I make my raised beds out of sandbags, and it seems to work really well for me. I'm so clueless with tools and wood that I'm not sure which end of the hammer you hit things with, so that wasn't an option; and I can't afford stone, so bags of sand turned out to be the way to go, for me. I was lucky enough to get all the bags (already filled!) for free the first year, from the soil testing lab at the engineering firm I work for. (That hasn't worked out as well in the last few years because I need so many bags at a time, but the bags only cost about 15-25 cents each, and a pick-up truck load of whatever sand is cheapest at the landscaping facility to fill them with is only 11 dollars). I use the 15" by 27" white polypropylene UV-treated sand bags with tie strings attached. They hold up pretty well for me, usually a year or more. Eventually, they start ripping (probably because I sit down on them to weed so often, and I'm not skinny :), and I dump out the sand that was in the bag, mix it with some compost, and toss it in the veggie beds. The beds honestly don't turn out as tacky-looking as they sound. (I wish I had a camera!) Stacked 2 bags high like I have them, in a half over-lapping brick pattern; and because the bags are plain white, it just kind of looks like big pieces of fieldstone, especially with the mulch all around the beds in the paths. If you wanted to try something similar, check your local phone book for geotechnical engineering firms, paving companies, concrete plants, commercial borrow pits and rock mines and quarries. Also your local branch office of the US Dept. of Transportation. All those places have full sand and rock sampling bags laying around all the time, and usually just heave them into dumpsters. They also usually also have stockpiles of various kinds of dirt: and all that black, organic, grass & wood debris-filled dirt that concrete and paving contractors PAY to haul off their job sites and have disposed of is free gardener's gold.

I'm not installing them myself, as I did the online window blinds. I'm buying them from Home Depot, so the onus is on them if there's an issue. The contracted company that is doing the measurements is doing the installation. They will be inside mount and as far as the stacking, it will be a non-issue. It's a three panel slider but it was a custom installation...the panel on the right is fixed. The center and left panels slide left and are "hidden" behind the lanai wall. Thanks foe the feedback. I will consider the 3/4" cell for better proportion to the large opening. Oh, and no kids or pets in this home :) Tipsy

Sara's roman shades are probably the most common type of roman shade. I've made these in the past--the velcro allows easy detach compared to nails or staples. Sara's treatment has the full stack of the raised, folded shade exposed at the front, which is usually just fine. But I'm planning to use an assymetrical fabric pattern which is very distinctive, so I'd like to have the fabric covered when it's fully retracted. The pleats in the up position will not be a look that I would enjoy all summer--I assume that it will simply look lopsided. I suppose I could just remove the shade during the summer, but there are odd times when I might like being able to drop the shade in the off season, including when I'm going to be gone or when I want to run them halfway down to show the fabric. One thing that Sara's posting reminds me of is that I'll perhaps have to remove the cornice in order to access the fabric for washing. Gotta think on that. Below is one commercial source for traditionally styled cornices for windows, should anyone be interested to see an example of a wooden cornice. I would want something plainer, with spare trim. Disclaimer: I know nothing about the company, Smith + Noble. Fabric will be a Finnish Marimekko supergraphic pattern "Luminara" in the white-silver colorway. It's in a Crate & Barrow tablecloth.... http://www.crateandbarrel.com/outlet/table-linens/marimekko--lumimarja-white-tablecloth/f22276 The tablecloths are in the Outlet store, making them almost affordable. I plan to center the pattern in the wide middle window, and position it at the outside on each side curtain. Artsy idea, yes? Not sure if I'll give the romans the Warm Window treatment or not. That makes them quite bulky. With the second shade below it, I think that a lining without an insulated interlining on the fabric shade might be sufficient, but I do like that mylar layer in the Warm Window. Bounces the heat back into the room and is a vapor barrier. Warm Window supplies and roman shade supplies are sold at Joann Fabrics. There are lots of directions for roman shades on the internet. It's a do-able sewing project for a motivated sewer, even if without a lot of experience. I won't be using ring tape on mine--I'm too hard on the presewn rings so I have to tack mine on extra hard. It's a project to do with a recorded book going in the background. Here is a link that might be useful: examples of wooden, very classic cornice boxes

You could also hang the curtains on rings that attach with metal clasps. That makes them easy to remove to clean. Most draperies and curtain rods have "returns" on the sides. You could run your blackout curtains on rods underneath the outer ones. Putting them all on rings allows for them to be pulled to the side and opened. A curtain that has a rod pocket and is threaded onto a rod is not able to slide open. You might be able to slide them back with some effort, but that is awkward. I recently put my grand daughter's curtain on rings so that it could be opened. Her mother and other grandmother are more attuned to closing themselves and her up into the house. They never cared nor questioned that the curtains were permanently closed. That was back in September and the curtains are still open as I left them. The curtain is a very nice custom made one that I made. It was hung on a temporary basis that never got addressed for two years until I put it on rings. She is only three years old and I don't think she even knew that there was a window there. Now there is a little more than just an overhead light in the room. Now there is some real daylight. If you use separate blackout curtains it leaves your outer layer of curtains to be changed when you feel you need something different and you still have your blackouts. Have you looked at buying blackout lining at Joanns? Do you sew? You could do one solid panel across the window, as opposed to one on each side, and just have it slide to one side when you wanted it opened. I used to do draperies and they used to sell one by RocLon that worked quite well. That was some time ago and things may have changed.