mpoulsom, thanks. Yes, the bed goes between the windows. I've ordered drapes and they should be ready in a week or so, and i wanted to get this wall painted before they come to install. This is a new house, I moved in last summer and have been working on decorating/furnishing etc. I am 44, single, no kids, one small and wonderful shih-tzu and I'm in Alberta, Canada. :)

a pleasure to meet you kimdee! we all love animals in this group!

well, astraea...if you don't get it soon, it will prob be headed your way from here. You know how it goes...hits us then travels up 85 and 95 to you guys. Of course you get our stuff AND the northern midwest crap! Poor things. I DO feel sorry for you about that!

Eztia - Did you send me an e-mail about coffee? I'm paranoid about links people send me .. my cousin's e-mail was hacked recently.

i love the coffee email..............beautiful

MP, you nutty psychic! That's exactly what I've been doing today! *LOL* Covered with dirt, but 4 of my 6 raised beds are in place and I've got a few flowers planted that can take the cold just in case. Got a lovely striped heirloom tomato that I can't wait to get in the garden sitting on the counter, along with a bag of gladiola and elephant ear bulbs and seed packets for gourds, sunflowers and zinnias. Yeah, just a tad excited, can you tell?

no hacking A!

Nice story! Jon Bonjovi opened a restaurant in Red Bank, NJ (~ 20 miles north of me); I think that people pay what they can afford. Theoretically enough pay more, so others can pay less. I haven't been there yet.

Is it rude to ask people why they haven't planned out their entire project BEFORE starting? Just looked at a kitchen where they did the backsplash & some other things .. NOW want to paint the cabinets. Is it rude to ask if people really know what they want? Is it appropriate to mention the carpenter's motto, "measure twice, cut once" .. meaning that if you think & plan things out first, they turn out better & not having to be done twice?!

My April Fool's day post will be to post a wishy-washy room & ask what color is it, and where I can get that furniture! Another peeve .. is it OK to ask why people want the exact same room they've seen somewhere else .. online, in a magazine, at a friend's? Isn't that a little creepy, not to just want ideas about what looks nice together, but to want to just duplicate someone else's design?!

creeser, I knew you were out digging today. I have been dying to dig some in my front yard. J got some flagstone type rock, but very thick and not huge, put I want to start them coming from the bottom of the front steps andlower them into the grass. Having grass in between like stepping stones and then fade them out into the yard. I will leave places for 2 posts on each side for the future so I can build my pergola thingy from the front door out though.

Ha! I'm back! Had to download a new browser for Houzz but at least I can see stuff and comment now!

Ok, who's being offensive and derogative today?

Wasn't me......I'm so sweet, I melt in the rain.

I poked fun at the acupuncture clinic that advertised their services to have children on here and the hotel that offered vacation packages that posted, but that was yesterday. After digging in the garden all day, I'm probably offensive, but not derogatory. I use positive chi with my plants.

MP, I thought of doing the flagstone thingie in between my raised beds. I was going to use stone, but hubby thinks it'll be too hot and to hard for the grandbabies to walk on, so he wants to put down sod. My idea is to use the flagstones there like you're wanting to use them.

Creeser, how's you doggy doing?

Hi all, off to the beach today - check back later. Have fun.

bobbi, SO much better, thank you for asking! I didn't even have to give him his heavy duty medicine last night. Kept thinking of what you said about let go and let God when I started to worry. I really appreciated that. :)

roo, have fun!

I saw my first spring flowers today! The project house had some tiny little bright yellow crocuses on the south side. Of course, when we went around the north side, we still had a big bank of snow beside the house

Temperature here was in the mid 50s today and is supposed to be in the upper 50s tomorrow - the warmest weather we've seen here for months. It's still too cold to do any gardening, but the grass is starting to green up and my fingers are starting to itch!

Hi all, trying very hard to stay awake Life is so hard sitting at the beach in the sun all day, totally knocks me out. Had a wonderful day though, grands are all water babies and have been having a wonderful weekend swimming, canoeing, surfing and fishing. Older boys have taken to pole fishing and are really loving it. Caught some great fish and barbecued them all by themselves and were so proud of their achievements. Great to see 15 years olds enjoying simple things and staying away from trouble.

I didn't realise you guys don't do Easter like we do. We have a 4 day break - Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Sunday and Monday. As well our State schools also have the Tuesday unless Easter is late and falls in school holidays. I just can't conceive a day of such religious significance like Good Friday doesn't get recognition.

Kimdee, I love your brown wall, I'm sure I'd gain 5kg just walking in that room. Do you get Dulux paint in Canada? My favourite brand of paint, it is such good quality here, although expensive, but I have been wondering what other countries have it.

Astraea - Ikea do have some great desks although you do have to assemble their furniture and while it can be involved their instructions are good and they always seem to have plenty of necessary pieces. The only thing I find with the white - I have it for my desk - it does seem to chip, so I definitely wouldn't be standing on it without padding. It is very solid though.

Funny, I only have one email from this thread today too. Wonder how many other emails I'm missing, there are quite a few posts where people have only put up vague requests and I have been trying to bring them out with their needs. Of course I can't remember all the posts but you wonder what people might think when you start to help them and then appear to pull the plug.

roo, in the US there are so many different religions and atheists that days with religious significance are not recognized by the government. I need to move to Oz! :)

Roo - The inside joke about being able to stand on the desk, is that when I had my old one, I would stand on it to change the curtains .. never a problem. Yet when that table was in the moving van, it allegedly "fell apart" all by itself! I asked if they'd stacked my many boxes with books on it, and they swore they didn't .. but why else would it have just broken apart?!

Astraea - ah ha!!!!

Creesy - we are having that problem now too. There has been some argument about all the different religions here now, there are even teachers banning Christmas Carols in schools, but strangely all the kids participate in Easter Hat Parades, etc., and all that sort of thing as well as many religions screaming that their religious days are not observed with public holidays. That is fine everyone agreed they can have their religious days off in lieu of Christmas and Easter - they work those days. Funny, the subject went quiet. Basically it all comes down to us being a Christian country, have been since the country was discovered so therefore Christianity is observed and if you want to come here with other religions, fine, we will respect that provided you accept you are in a Christian country, and like our Christian holidays would not be respected or observed in your country, don't expect us to change.

Yes, in politically correct California, what we used to call Easter vacation is now known as Spring Break. Sad.

It is like Christmas too, our school year finished in December, just before Christmas and the new year starts end January/early February, so the whole holiday period is generally referred to as Christmas Holidays. I notice over there you all refer to as The Holidays or the Holiday Season. Christmas doesn't come into it at all. You even say Happy Holiday where we would say Merry Christmas.

Roo, you're right. We call the Christmas holidays Winter Break. It's a shame, really.

Don't forget ladies that everyone isn't Christian, and doesn't celebrate the same holidays. As a child in school, it was a little off-putting, that the Christian holidays were often legal holidays we were off, but if you were Jewish (or something else), you had to take time off to observe. And back in the day, we'd make decorations for the well-known Christian holidays at school, even though sometimes the Jewish holidays fell around the same time, and no one talked about our traditions or decorations.

Now, unless I know someone is Christian, I wish them a "Happy Holiday". Whether I say something or not, I don't appreciate when people assume I celebrate the same holidays they do, and automatically wish me a Merry Christmas or Happy Easter.

It all boils down to respect. And kindness. No one should be made to feel smothered by someone else's beliefs. Living in a free country, it is often hard to balance that. With so many different theologies, how do you not step on someone's toes? You make mistakes, get reminded, and try to be mindful and respectful after that. It doesn't mean I stop believing what I believe or deny my beliefs to others.

This is why real cowboys have an unspoken rule..... "don't talk bad about anybody's religion, politics, pickups or mommas." Not necessarily in that order...... I think pickup trucks comes first.

Nuh-uh... it's mommas. Trust me. Pick ups are second. :)

@olldroo -- Yes, we have Dulux in Canada. I used it in my great room, because it was what my builder used and I didn't mind it. This time though, I used BMoore, and am (again) amazed at how much better it covers, even over Dulux's best line. It's just... thicker, or something. I don't know.

The color is VERY rich... makes me want to eat the drywall! I put a picture of the finished room in the 3/10 thread.

Good Friday is a statutory holiday in Canada as well (meaning, if you have to work it, legally, you either get paid time and a half or a paid day off in lieu).

Astraea - when my joeys were growing up we were very close friends with a Jewish family with 3 daughters also so we were very aware of them not celebrating Christmas and we always made sure we acknowledged Hanukkah in the same way they acknowledged our Christmas. I think what makes it hard though is that Hanukkah doesn't have a fixed date like Christmas Day - I note this year it is actually in November - but I know back around the late 1800s-early 1900s the US had a very high migration of Jewish people and I think again after WW2 so I always felt the Happy Holidays was out of respect to them when Hanukkah was generally so close to Christmas.

My nephew married a girl from a family of - shall we say - a minority religion, a supposedly Christian one, who do not recognise Christmas at all. He went into the religion with both feet and absolutely drove everyone insane. If anyone wished him Happy Christmas, even complete strangers on the street, he would go into a loooooooong explanation of how he didn't recognise Christmas but he respected they did but they had to understand he couldn't wish them Merry Christmas in return because it was against his religion. He just could never let it go. Ended up no one was talking to him at all. He even rang his mother the day before her birthday once to warn her not to expect a phone call, card or gift on her birthday because it was against his religion.

Kimdee, that is interesting BM being better than Dulux. We used to have a fabulous paint place near us, two local industrial chemists got together and devised their own paints, had a small factory and warehouse and sold direct to the public for less than half the price of branded products. Even better it had to be the best paint I ever used except for their high gloss oil - Dulux was much better than that. The wall paint they made was a flat vinyl but was 100% scrubbable and it always came up a treat. Sadly they disappeared from the scene, don't know whether they retired and just closed the business or they sold it but the new owners didn't keep it going or what. It was such a good paint even all the local pro painters used and recommended it.

I saw your room all done - looks lovely. I would love to try something like that but it just doesn't look right in my home. I even tried some mid range browns on my bedroom walls and they just went like mud. Photos on Houzz in similar colours looked amazing so I have a feeling our light might have something to do with it.

Having been out of the work force for a while now, I'm not sure what the pay rates for Christmas Day and Good Friday are any more. Once it was triple pay, but with the change and extension to trading hours for stores particularly different rates have come in but I have a feeling it could still be double pay.

Olldroo -- It's just my preference. The Dulux was good and I would use it again... but I even noticed that with the BM for this project, I used a little more than 1/3 of the can for this wall, and two smaller niches in the hallway for two coats, where I used more of the Dulux for a similar area in the great room. Not sure why that would be. The builder used Dulux for the rest of the house, supposedly full strength, but maybe a lesser product in their line up, because it sure marks easily.

Thanks, the room is coming along nicely, got the artwork hung today over the bed, centered and level in the first try so that was a win for today. I think you may be right about the light difference where you are. I've seen real estate photos of property in Australia, and the photos even seem oddly surreal to me -- perhaps attributable to the lighting difference? Not sure.

Kimdee, please post a pic when you're done! I'd love to see it :))

Here's where I'm at so far. The drapery panels will be here in a week or two, but it's pretty much done for now.

OH, that's so pretty! I love the colors you've chosen and I like how you've balanced everything, very symmetrical, very well done! Thanks for sharing!

Gosh I must get out and do something about my bedroom furniture, kimdee you have really got me going now. Once BH goes, hopefully I will be able to structure my time better without his constant interruptions. You really have me worried about my lamps now. I have two gorgeous lamps my mother bought me when we first built the house, I guess they really are dated now, but I just love them so much and of course when mum had so little money I do treasure everything she bought. However, I really think they are going to let my room down, I don't think they are tall enough. Dilemma for the future ladies, I'm still thinking about the stick lamps - I think I have another brain overload coming on.

Kimdee, I wonder what he used that marks easily. If he used a standard flat apparently that isn't readily washable as any cleaner you use on it does mark. I used the 101 low sheen and that seems ok, it is supposedly designed for cleaning.

I have actually had a few people who are knowledgeable on interior design comment on how light does change from country to country even vary according to latitute and altitude. There must be something in it.

Roo, your gorgeous lamps, can anything be done to modify them? Like change the shades, or if they're not tall enough you could artfully stack books underneath them?

Thanks, ladies. Olldroo, if you love your lamps and they are special, that's wonderful and you should definitely find a way to keep them in your decor. My house is coming together nicely, but at times I think it's little show-homey magazine-like. It's those memories and special items that make a house a real home...

I don't think I can go any higher with a shade or I would put the whole thing out of balance. Maybe I need to ensure I have a tall enough bedside table. At the moment I just have an occasional table beside the bed that is slightly higher than the mattress and it doesn't look too bad.

Sorry, Bobbi I'm not into the book stacking and having it on both sides would be just a bit too matchy-matchy.

I'll work something out - either that or just not have a perfect magazine home heehee. Then I could post it here and let everyone redesign the whole room.

Thanks ez, the base is all glass with a pretty yellow gold speckle through it all, the clear glass 'stripe' really shows it up where the milky glass subdues it. The original shade was what we used to call avocado green in a thai silk, not as tall, oval but it still came out at the bottom like this one does. Unfortunately, it just totally fell apart as the green probably would have gone with my walls. I just picked these shades up in Target one time on special as a fill in till I decided what I was doing with the room so I probably will look out for new ones.

@olldroo. I had a friend who owned a lamp shop. Take your gorgeous lamp to a lamp shop and the people there will have all kinds of pretty shades that one can't find elsewhere. My friend always told me to "bring the lamp!" She said otherwise it is like buying a hat without bringing your head!

Definitely need the lamp, ez. Unfortunately we don't have nice little shops like that anymore, all the big chains put them out of business so now it is a really pot luck thing slogging from store to store hoping for just the right thing. Of course, if I got super keen I could make one, they aren't hard to do. Maybe I'll try online for some ideas after I get the room all set up.

Roo/Eztia - Totally relate to the "nice little lamp shops" problem!! While my lamps all look fine, the shades look their age .. but I was totally unable to replace them, when I went to all the large lamp stores I could find within 25 miles! Lamp stores used to have a large selection of alternate/replacement shades .. but now they don't bother carrying them. The basic shapes & materials have also changed too, so even though I know the size of my shades, it's not so easy to buy something online, and frankly I hate adding a $10 shipping charge on a $20 or $30 item!

Last time I went to the store with the shades in the car, but the largest lamp store said I should have brought the actual lamps .. really .. wrap 5 or 6 lamps up & haul them all over the county?! And then they said they were changing their shade contract, and had almost nothing in stock.

Roo - Would you believe that I just got a duplicate notification about your post from 23 hours ago, about the Jewish people you know?! What is going on with these notifications?!

I can quite believe that, it is crazy. The best one I had was 39 hours late. It is even harder for me with our time difference as a lot come through while I sleep so there can be another 8 hours delay before I respond.

I've never gotten this may duplicates.

Well, this takes the cake; I just got an e-mail notice for a post of MP's .. that she posted 3 days ago!!