Krysten, the best sugestion would be to touch base with the previous owner and duplicate whatever she tells you to do as best as you can. Lack of blooms can be caused by weather that kills the flower buds, pruning after the flower buds have formed (they develop starting in August-September) and lack of moisture. There is little one can do about the weather so make sure that, if you have to prune, do so before August; and try to maintain the soil moist, not wet, not dry, as best as you can. Maintain 3-4" of acidic mulch up to the drip line of the shrub to help with moisture and cold/hot weather. Trying to get a specific color or color hue out of your hydrangea is a totally different problem. The acidity or alkalinity in your soil will determine the color that you get. If your soil is naturally alkaline, the blooms will be a shade of pink. If you add aluminum sulphate, the soil pH will change and the blooms will develop a purplish color at first. If you continue increasing the acidity of the soil then the blooms will turn blue. Since they are already blue then it follows that you need to add lime so the soil will be less acidic and more alkaline. That eventually triggers a change from blue to purple and then then to pink. But be aware that this is very difficult with hydrangeas planted in the ground; potted hydrangeas are easier to deal with. About the color purple..... the type of purple that you get as the plant changes from pink-to-purple-to-blue or from blue-purple-pink also depends on how many red pigments the plant actually has. The more it has, the more of a deep purple you get. What that means is that the type/variety of mophead hydrangea that you have will make a difference when you try to get a deep purple. Your plant may produce a light purple when shifting colors. Varieties that make nice deep purples are Glowing Embers, Royal Purple (also called Mathilda Gutges I think), Merrit Supreme and others. The previous owner can tell you what types of purple she got and how easy/hard it was to achieve them. Luis

Where you room will or will not open is a personal preference. Think about - if and how you entertain, who you entertain and how frequently (especially if kids or grand kids are involved), and how much access do you want to different rooms. My MIL can watch (and unfortunately hear) the TV from her kitchen. When we visit with all sibs and grandkids her open kitchen to living room is a nightmare to me. But this is one week in the year and I know that she and her husband, who are alone or with one or two visitors at a time, love to be all in one room. I grew up with a larger eat in kitchen. With your layout you will have that. If you open to the living room those in the kitchen will have access to the LR and vice versa - sound, noise, smells. That would not go over well in our house. But, because of a tight house floor plan, we did open the kitchen to the dining room AND added an island with seating. I love cooking with friends and kids around the island. I know others hate that. If we didn't have island seating, anyone visiting would be on the other side of the room in teh dining room or uncomforably hovering around the kitchen. So - layouts are about your life style, sound/noise/smell access and views (i.e. seeing beyond the room to something nice and/or making the space seem larger become of the opening. One thing I will suggest - if you have a nice view and can afford it but in a large window or two medium windows (or more if you don't mind losing the uppers.) We put in a two large windows with a transom over our sink and love it.

I like the current color combination. How about painting the posts and the trim around the windows white? Paint the shutters a color you like. I love this green called Lush with gray. I would paint the shutters Lush.

@Diana Bier Thank you for your input Diana and suggestions and fresh ideas. And @roarah thank you as well for the ideas. I have written to Houzz about why we cannot load photos. I wanted to show you all I did paint my open study off the foyer a very dark Van Duesen blue by BM but because my dining room was so dark before I used BM White Dove in it for a break but I do love dark walls and may paint again in the future. Maybe some dark velvet draperies would be pretty in the DR for drama or is that too much with white dove. My house is very open and the DR and study flank each side of the foyer as you enter the house with case openings. In the meantime I have a technical question for everyone. My dining room is 15'9" x 12'4". I was thinking I needed a 9x12 rug until I tried one and it is about 6" too wide. I will have to move my funiture to place it on top. uggg it is all so heavy but I want to do the right thing. So that leaves me to find a 8 foot to 8'6 x 12 or 13' rug which is not easy to find on the width. SHOULD I bite the bullet and go for a 10x14 for this size room and just move everything again - then the funiture would rest on top. Just wondering what is the right size for scale of room.