Getting Swept Up in Design

I'm finally catching the fever for design and have started obsessively looking at home and garden sites, as well as hundreds of books and magazines on the subject. Buying my house was pretty hellish and it's just been over the last few weeks that I've truly felt excited about the upcoming projects for improving our home. I was busy making appointments with window people, furnace people, fence people, etc. when my friend Kathy brought her boyfriend Andre over and he gave me some very good advice. He said he could tell I was starting to get swept up in the excitement of re-doing the entire house, but that I should hold off from making any decisions until I had spent at least 80 to 100 hours researching each project. I was stunned! I wanted so badly to at least do... something, but I realized that he was giving me some very good advice and I actually listened. Now I'm making appointments for quotes and gathering information, but not committing to anything yet. So far, Andre's advice was right on. I've heard some great ideas from people that I hadn't even thought of and can see that my house is going to be fabulous in the end! So, with that said, here are some pictures and a link to a cool green design site for a local company.