I'm in Rocky Mountain foothill Z5a, which would be pretty different from Midwest 5. My hit list: "Glenora" grape. The only thing fruiting this year after the terrible cold snap of early February. Produces second-rate fruit for a couple of years before it gets going. "Polly" white peach. Cold snap killed the blossoms this year, but otherwise its in fine shape. Its available as a special order from Bay Laurel Nursery. It was slow to come into production, but faultless once it did. "Redhaven" yellow peach. A little marginal for my area, but it seems to almost have a will to produce fruit for you. Its widely available, and very high quality. I am pretty sure you can get one and plant it this weekend. "Rosy Gage" plum is shaping up to be a VERY good plum. A little shy bearing so far, but its still a new plum, and I had pollination issues to solve. I have an idea once it hits maturity it will produce well in a good year. Pollination is an issue with Euro plums more than other trees. You have to make sure you have the right combination. "Castleton Plum?" My fall planted [a mistake in z5] "Castleton" died in the Big Freeze of course. I'm not terribly satisfied with the pollinators I have for "Rosy Gage" I would double check to make sure it cross-pollinates with "Rosy Gage" If it does I would go for it. This is in the realm of speculation and reputation rather than experience, however. Apricots: If you live in an area where you can even occasionally get a crop, you should grow an adapted apricot. There is just no comparison to a store-bought apricot. None. Furthermore, apricots if it grows well in your area are extraordinarily attractive trees that deserve a high-profile spot in your landscape. I like the taste of Wilson Delicious from Stark's best of all. 'Moorpark' works OK too. But as I mentioned, in my area the crop is an afterthought. Sorry, not enough luck with apples or pears to make a recommendation. As I mentioned, if you live Back East, these recommendations don't mean much.

I typed out a whole response for you yesterday, but then lost it somehow. I was going to recommend the same thing as forbamblues. Is this powder room the bathroom that your guests will be using? If so, I'd much rather have the door off the kitchen than having them traipse through my mudroom. For one thing, I wouldn't want my guests having to see that clutter, and for another, they will then be walking all the way through your kitchen rather than just utilizing the top corner of the space (outside your work triangle). I'm also going to be the oddball here and say I'd actually prefer my W/D to be on the first floor b/c that's where I spend all my time. Right now, my laundry is in our basement. Aside from the obvious walk up/down two flights of stairs, the other reason I don't like it there is because I hate having to go up and down the stairs all the time (from the kitchen/family room) to switch out loads of laundry. The same thing would happen if I had the laundry upstairs near the bedrooms - constantly having to go upstairs to switch out the loads. Perhaps my viewpoint is a bit jaded by the amount of laundry I do as a family of six, but I'd rather have the laundry nearby so when a load is done, I can more quickly get to it. That said, I do see the benefits of having the W/D near the hampers upstairs! If, however, you find that you don't have it in your budget to move the W/D, this would be my suggestion. Close off the door from the mudroom to the powder room and move your W/D over to that wall where the door is now. You'd have to also take out the closet on the side wall, but then you could add cabinetry above the W/D to store what is in that closet. Then in the space where the W/D is currently you could put cubby/lockers. As for shoe storage, we have a cubby system that dh built in our mudroom for our four kids. It looks very similar to the second photo that Melissa posted with the open storage underneath. I bought baskets from IKEA that my kids use for their shoes, but we don't' have an issue much with mud/rain/etc as they typically leave their boots or sports cleats in the garage. However, if you have to deal with that often, I'd suggest just buying an indoor/outdoor rug and put it underneath the cubby space to catch the dirt and water. They are very easy to keep clean (I have one in my entryway). In my own space, I just pull the baskets out every once in a while and vacuum with a handheld vacuum underneath the cubbies to get up all the dirt/dust/etc. BTW, am I the only one who has this nice divided space for my kids to leave their backpacks/coats/shoes but they still manage to leave their crap all over? There are days I walk in the mudroom, and despite having a basket RIGHT THERE for their shoes, they still leave them all over the floor b/c they are too lazy to pull out their basket! Or they leave their sweatshirts/jackets/etc on the bench instead of hanging them up. Drives me nuts! Good luck with your remodel - you have a great space to work with!

There are a few things you might try: --Move the upholstered chair from out of the office area and put it where the living room chair is, and rehome that one elsewhere or have the chairs facing each other from each side of the coffee table. --With the big chair gone, can you flip the desk, screen, and all the normal office stuff so it's on the left wall and you don't have to see it when you come in? --Think about a round glass coffee table to reduce some of the bulkiness of sofa, filing cabinets, large desk. The room needs a few lighter pieces. --Your office furnishings look very high quality, so you probably want to keep them. However, can you rehome some of the filing cabinets to your husband's office if you don't use the filing cabinets daily. They take up a lot of real and visual space. --No wall clock--good for work, not so good for relaxation in the living room. You already have the grandfather clock--no need for double reminders about time! (Any chance you can move the grandfather clock to a foyer or den?) That would really open up the space by removing some bulkiness and adding more open space.

I like the settee in the lighter color & like the rug too. Maybe change the pillows to darker color. I also like the 2 prints on wall but maybe lower a smidge. They’re not too big. The bare look & feel might come from lack of hanging light & nothing on table top. Does this area need a light? Try a textured runner on table that complements rug - or a low long wooden bowl filled with objects pulling colors from rug. I like the plants in the corner too. Does anyone sit at this table to work puzzles or play board games? Kids doing homework?