Heather from JustAGirlwithaHammer's Profile

I was part of the wave of Heathers named in the 70s, so I was always one of 3 or 4 in my class. I can confirm that I wasn't emotionally scarred by the experience and I went on to become a productive human. Go ahead and name your kid Emma; they'll be alright.

I've removed a LOT of sod on my property and my favorite tool for large areas is a sod cutter. We have tons of neighborhood cats who delight in digging up the newspaper I've laid down to smother the sod, which ends up looking terrible. For smaller areas I like using a pick axe. It allows you to remove strips of sod with fairly little effort.

Matter can be neither created nor destroyed; if you use chemicals they will end up in the soil and the water supply.

I'd echo picking a small area to start with, preferably in the back yard. Once you start to get the hang of how landscape design comes together you can move to more public spaces, like the front yard. Planning is great but I'm also a big fan of plopping plants in and moving them if they don't work.

And I'm going to disagree about natives being happy wherever you put them. A native wetland plant isn't going to be happy in a dry place. They aren't magic. Right plant, right place.

There's a great collection of hairdo planters here: http://pinterest.com/leannlocher/i-aspire-to-more-hairdos-in-the-garden/

Some of them are a tiny bit creepy. :)

I have friends who installed an Ikea kitchen ten years ago and the shelves are now sagging badly. I suspect this would happen with any cabinets that aren't solid wood.

If you remove the lawn under the Doug fir you won't need to rake up needles and cones. You can leave them to mulch the area. Contrary to what a lot of people believe, needles are not acidic and they work beautifully to suppress weeds. I too garden under a Doug fir and it's tricky because it sucks up every last bit of moisture. But you have a great blank slate!

Moisture is terrible for books so make sure to resolve all water and humidity issues in a basement area before installing a library.

Their style looks so effortless. Gorgeous house!

I like BM 'Whirlpool,' a very pale ice blue. I think it would look nice with the dark brown cabinets.

I had a small, north-facing room and painted it Juniper by Devine. It was really cozy and it made the white trim pop. Your white bedding would likewise pop.