Hi Zj. Normaly we wait pintree reach to 10-12 feet tall to train the tree. It is depend on shape you like to have. as normal size of garden tree( your pine tree),don't start to train to early. Since your are in TN, you will find many pinetrees in vacant lot, in feild, go to one of those place and practice. Fist 3 years or so applentices couldn't touch coustmoer's pine tree in old time.To train pine tree,developing form need take other kill as well such as knot, how to tie, know how to use comealong, spliting branch with pincher etc. Book can provide you so little to gain skills you need to have to train pinetree. Buy the book ixbrown provide you and go out to find pine trees in feild and prctice, practice and practice. Once you find what you don't know, or how then you can make your question specificly. That way you will get better response . There is no way to some one can answer to your questions,nor provide you informations you need in internet. yama

Louisiana has challenges I am not familiar with. A few thoughts nonetheless: 1. You can change the topography of the hill a bit and without changing the size of its overall footprint to make it more like a plateau or mildly terraced or to make water catchments. I recall that water catchments are popular in permaculture. Digging during summer in Louisiana sounds tough though. Might want to wait a little while. 2. Whatever you do, killing the weeds will be a good start. In some tough spots I have had success by cutting down the weeds, planting cereal rye (rye grain) in fall, cutting down the cereal rye just before it goes to seed and then planting what I really want in spring. The cereal rye suppresses a lot of the weeds and will help penetrate the soil and add organic matter. If you are not too far from a true agricultural community you should be able to buy the rye somewhere local. If not, it can be had by mail order. 3. There are "claybusting" seed mixes you can buy that will grow plants that help penetrate and loosen hard packed soil. Some clovers are said to be useful in this way also. 4. Many prairie plants can handle some tough soil and a bit of dryness once established.

If your quartz countertop is solid or just has flecks of sparkle, it's nice to bring some pattern in with the floor tile. You can also add some pattern to the floor with the way you lay the tile. Try to find a tile store that also sells quartz so you can coordinate the two. Be aware that you may have to add a new subfloor for the tile, which would make the tile higher than the hardwood in the hallway. This happened in our kitchen when we replaced sheet vinyl with porcelain tile. I do not like the wooden "speed bump" strip between the hardwood and tile. We would have liked to use porcelain tile in our guest bath remodel, but again, it would be higher than the adjacent carpet. We used Armstrong Alterna LVT. There aren't as many color and pattern choices as porcelain tile, but it it has a limestone composite base and is grouted just like real tile, so it's not really vinyl-y. Nice stuff, and a lot cheaper than porcelain tile.

I like the "new black foyer light." Are you saying you'll have 5 of the semi-flush in a hallway? Can they all be seen at the sames time? Even if just two or three can be seen at the same time, I think the Morningside fixture is the best choice. The Colonial Manor is too busy and when you multiply it by 5 - BUSY! :) I disagree that using a lot of the same finishes is boring - and not because most of mine are the same finish. Mine are functional, fit the room they are in and are virtually invisible. I used numerous Hubbardton Forge fixtures (old world, not the craftsman style they make), a chandelier from our last home and 4 antique sconces I brought from our last home as well. I do agree with Matt on recessed lights. I can't stand them, but that's just me. We do have them in the kitchen, so according to DH I won't cut my hand off while cooking. Also in the bathrooms since I don't like bathroom sconces or over the mirror lighting. Not saying these choices are bad or ugly, they are just not me. I used four metal sconces each in the great room and MBR, both with cathedral ceilings instead of recessed. They are open at both top and bottom, creating a wonderful ambiance at night.