mpwdmom, I'm with M on this one. It never occurred to be the question was insincere. There have been a number of recent threads asking about wallpaper (and boarders) so that didn't even phase me, LOL! As for the pastels, that also did not strike me as obviously spam. While I generally prefer rich colors to a pastel palette, pastels have their place and can be quite lovely in the right room with the right light. I posted that picture of my old living room to demonstrate that even a room with multiple dominant colors can be harmonious instead of discordant as long as the colors are carried through the space and the adjoining spaces. When I first tried to describe what I was planning for that room to friends and decorators alike (brown ceiling, brown baseboards, navy on this wall, grey on that wall, blue handrails, blue sofa, orange piping, red chairs, Asian and modern accents, black and white art, etc.), they all would get this slightly horrified look on their faces, like someone had silently passed gas, and they were trying to pretend they did not notice. Since I put the room together one piece at a time, very few people could visualize my ultimate plan no matter how hard I tried to describe it. You should have seen the decorator's face when I showed her the sofa and the chair and the fabric! Priceless. But once I had everything in place, suddenly the reactions were the complete opposite. I was giving the OP the benefit of the doubt -- maybe I just couldn't really visualize what they were trying to describe. I also have seen many good folks here who love soft colors and wallpaper, wild, vibrant florals, deer heads, and other things that personally would never be allowed in my own house, but they like them, so who am I to naysay? Case in point (and hopefully I won't get flamed for this again): I backed down from questioning someone's prominent placement of stuffed bears in their master bedroom after numerous other posters extolled the virtues of stuffed animals in a grown-up's bedroom. Now, I absolutely will not display toys in my bedroom. It is a grown-up space for grown-up time: reading, sleeping, getting ready in the morning, and, well, ahem... You get the picture. It is our grown-up space away from toyland. There is no gray area to that. If a stuffed animal finds its way to my bed, it's because it was carried there in the middle of the night by a 3 yr old visitor wookin' pa nub, as Eddie Murphy once sang. But this other poster and many others loved her wedding bears. As I recall, the bears found a comfy home in a rocking chair and were declared by many to look perfectly lovely there. So c'est la vie. Pastels, bears, florals, oh my. Even in my own family, my decorating sense is very different from others in my family. My SIL and brother have decorated their bedroom with so much Star Wars stuff that they have to tell my DD and niece not to play with daddy's toys. LOL. I see that room and think, gadzooks, it would be like sleeping with a six-year-old! My MIL has a cream-on-cream scheme in her house that would drive me batty, but she agonizes over every cream-colored choice, comparing this nubby cream colored fabric to that nubby cream colored fabric and recovering with new cream-colored fabric the old cream-colored sofas that no one ever sat on for fear of staining the cream colored sofas. I'm fairly certain my use of color, color, color is a bit dizzying for her cool, off-white-loving eye, but she and I nevertheless have many decorating discussions that are both fun and instructive to both parties.

Thanks, Pepper. Yes, I'm blessed to be working with some talented craftsmen. My cabinet maker got them for me, so I'm not sure of the exact model, but here's a link to the one I think he used. It comes in various sizes. About the magnetic latches, I didn't think I could use more than one latch on each cabinet door. Don't you press on the spot where the latch is to open it? So if you had more than one latch would you have to press on all the places where there are latches? Or does just pressing anywhere on the door cause all the latches to unlatch at the same time? Hope this makes sense! Here is a link that might be useful: Sugatsune pull

I have a yard very similar to yours. I can't plant in the middle of my yard, because it is the septic field. My yard is flat though. Some thoughts. In a temperate climate, where you get snow, ice and rain, I really dislike plantings around the house. I inherited a whole slew of shrubs and perennials, etc. planted WAY too close to the house. Now they hold moisture against the house and are home to all kinds of pests that try to get into my house, like mice, ants, spiders, etc. and even once a chipmunk. Plus now they are starting to block the windows and my house is dark enough inside already! Second thought is not every hill needs a retaining wall. They are expensive and need to be built correctly in order not too collapse over time. I'm not saying don't invest in one, but not absolutely necessary. Same with removing the stumps. Natural landscaping would not worry too much about them. Plus I'm just cheap and lazy so whatever I do, I would want to get the most bang for my time and buck. You could plant up that hill fine and cover with mulch and groundcover too. Could be a spot for a rock garden, if that floats your boat. Unless you're craving a retaining wall. I'm not saying one or the other is better, just depends on what you want to invest in. For a natural landscape, I'd start down at the island, like Bellburgmaggie did. You've got the tree background, now expand with some low flowering shrubs on the edge, and some pretty shade tolerant herbaceous plants. Now, along the front of the house, what do you want? Grassland perennial gardens look kinda drab in the winter, so good to mix in some evergreens and plants that have interesting bark, form or seedheads. Things like sedum, redtwig dogwood, paperbark maple, etc. You might Google Piet Oudolf or get one of his books, etc. for some inspiration. I was first turned on to him from a post on here. I will say however, his designs demand a fair amount of knowledge, skill and sophistication to pull off. 10 Garden Ideas to Steal from Piet Oudolf I've also worked in areas with seeded meadows and I have created tiny meadow islands. Not to everyone's taste. Some folks think it looks "messy." I'm not that house proud, but that could be a factor in your design decisions too. The one I created was in concert with the seed folks at Prairie Moon Nursery. Detailed instructions on the Web page I linked to. We created a seed mix that was specific to our location. Ya gotta get rid of the plants growing there. Easy peasy to burn but also requires preparation and skill and permits. Can use tilling and super-duper Roundup and wait until it dissipates to plant the seed mix. Mow at the right time to maintain. Weed as needed. Our meadow was right in front of our visitors center, very small but was bounded by a path, so that made it easier to focus maintenance efforts. Also, if you're going to feature a small tree, (like serviceberry, for example), place that first and plan to have undergrowth around it that can take the shade it will cast.

The three prints need to form a vignette with the black chest, so move them to that wall and hang two of them side by side 5" above the chest with the 3rd one centered above them. Use about one hand's breadth to determine how far apart. Instead of the two little rugs, shop for a larger one to slip under the bottom 1/3 - 1/2 of the bed. Your lamps are too petite. Once they're on the bedside tables they should arrive somewhere between 58-64" from the floor. That may vary with your headboard, so measure where that lands as well. Your curtains are too short, but you can simply lower the rods so they kiss the floor. I don't care for the little stool and would prefer a bench under the window or at the end of the bed if you have room.