Rowan is a common name used for Sorbus aucuparia in Britain. This and any non-dwarf honeylocust will grow much taller than 15'. Except for the bushiness of the 'Heronswood Globe' there is nothing about any of those listed that makes them particularly suitable for screening. You might instead like to look at the hedges and screening lists in the plant selection guide part of the Sunset WESTERN GARDEN BOOK (2007, Sunset Publishing, Menlo Park) for other possibilities.

We stole a few square feet from our master...well heck quite a few really in two projects. We had a 650 ish sq ft space that had a tiny bathroom (one vanity, toilet, tiny shower and a closet). The tub was actually IN the master bedroom. So we took the tub out, and expanded the bathroom by ohhh let's see, about 3' on one side, and five on the other and expanded that closet out another 3' so we could have a tub, walk in shower, two vanities and a laundry (stackable) on that floor. We then closed off 12' of the room giving us a walk in closet that is about 12' x 15'. Do I regret it? I haven't got to live in the suite with the new bathroom yet (tiling starts on Monday) but the loss of sq ft is no biggie. With the closet (full of buildins and a desk area) we lost all of the furniture we had for storage :) So we don't miss that space. With the expansion of the bath and the closet...we brought laundry up five levels (the main level 1 is down five levels where the other laundry is) which is fabulous, and we lost a few sq ft where we once had a dresser with a TV on it. We will instead have that dresser in the closet and hang a flat screen on the wall. Really...we lost a big amount of sq ft, but since it's more efficient, it's not a big deal. And as to the bath, I don't see ever regretting the change :) Not knocking elbows while brushing teeth is a huge change for the good...and showering without seeing DH on the toilet...priceless :oP We had the place appraised with an as proposed appraisal, and while the master floor (top level) didn't change within it's walls in sq ft, the addition to the bath, laundry and master closet, increased our home value on that level alone by over $50,000. (Closet was $25,000 increased value).

Modern builders seem to have bought into the idea that everything is DISPOSABLE. You use it and then throw it away. Even seashells (the original creatures in the shells) keep on adding on as the animal inside grows. Only the hermit crabs who live in a shell long enough to grow into it, and then abandon it for a larger one as the crab gets bigger, those are the disposable critters. But then our economy has put a hitch in our gitalongs, and the "starter home" that was OKAY as long as the new couple could afford to move on up as the family grew, well, they cannot sell that starter home, and it is suddenly a trap they will have to come to terms with. Because with TWINS on the way, they need more space, or suddenly one of them is working at home part-time, and they need room for an office. And they must have two cars but the garage is full of STUFF and only room for ONE CAR in the driveway. So they pave a narrow strip off the side, if there is room, and then the neighbor starts turning around on it instead of backing out into traffic every morning. Or, there is a problem with the garbage can sitting near the only entry for guests, and trying to hide it from view is an issue. Not a big one, but I mean it is not the most attractive welcome, is it.... I like multi-use spaces. Which is why I think a carport that is toward the back end of a driveway is a perfect place to use for a cookout, maybe a party can take cover there when it rains. It makes a great space for the ice cream freezer and a picnic table when the temp is hovering at 100 F. And a row of container plants can find shade there, and vines can grow up the support posts. It can look really nice, and give the illusion of privacy without too much effort. What I've discovered this last week as I packed up a PODS, and what my DH commented on tonight, was that the house is still not looking empty. True true. We got rid of about 7500 pounds of STUFF, and the house is not empty yet. I told him that it looks like the house has BREATHING ROOM. Sort of like a diner who has to let his belt out a notch or two after Thanksgiving dinner, the house is giving a sigh of relief to finally have room to relax. Not so devastating when something is out of place now, because it doesn't look so overcrowded. Mercy, it took me a long time to convince him to let me do this. You know, I'd still be carrying things back to Alabama in a "body bag" strapped to the top of the car otherwise!! And up here in MA, it is hard to dispose of things, but in AL I can have one hellashus yard sale you betcha.....I will be thinking twice before bringing new purchases home with me. Books, however, are a particular weakness of both my DH and myself. So I'm trying to convert to e-books as much as possible. Easier to find them that way too. But my picture books are still something I love to touch. Paper is so satisfying a medium for color prints. Gotta go to bed, folks. Keep up the good work.

My Chicago studio apartment (where I lived alone, 1992-93) and the first Boston-area apartment DH and I had after we were married (1995-97) were both in the area of 200sf. At the Chicago studio I was in culinary school so I HAD to be able to cook - a lot! - to test recipes for class, in the Boston apartment we were too broke to go out to eat ($10 takeout Chinese was a monthly treat; our grocery budget was a corset-tight $25/week) so we had to be able to cook there too, so cooking equipment took up a good deal of space that could have been used for other things. Had the Boston apartment been in a good neighborhood and had we not been squeezing every nickel till the buffalo farted we'd have stayed a lot longer, as we were quite happy. It gets my hackles up to hear a very small living space described as a "jail cell". You don't need a thousand square feet per person (and I know some of you have FAR more than that!) to be happy! The only mirrors in either apartment were in the bathrooms. I really dislike mirrors in living areas - I don't think they make a room look bigger at all, IMO, I think they make it look even more cluttered/cramped by reflecting all the stuff that's in the room. BTDT (two houses ago an entire wall of the tiny DR was mirrored in a IMO-futile attempt to make the room look larger and brighter), covered the mirrors. I'd much prefer to have a great deal of color and artwork (I was not allowed to paint either apartment but they were a riot of artwork), but they may just prefer minimalism. Oh, and there were cats (just one) in both apartments. Chicago was playing "hide-the-kitty" for a friend for weeks at a time, Boston was when we got Random to keep me company when DH was working double shifts.