I wish all of you could have joined us! It was fun to tour with another touchy-feely plant nut - I even caught Chelone pulling a tiny weed and skimming aphids off of a rosebud. Thanks for the shrub ID ladies, I knew our Idyll friends would have the answer, as usual. The sculpture of the linked figures is called "A Circle of Friends" by Fred Meyers. Below is a link to the website for the rental of the smaller house on the first property we viewed, the one the first 5 pics are from. Here is a link that might be useful: Rent a Piece of the Atlantic

Thanks to everyone who contributed. I have to say that I'm very pleased with the answers from everyone and that Emmachas was reading my mind. I am going for a Louisiana style home based off of the designs by the Louisiana home architect A. Hays Town. No offense to those who don't like the design but it doesn't bother me. Everyone has different tastes. I just wanted to see if the home conveyed what I wanted to express and it appears that it does. My wife and I are from LA so just like this home we are a mixture of several different cultures. I'm half French acadian with a 1/4 English and 1/4 Scottish while my wife is 1/2 Irish and 1/2 English. I think this home is a perfect proportional mutt just like my family. It takes beautiful designs from all the contributing cultures and matches them in a way that works. Worthy's post made me smile not only because of his backhanded insult but because my lot is a wooded lot and I'm glad he could see my home in such a setting. Seeing that he is from frozen Canada, I couldn't see him appreciating a home designed for the hot and muggy Louisiana climate. It was also interesting to note that the posters from up north thought the house looked odd and out of place while those from the south thought it was a beautiful design. It makes perfect sense considering no one in their right mind would build a house like mine for a northern climate and if they did it better match the uniform culture of the area. This house with it's tall ceilings and large overhangs is for the deep south and the multi cultural elements point to Louisiana Thanks for all of the help and interesting posts. I'm very happy with the results. Here are some pictures of the home again and of the 11 acre lot on which I plan to build. By bb19, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-10-05 By bb19 at 2009-10-03 By bb19 at 2009-10-05 By bb19, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-10-06 By bb19 at 2009-10-05 By bb19, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-08-25 By bb19, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-08-25 By bb19, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-08-25 By bb19 at 2009-08-25 By bb19, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-08-25 By bb19, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-08-25 By bb19, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-10-06 By bb19, shot with Canon PowerShot SD790 IS at 2009-10-06

FlGargoyle, thanks for the VRBO link. I will check it out. We have that house in Massachusetts, of course, which some might consider a nice place to get away and in New England not far from Boston. Many residents work in the city, in fact. But our experience loaning it out to a couple was less than ideal, so we are very reluctant to take a chance on something bad happening. But we did stay in a glorious 3 story home about a block off the beach in Virginia Beach. They had a whole book for us to take heed of, and in order to get our deposit back, everything had to go back in the proper spot, according to photos of every drawer in the kitchen identifying each item, and the linen closet, and the beach chairs and boogie boards and such. Very smart they were about running such a rental space. Whether that is common way that rentals keep track of possessions in VaBeach, I do not know. But it made it easy for the home to be ready for the next set of vacationers--who were lined up at the office waiting for the keys when we dropped our keys off at the end of our week. BTW, the kitchen was on the TOP floor. So was the living room with a huge TV and stereo. In short, all the expensive appliances were above flood level. The ground floor was constructed in what we call "breakaway walls," so that only the ground floor might be damaged by hurricane surges. No carpet, just cement floors, and they were painted like beach sand, with crabs and shells and seaoats and green sea water all around the two bedrooms and a bath down there. It was a lovely home, fully equipped, and had a gorgeous outdoor shower which I fell in love with.

Stearling, ornate and heavy, polished to a soft sheen Poison Silk drapes French Doors A real fire place and a glass of wonderful port Hot and strong tea brewed in a thick brown pot, with milk and sugar Scones Oriental carpets Tapestry in faded colors Crown molding Detailed woodwork Carera marble A real christmas tree with white lights Mohair and cashmir (not my spelling) Burgundy wine Leather furniture without budda bellies Libraries Parlors Fabulous entry halls Antique quilts, both silk and flower sack warm colors Silk dresses Rubies on a red head :) Im feeling a bit homesick since I'm in hospital and we have an imminent death in the family so forgive me if I get a bit maudlin here... A new baby's smile A fluffy down comforter Comfortable pillows (ok I'm tired of sleeping in a chair) Cabernet, Burgundy and any other wine LOL A family, all together A meal cooked with love That fire place I mentioned earlier, with the family, baby and meal...and the burgundy :)