Thanks! I was looking at palms this morning, but google didn't provide an immediate match... The tips were snipped with pinking shears right in front of my brother and his girlfriend. You can see unsnipped new growth near the base. Josh

ha, Thornapple, aka Jimson Weed - those of us familiar with Carlos Castaneda, back in the 60s and 70s may well have tales of various drug experiments. Having tried datura once, never again. 72 hours of twitchy, half-blind paranoid hallucinatory anxiety. I remember us all rushing to the pub, with terrible thirsts....and being unable to manage more than the tiniest sip. A couple of us were having parties in their heads, one of us was found some 13 miles away, eating a dandelion in a ditch, another was arrested but was having a made -up party in the police cell (passing imaginary joints and chatting with invisible mates). Once the weird twitches and neck jerks passed off, it was fairly eye-opening (I couldn't, in all honesty claim my consciousness was raised or anything) but it was a loooooong trip. Course, that was all back in the day - wouldn't dream of doing it now (I am so repressed, I would probably rush, nakedly into the street, shouting 'out, demons out' or summat like).

This is awesome feedback and so incredibly helpful! For a newbie like me, having your input really gives me confidence in our layout. So I've been contemplating the reco to switch the fridge and the range. I know having the fridge closer to the hall gives quick access to drinks, ensures the door opens properly and keeps the people from having to walk behind the cook to reach the fridge. But what are your thoughts about the impact of the fridge placement on the openness of the space? Do you think having the fridge on the right and the hutch on the left creates a more enclosed entrance into the kitchen? Right now we dont have any wall cabinets so we enjoy a fairly open and bright space with the large windows. I dont want to lose that so I'm interested in your thoughts. houseful: Your rendering is awesome. Its so cool to see my space in 3D! I surely dont want to lose inches in the planning (every inch counts, right) so Ill go back and recalculate the cabinet measurements. I love the curved island because it adds so much interest. My DH and I really want to maintain the seating for 4 on 2 sides of the island. This is the only way we could keep the ability to look at each other and our guests while eating. We played around with a "T" shaped island (the bottom of the T extending from the window), but thought the proposed island gave us more prep space. mom2lilenj: I fell in love with your idea of switching the DW and trash. It makes so much sense! If we lose that seat in the 33" space due to clearance issues, well definitely incorporate your suggestion. I also like your suggestion to expose the brick in the chimney. We had an architect friend over to take a look at the space and when I mentioned using the chimney as a decorative feature, she said because it was plastered over, the brick is probably not "pretty" brick. Id like to find out though, so maybe well expose a section in the mudroom to find out whats underneath the plaster. Even if its not pretty brick (which Im not exactly sure what that means), it would be awesome to expose another original element to the house. Ill keep you posted. Thanks again for your input and I welcome any other thoughts or ideas!

As bboy said, 1 is a Portulacaria (I think probably Portulacaria afra). It is Elephant Bush, Elephant Food, and various other nicknames, and is sometimes called Dwarf Jade, but it is not truly a jade -- jades are in the Crassula genus, a different genus of succulents. [Though they resemble each other, Jade plants and Portulacaria afra are not in the same genus, not in the same family, and not even in the same order. They are distant cousins at best.] Here's some info about P. afra: http://www.smgrowers.com/products/plants/plantdisplay.asp?plant_id=1314