That's a good point Yard. Neither my wife nor I are very happy with how the end of it turned out, so I very well might be re-doing it at some point when I'm not so tired. The cutting of stones was a bit of a learning curve. I ended up redoing quite a few of them my second time round. I was just manually measuring with a straight edge ruler and getting a little creative with my curves to help lock it in. There were sadly a ton of curves to cut. We rented the saw the first day late for 24 hours. So I worked from 4pm or so until 8pm on them. By the end it was going much better. Sure enough the next morning I woke up at 7 am to finish up and it was sprinkling. Started cutting in the rain until about 11am when it started pouring. We realized how slow it was going and that I would have to rent the saw again, so my wife convinced me to stop working in the rain and return it. Sure enough as soon as it was back, the rain stopped. I doubt I would have finished either way though, never expected it to take that long to cut so much. I ended up working a full day from 7am to 8pm to finish the pavestone and capstone.

Pennisetum is my favorite grass (or is it Calamagrostis foliosa)... ive been growing Pennisetum alopecuroides for perhaps 30 years, first the species, then the smaller Hameln. I find it an indispensable mixer at the mid-size level of the garden. It has almost 11 months of interest in my California garden. A fine textured mid green in summer with an extremely graceful fountain shape, then it bristles with pretty flowers in late summer. Then in fall, my favorite season, it turns all shades of straw and russet and brown, gradually bleaching out to straw as winter comes in earnest. But it holds a nice shape and has "presence" until it needs to be sheared to a few inches from the ground here in late January. In milder winters it will start to grow in early February and it isn't long before it is looking really pretty.

Hi dana g, all I've done so far is take one of the rods out of the box! At first, I thought there was a problem with the rod because it extended only 24". I called the store and the woman I spoke with told me that BOTH ends extend. I felt so silly, but I think this will work in my favor to disguise the slight difference in the diameter of the rod as it is extended. The panels on either side will probably cover the extension, with only the center portion showing. We'll see. This is going to be a long, slow process for me. Tomorrow I hope to remove the existing window treatments and patch the holes left from them. After that, I can hang the poles. Then the panels will need some slight alterations. I thought you were using actual closet rods, but instead Lowes has drapery rods in the larger diameter. And it's nice to have all the options with the finials, rings and brackets. Good luck with your project. If I fail with the Opus rods, I'll be looking at Lowes, too. Isn't amazing how what seems like such a simple project can be so complicated? Please post pictures of your window when it's complete.

Hi Srg215, Wow...well, I'm not totally sure yet but I seem to recall the designer saying "2-3,000" for this carpet (bound as a rug), approximate size 10x14. If that's bound as a rug and delivered, I guess $2000 isn't that much more than $12 0/sq ft, but I'll find out the exact price this week and let you know. I had no idea I could find the same exact product for potentially so much less. Can you give me the info re: your Bergen store and what they call it? Stark calls the pattern "Westfield" and this green color "Spring", or is that only what Stark calls it? Thanks so much. Madeline