Just yesterday we discovered a wet place on the carpet in our finished basement. Called in a professional right away. Our house is 9 years old. The gentleman checked our whole basement carefully, indicated that his expectation is a crack from the bottom of the window opening and water seeping out from under the drywall. We removed the portion of drywall and insulation under the window, and sure enough, there is a crack, looks like settling, from the window edge to the floor. Drywall was wet for a few inches from the floor. Pulled bak the carpet and used heaters and a fan to dry it up. The man is coming back to use the injection of polyurethane and membrane method to seal it up. Our ground is frozen solid right now but we have had heavy rainfall over the last couple of days. The expert told us he had had 18 calls in the last 24 hours, as the earth cannot absorb the water just now and it runs down between the ground and the foundation, finding any way it can to run, in our case, through a small crack and into the house. In the Spring we will make sure that window well drains are clear, that water is directed further away from the house, that the grading is improved a bit. May dig down by hand to see if anything is required from outside. All the comments here have been incrdibly helpful, as we have had absolutely no experience of this in the past. Thank you all, and good luck! I may post again after all is said and done to report degree of success.

Alina - we didn't do a careful job at all. I just asked a kinda slap-dash guy to throw together a bookshelf made of 3/4" pine I think. maybe even 5/8". I'm not recommending this, certainly not over what am actual cabinet maker constructs. Only, this is just not something I fussed about at all. Course, this happened early on in the experience when I knew -8b. I know more now and might be more careful about all this. And I'll show pictures because I want folks to see but ... it doesn't look very good in pictures, neither of my bathrooms does! The colors are wrong and you just can't get a sense of the feel of the room *at all*. One of my bathrooms I posted because of a problem with the vanity top and I got a little sub-enthusiasm because I know my "Style" is no way-no how GW's! I wish I *could* convey with a photo what the room actually looks like because I do really like both and think you-all would too if only I could depict it fairly! As well, over in kitchens I once set off a mild scandal-storm by showing a picture of another bathroom that contained wet footprints in it, and of my kitchen once all overflowing with a typical day's worth of chaos from a really, really busy household. I am just not living the GW life here. So - all those mea culpas aside, please understand that I do recognize my life style is perhaps a little shocking to some on this forum. As they say on the net, no one knows that you're a dog. All I can say is -- it works in person! So here's a closeup of the shelves that are smaller because of the room's configuration in one of the bathrooms. This is unfinished and unused, but we're getting closer! Darn it, I should have removed the offending personal items and put the toilet seat down for this photo, but it's now beyond a waking person's reach, if you follow: And here's an overview of the space if it helps. Please know this wall is no way so blue in reality. I'm thinking the glossiness might have caused the flash to bounce and change the color a lot? It is a little bit blue but in there it looks grey-blue: The serpentine in the niches was supposed to go on the floor, but when I went to order it, the warehouse said a hotel chain in Arizona had just bought hundreds of thousands of sqft of the stuff and it was now all gone. I was really disappointed! But I got to keep the sample and that's where it ended up. The replacement floor is more muted but it's OK, particularly given the top I was therefore able to "afford" (in the wild-stone expense account that is). For your interest, here's a shot of that wild-stone: And here's the shelf in the other bathroom. These shelves are bigger but obviously not being used to great affect at the moment. If you cared about use, appearance, efficiency, etc, you should just build the pony wall to a height that will give your bookshelves the height they want or you need. I didn't do that, just sort of fit them into a random height built to contain the tub. That was silly I suppose, but designing this was not on my mind at all at the time: Here's a shot of that space for reference: And because I posted about this problem sink of mine earlier and showed some shots of the bathroom at the time, I'll show the other wall and the new top to that problem vanity. The old problem sink is, sadly, gone (broken) and everything works *way* better. BTW, at the time someone (well-meaningly) criticized the diagonal tiling backsplash as not representing a angularity anywhere else in the room. That's not actually true, but you cannot really make it out in the photo; the entire white tiling behind the tub is on an angle and the spots are set in, therefore, at their junctions, also as an angle, a sort of "diamond on the side", as it were. What can I say -- I think it works in person. If you stare hard you can just make out the white-on-white diamond pattern of the tub. So that has white grout, the sink area blue to pick up the transluscent tiles. That luminescence also doesn't photograph well: And finally, because there was a discussion of "boob lights" elsewhere which I personally found just hilarious, I show here a shot of my decidedly not-boob lights. I can't get what they look like when turned on, they emit a slightly red and blue-green streaky white color -- it's pretty wild. Unanticipated, but really looks very cool. I picked them in large part because they worked to the *left* of the electrical box. Those got put in in the wrong place and I just didn't feel like moving them. Decorating-by-sloth. :) OK, please understand this all works better in person than in photos. I know it's a real faux pas around here to show traces of life-with-teens but I just don't have the energy to clean up behind them or for a photograph. Mea culpa!!!!

Okay, here's the Bronwynsmom full tilt more-than-you-aked-for solution. And I confess that I haven't read all the other posts (I usually do), so if I'm repeating, I apologize. Your room needs life, and cohesion. I like the sofa against the mirror, and I like the mirror's effect on the room, but I think the heavy timber frame is too much for the room and the delicacy of the rather slender bookcases. First, I would set the bookcases up on a low platform, so that you can push them all the way back to the wall, and give them a bit more substance - and to get that bottom shelf off the floor. Then I'd choose a rich, beautiful paint color for the room, and paint everything - walls, trim, timbers, and the bookcases - to match the walls. We did the bookcases that way in our den here, and it looks really nice, if I do say so.... I'd add a clip downlight to the top center of each bookcase section to light the contents. Then I'd treat both the window and the mirror as if they were both windows, and handle them in the same way. I'd hang generous, lined floor-to-ceiling drapery panels, in a colorful or graphic pattern you really love, out beyond the sides of the windows, with the leading edges just covering the frames. If you need privacy at night, I'd think about adding simple roman shades at ceiling height. I'd do the same thing at the sides of the mirror, with two curtain panels out to the side just covering the frame. That would pull the two walls together, and make the heavy side timbers disappear, which I think the room needs. I'd add a pair of end tables and substantial lamps, add sofa pillows in lighter colors, move the large coffee table somewhere else, and put a pair of smallish square ottomans in front of the sofa. I'd turn the rug 90 degrees, so that the stripes run across the doorway, rather than creating a runway effect to the couch. I'd add a pair of Parsons-style upholstered chairs, with skirts, on either side of the table in the window, to avoid too many legs in the room. And I'd put a desk lamp on the table, and a floor lamp in the corner to your left as you walk into the room. The result would be a serene architectural background with the books, the wonderful table, the curtains, the upholstery and pillows, he sparkle and expansiveness of the mirror, and that great graphic rug as the stars.

I think a combination of things...a tall trellis with vines for starters, while a tree grows up there. And something you may already know...if you plant a tree, be sure to plant it far enough away from the house to allow for its mature size, whatever that will be. Something that has interest in all seasons is always good outside a big window...fall color, spring bloom, and a pretty form in winter is what I'd look for. Deciduous trees give you some coolness in summer, and are open for more light in winter. Or, if you will have a table outside the addition, it might be a good spot for a platform for your grill.