ottoman. And it does not matter if they are the real McCoy, either. If you like them and they are sturdy, keep them and go with that genre. For example, the side table to the right is Stickley-ish. And the round side able to the left is good too. I like the little short spool-type round table that is incorrectly placed, but is very nice and would make a great stand for a plant somewhere in a corner. Your lamps are great too. I do think the furniture might need some rearranging, too. I don't like the way the sofa is stuck back in that alcove as if it has been a bad boy. Also, all your family photos have to be removed, sorry. Personal family photos do not belong in a living room. Please put them in a stairway leading up to the bedrooms or a hallway or maybe a den for the family. One of the advantages of a tuxedo sofa is that it comes in different sizes and it doesn't have oversized, overstuffed arms, and it is a neutral style and will go with anything. Before you purchase any more furniture, I would draw a to-scale drawing of your living room and your dining room (to get an idea of the opening between the rooms. You may find that you just don't have the space for all those chairs. The Nogughi table for sure can't serve the sofa and all those chairs. It is for the sofa and should be 18 inches from it. The chairs need their own end tables. Perhaps your sofa could face the fireplace, the Eames chair could face the window, and any chair could have its back to the window with space between it and the window. Upholstered chairs are fine, do your current chairs fit where your sofa is now but not squeezed into the alcove? I do like their color. If you have to purchase 2 new chairs, I would get ones with less bulky arms, and ones that fit well on the window side of the room. Look at the chairs in this picture of a mid-century modern licing room, these are classic chairs whose design has stood the test of time, and I used to have them, they are so, so comfortable (assuming you get ones that are well-made.) I would also not get a blue sofa, that might be too dark in that small of a room with the black chair. You could get the chair cushion cover in a color if you really wanted to. I still like the idea of a cream/off white color sofa. You can get throw pillows that coordinate well with the black/tan/cream color scheme. You don't want a lot of small bric-a brac and photos. That is just not the mid-century modern and craftsman ethos your furniture is evoking. I would remove the bric-a brac shelves on the wall to the left of the floor lamp. You could get a sizeable art piece for over the mantle, and a three-dimensional fiber art wall hanging. You could have a significant piece of pottery, either contemporary or ethnic somewhere. I strongly suggest you do an internet search for Mid-Century Modern living rooms to get a sense of how they are decorated, also search living rooms with Noguchi furniture, with Eames chair, etc. That will give you some idea of what directions the room can go with the furniture you have, and what will look appropriate with it. My guess is, and please correct me if I am wrong, you don't have $10,000 to sink into an antique or very valuable Oriental rug right now, so that should not be something you purchase first and decorate the room around. I am an Oriental rug person for sure, and yes, you can have them with dogs. I despise those modern machine-made copies with artificial dyes and glues that fall apart lickety-split. Buy quality and it will last you a long time. And yes, you can buy a quality Oriental (either hand-knotted or woven that doesn't cost you a fortune. Just buy your furniture first and decide your colorway. The rugs come in many colorways that will go with however you decorate and the rugs become "neutrals." You can purchase a very valuable rug with some wear or abrash or other minor defects, but if they are located where your furniture would be placed, no one will ever see these "defects" or even know they are there except for you, and you will be getting a beautiful quality "second" for a song! For example, if the previous owner always walked on part of one edge, but in your home the placement of the rug is such that it would be right under your sofa, well, that's perfect! So you see, save the rug for last. Meanwhile, educate yourself on rugs so you know how to buy.