Boy half a zone difference make you guys so far ahead ~ just as George (ego45) reminded me! BB just flashed her virginal gown yesterday ~ 1 so far! QF opened tons on Pops' Day ~ so thrilled & tho both Orig ES did each a quick one, our gloomy/rainy/storm days interrupted the momentum ~ got everyone in a napsy mood & clusters are still just that! Today sun did show up ~ hopefully shake everyone up! Oh but Blue Frost Serrata even in his *dip 'n dot* stage is already giving hints on the trio of colors ~ blue, lavender, pinks & loaded! T&S1 ~ that came frost bitten, is the most advanced w/ all sorts of new canes & clusters - ready to flash soon ~ in the most ideal site, the hole I prep'd last Fall. I clipped all the blooms she came in to speed up these new ones! T&S2 & T&S3 are doing fine w/ new canes & new cluster finials tho nowhere close to T&S1's #s Luis - to answer our musings on extra sun exposure ~ definitely affects bloom colors IMO based on observations on these 3 T&S planted in 3 diff exposures ~ then again I'm also considering soil diff in their 3 sites! Sorry ~ for long chit-chat! Follow ups later. OK?!

OMG, BEDBUGS!!! Well, they had a Hoarders show where they had to clean out the whole house because of infestation of those. The family lived in tents out in the yard, up in Massachusetts, and it was getting to be late September, with first frost coming around mid October. The house had to be cleared out so exterminators could tackle the problem. But Mart, I like BOTH tan chairs. Maybe you can get him to lower the price a little by buying both chairs. And PAINTING the fabric would be easier on the lighter colored chairs. I think you will discover everything dark is not a good idea. Keep the space evenly balanced. Naturally the loveseat is a good option for a smaller space. And by having two chairs alike, you open up more possibilities with arrangements in the future. Get them both. Don't sweat the color of the sofa or the chairs. You can get yourself some painter drop cloth canvas which is heavy duty and cheap, and then with a GLUE GUN and fabric glue sticks, can make some washable slip covers. Or just throw them over the furniture and pin them in place. The reason I have simple loose cushions on my living room furniture is so I can strip off the dirty covers and wash them easily. Two little dogs and parrots take a toll on furniture and tidiness! Such slip covers will look very casual and comfy and BEACHY most of the year. Lose them in the winter when dark colors is good. But I like the way your fireplace goes up up, quite modern. The pair of chairs facing it, even from across the room, is a classic setup. They will help direct traffic AROUND and not through the middle of the room. To combat the "dark hole" look of the wood blinds, I'd think about a swing arm drape on each window. The whole wall is so symmetrical that treating them as a single unit, one left one right, with the drapes tied back low left and right, would further call attention to the symmetry. The dark blinds would make it possible to keep down glare from the windows should you one day choose to mount your TV above the fireplace. Yeah, you can put a flat panel up there and build a sort of furniture box with folding doors to cover it when not in use, I suppose. But the box even if left open could give you a way to hide wires, you will also need a DVD unit there, or a cable box whatever. Unless you have what they are calling a MAN CAVE space. I think that is ridiculous term myself. What happened to COUCH POTATO? Oh well, that just slipped out. Sorry. :) Been watching DIY channel, and it is heavy with testosterone and a lot of hollering, not at all laid back, like being at boot camp.

patty_cakes, that sounds really pretty. Thanks for the idea! newhomebuilder, I'll see if I can find SL magazine and look at that picture. I like your flat round basket on the ottoman (and the doggie). I used to have a really large basket on my large square ottoman in my previous decor. Maybe I should consider something similar here. demifloyd, I have been having trouble finding larger trays. They don't seem so easy to find, aktillery, beautiful room! Yes, that ottoman and basket looks similar to what I used to have, although my basket wasn't quite as deep and was larger. Maybe I should see how it looks on my current ottoman, although I don't think it will work very well. I'll have to take a picture.

Wow, thank you all so much. Lavendar_lass thank you for posting that layout, I really am liking it (thank you Buehl as well, yes I have two growing sons and a huge husband, never thought of leg room!). Rebunky thanks for posting the pics I'll have more to say on that later because I love love love that buttery black counter with those pretty white counters and am guessing you are deciding backsplash? :) I am dying to see your kitchen. Excuse my absence, we've been in heavy duty talks. Thanks to the so many of you that posted, each and every one of you has given me something to consider, that's what I was looking for. I was dragging my feet on ordering cabinets (which is about to delay us), and I realized it was just that I wasn't really happy with the kitchen layout, but couldn't figure out why. I am really starting to get a better grip on the issues, challenges, and space requirements. I am embarrassed to admit we just didn't re-visit the issue of expansion of living space vs. screened porch, and I think this has to do to the evolution of our project. Which has been less than ideal. We spent months and months thinking based on one contractor) that it was out of reach. I think we just let that dream go, and didn't go back to it. DH who I thought might kill me, based on yet another design change, just loved it. Of course it comes down to numbers, for my interior contractor, I'm approved. I need to verify with the framers the true cost difference. He was talking additional baffles (?) and flooring framing (it's not over heated living space) however we wonder if treated vs. untreated wood and some other things may just really offset it. We will see. This has gotten me actually excited about the kitchen. Finally. This is the whole reason I love to have other eyes on a project, sometimes you just really gain a fresh perspective that shakes you up and lets you think out of the box. I'm notorious for getting stuck in that box, so I try to compensate. Main Line, I appreciate your opinion, I agree that professionals make a difference. I did go to a professional for the original design. She did know my thoughts, and designed accordingly without critique, so I see the downfall. We did buy our bath vanity from them ( it fell in budget). There were a few bath drawings with all this extra cabinetry. My husband said from the start, her job is to sell cabinetry of course she is going to add additional pieces in. Hmm, never thought of that. Good point DH. I certainly thank you Main Line for the point that this could've been designed in a similar but more efficient and more inexpensive way. Perhaps I got a bum designer. That's a shame, I really like working with her. But, I wouldn't know, unless I went on a board like this. As I said, I like to have FRESH eyes. I'm trying to learn A LOT to be an educated consumer, in a short period of time. This board has been truly sanity saving in the amount of generous people willing to share. Some of the best features in our previous home, and this current home, have been due to our own design work. Now there are code and clearance issues, as seen in this kitchen example, that we aren't educated in. And I did have a professional KD. So I like to get more than one opinion. I have more to say on this, but I won't here. I am going to post some pics, which show our floorplan. Again, we hired a designer, but honestly I gave him our window dimensions, and I don't think he drew them correctly (even after a prelim revision). Whole point was to see how the big windows would look placed in the space. This was an expert recommended by a neighbor who used him on numerous home flips and had known him for years, and I had visited her home he designed. So I'm sorry Main Line, maybe I've had some bad luck, but when I base work off of recommendations and it doesn't work out, well there's problems. And I'm the one stuck, so I prefer more than one recommendation on design. Thanks to you all, pics in follow post.