Formal, hmm. I see white window boxes for annuals to spill out of, and two large potted ivy (or other?) topiaries flanking the door. The topiaries could be tall cones, pyramids, lollipops, whatever. Nothing else on the ground below the windows. Neat and tidy. Make your patio stone placement wide enough to accomodate the pots. Or for really formal, you could put the pots in cubic cachepots with feet and finials painted to match the shed, taupe with white trim. (Might be a bit bulky for the area, though.) If you use pots, spend a bit extra for size and quality to get the look you want.

Hi Nicholas, I think you could get better help over on the plumbing forum. But make sure it's from someone who understands that plumbing is different in a manufactured home (the preferred term to "trailer") than in a site built home. Another helpful resource might be mcgarryandmadsen.com. They are home inspectors and have a blog, including numerous entries about manufactured homes (MH), in which they are experts. I'm guessing you are coming to this site because you can't afford a plumber, or because you are an experienced DIY-er. I understand about not having money--believe me!!--I do. And I understand about doing as much DIY as possible. But I highly recommend, if at all possible, to at least have a qualified, licensed plumber who is knowledgeable about MH plumbing, inspect the plumbing under the house and tell you what exactly is wrong. I have a lot of DIY knowledge (but can't do a lot of it anymore due to my disability), but the two things I will never touch are electricity and plumbing. You really need professionals for these. Even if you DIY, you will still need a permit and have the work inspected. If you don't get the work permitted and you ever sell the MH and the home inspector finds unpermitted work (and a good inspector will), you will not be able to sell the home until you get a permit and have the work done right and pass inspection. If they miss it, and you sell the house, if something ever goes wrong and the house floods or something, the new owners can force you to pay for all the damage. I hope this is helpful information. Whatever your situation, I wish you good luck and all the best! If you ever have anymore questions about MHs, please don't hesitate to ask. :-) Sincerely, Debbie

Pretty much the main purpose of flowers is bees, though some are worse about it than others and a few are not very bad. You may want to also consider groundcover plants that are more about greenery, though some have annual bloom for a period of time. And saying that you "have no clue where to begin" [planting flowers] is a clue that you might be overwhelmed by having to care for 150' of flower bed. You might want to have a combination of groundcover, perennials and some annuals. First and foremost you must get rid of any weeds in the bed. Any pieces of live weed roots will resprout and you'll have a weed infestation in no time. You can either dig out any weeds, or spray them with Round-up and plant a week later. As an ongoing maintenance chore, you'll need to remove weeds, at least weekly for a while, or they'll move in and take over. Once the bed is planted, Preen (a pre-emergent herbicide that is applied like shaking salt from a salt shaker) according to the manufacturer's schedule and applied to the finish planted bed, is helpful for keeping new weed seeds from germinating. Annuals, many of which can be raised from seed, is the most colorful and must be replanted yearly. Groundcover and perennials are permanent and come back every year. But they generally don't bloom as long as annuals. Daylilies would be a good perennial to use, especially 'Stella d' Oro' as it is a long blooming variety. It's not too bad on bees. Liriope would be a good perennial if it grows in your area. It comes in green and variegated versions. Petunias would be good annuals to buy as bedding plants. Marigolds are easy to grow from seed. Figure out where you want to place the permanent blocks of plants. Fill in the rest or what you're unsure about with annuals. Personally, I'd stop being overly concerned about bees. Gardeners are around them for our whole lives and don't get stung. Like our mother said, "don't bother them and they won't bother you."

Hi Jason- Congratulations on your new home! The kitchen would be improved by changing the paint color to a less yellow color. (Or is it the lighting?) Please get cool spectrum light bulbs right away. The kitchen would look more modern if you refaced the cupboards. You mentioned shaker which is an option. More modern still is slab front which I like too. If you replace the door fronts in the kitchen, you might want to replace them in the living room as well. You might also think about changing the hardware. Cup handles are definitely not contemporary. As far as your island, blue is a very nice color. Painting over kitchen cabinetry is not easy at all, and when not done properly will peel and bubble. You do need some sort of leg there to support the edge of the island. You can talk to an experienced finish carpenter about substituting another type of leg. If you are going to get a white countertop, what is it about quartz that you like? You may get the same thing in Corian with more advantages. Why not invite a professional, Joseph Corlett, LLC into this thread and he will tell you why Corian is superior to quartz. I like the photos of the kitchen you like, but imagine those kitchens with your floors, how much richer they would look! Your floors are gorgeous, and with white cabinets and countertops and a blue island, dark floors might be just the right look. Tiling is not as easy as you think. However, you don't need as much as you have now, either. You only need a backsplash behind the stove, and if you want a modern or high tech look, you could do stainless steel up to the hood and no tile at all. After all, your hood will probably be stainless, right? What looks great is a mix of metals, and you could do a stainless hood with brass "straps", and brass light fixtures over the island as you have in your photos. I favor the ones with covered bulbs, and with non-transparent glass, because glare gives me a headache, but that's just me. I don't know that I would remove the fireplace altogether. You could just move the TV to the wall perpendicular to it. The other reason to move the TV is that the TV's width is too much for the fireplace. Generally something should be 2/3 to 3/4 the width of what it is above. So a painting or TV should be 2/3 to 3/4 the width of the piece of furniture below it. If you wanted to change the staircase, you could remove the vertical wooden spindles and install multiple thick metal cables with vertical metal bars periodically. However, if you plan to have children, you will need to cover it with acrylic or unbreakable glass panels so their little hands don't get stuck between the metal cables. You could also just do the thick acrylic or glass panels without the horizontal cables except having metal at the top and bottom. I would save this for very last, it is frightfully expensive. I hope you and your wife enjoy your new home in good health!