You need something for privacy and light control. If plantation shutters are not a good option ($), then roller shades or mini blinds will be needed. There are now newer miniblinds available without any cords to attract cats. If you hang them inside your window frame rather than having them dangle below the window, that could also help. Push the new blinds all the way up to the top of the window at the first morning light, pulling them down only when you need them for privacy/light control. Forget about actual curtains or drapes that hang below the windows. A swag valance that covers the top of the window frame and the side window frames but not the actual window is the most you should have with cats. https://windowtoppers.com/collections/kitchen-curtains-and-valances/products/roslyn-3-piece-tailored-country-swags-filler-valance-window-curtains-set-with-banded-edge?variant=46144210566 Another idea: In what window do your cats prefer to sit? Since your cats matter to you, consider creating a space for them at a window that will meet with their approval. Do you have a double window in your living room or family room -- wherever you watch tv or spend most of your time. If so, consider adding a bookcase or table in front of it, with the top at windowsill level, for your cats to sit and keep the top of it clear* of people stuff, especially in front of the windows. https://www.decoist.com/2013-12-06/space-saving-book-shelves-and-reading-rooms/lysann-pure-living-interiors/ *Note: cats like cardboard flats -- the bottom of a cardboard box with a few inches of side all around against which they can put their backs when they lie down . Every cat I've ever had preferred one to a store bought cat bed -- and they're cheap -- free -- and disposable when they begin to smell like a cat in need of a bath. Set some of these cardboard flats atop a table or bookcase near your window and expect your cats to be drawn to them -- they'll lounge and sleep in them. If the bottom of the box is not smooth, add another piece of cardboard from the side of a box as a floor/mattress to the flat bed.

The little gnatties like to feast on dead and decaying plant matter, and love it moist. Yep that 'covermoss' is prone to sheltering and keeping a colony of the little buggers. I clean up my plants and keep them 'clean' all the time (old leaves removed and no debris left in the top of the pot) and that helps some on not ever seeing them. I housesit for someone and she always comments when she comes back that I have cleaned up and cleaned out every one of her plants... she always has problems with various disease issues and if she would just CLEAN UP she'd have a lot less problems. Also, remove the trash immediately... she would have this big rolling garbage cans and wouldn't empty them for months on end. I remove my greenhouse trash when I'm through and ready to go back to the house. If I run into something like mealy bugs, that gets carried out immediately! (a local nursery has issues with it, anything you bring home from there has to be isolated and cleaned up) Between that friend and myself we have fought this war for fourth winter. I am now 'clean' and she is still having issues (I have also tossed a few plants to stop the infestation and she won't... so she keeps breeding more). If you get mealy bugs in your house and your houseplants; second worse is spider mites; you will have a long and hard one to get that one cleaned up. First picture, if you remove the few leaves you find and remove them from the area then wash up, you will probably get it right there. Missing one fleck, you will find first or second picture in 1-4 weeks. I don't spray because a lot of sprays they seemed to ignore; I killed the plant along with the bugs; and in my greenhouse I am doing semi-aquaculture and sprays/chemicals are not a good thing around the fish. I can tell you insecticidal soap has never seemed to work even if I pretty much drowned the plant in it and it usually has killed the plant at that level. I do 'clean up plants' and 'toss badly infected plants pot and all' ... at times I can find a part of the plant that is almost clean, hand clean a few small flecks off, and put it into an isolation cutting cup-and toss the main plant. In a few weeks either it has gone rampantly infected in which case I toss the whole cup, or it's clean yet and rooted so I can pot it up. I've cried over some plants I've tossed, but. Upper Left, Usually you will see just one or two flecks, underside of leaves, near a leaf to stem join, by the time you see this much you'll be well into the battle. Size of very small salt grains if that big. Upper Right, Well engaged, this is trim this off and remove it; or if the whole plant looks like this it's going to be tossed. Lower Left, if you see these, about the size of two to three salt grains glued together in a string, you have major problems Lower RightMature mealys, about 1/8 inch long, (3mm), and I usually see the matures as a light gray like this. The smaller is white, the mature is this grey, and they are highly detailed. Start checking all the plants around this one and be very serious about check EVERY bit. All it takes is one tiny white cottony looking fleck....

White squirrels? Cool! I saw a black one once in my twenties and was so sorry I didn't have time to pull over and get a picture. Fast forward to my forties, and pulling into Niagara Falls -- I spotted a black squirrel, exclaimed, "OMG a black squirrel!" and made my husband pull over. He'd been driving for hours, there was nowhere to pull off...but I'd been waiting twenty years for this shot, and there was a black squirrel darn it, so I insisted. Got my photo, kept going, and spotted two more. Five more. Twenty-five more. You get the picture; Niagara is overrun by black squirrels and I'll never hear the end of it. Came home and designed this for Café Press -- so that I could put it on a tee shirt for his birthday (smirk;)! http://www.cafepress.com/+the_black_squirrel_tile_coaster,177261439

Yes, I see a fica in most of the rooms in my near future and whatever else I find at the garden shop. I actually love going to my local garden shop even though I don't have the most green thumb. I kind of lean toward the WE as I am concerned the baskets aren't high enough for how big it should get. I'll snap a picture once I get the new pillows judi bola. Thank you! I am trying to find a couple options and saw this one and liked it. What do you think? I am adding plants to several of the rooms and I feel so much better with the plants all around as silly as it may be. I have always liked that basket of yours too. I have that set up Ann in my mother's former room. It is allergy proof and means you never have to buy another foundation. I may look for some new pillow covers on the chairs to change it up and figure out that coffee table. As for my mattress, it is king too. I also find it pretty heavy so I need my husband's help to change the sheets (I hurt my shoulder and it never was the same). That topper I added made it heavier but it's so comfortable that I can't take it off. Mine is made of-