I'd like to comment on FTM 2012, casi. I love the idea of how it's supposed to work and it, indeed, works correctly most of the time. I've heard of some people who've had no problems at all and I've read about some who have the same problems as I have. What I do like is the ability to source facts very easily with the click of a button. I love that it's very user friendly and there are many ways to categorize information. You can search directly from your home computer if you'd prefer, add Ancestry information to it or add your own personal info from other sources and then synchronize it to your online tree. That's where the problem comes in (at least for me). My software freezes fairly often when syncing to my online tree and even though I haven't lost any information and even though it actually does finish the sync correctly, I will get an error message saying that the sync was unsuccessful or it will just stop in mid sync and freeze. I've talked to their techs a number of times and they finally sent me a new CD. It does the same thing. When I did an online search about the problem, I found that this is not an uncommon problem. There has been a software update to help with some of the FTM 2012 problems and I do have the latest version, but it did freeze again last night while syncing. bob414, do you have this version or an older one? I have 2005 and even though it's much less sophisticated, I have kept it as well.

See attached link Here is a link that might be useful: softwarelanding-advisor

@tbb123: Hey there! I only have a painting career if someone will buy stick figures, LOL! Nice to see you here. I’ve missed seeing your creative layouts at the old, much missed IF site. It never dawned on me to put the peninsula in the plan with the fridge in the broom closet. That would give me more counter space than I’ve ever had in my life. I’m not sure I’d know what to do with it all but it would be fun trying. I’ll play with that idea. @Jillius: Yes to your suggestion for how to use the horizontals if I go that route. Will need to play more with hood options but that can wait until final layout, right? I gotta say that I do like your new plan merging kitchen/laundry. However, we’ve become married to the idea of preserving the pantry wall and using the revealed linoleum. I love that floor almost as much as I like the glass blocks. Sorry you put so much effort into an idea I will have to nix. I really appreciate your efforts and kind donation of time. DH and I spent quite a bit of time this morning poking around in the garage tracing existing plumbing lines to see how we can tie things in. We have a false ceiling in the garage that needs to come out so we can better see the clearances. We have steel beams running the direction the plumbing needs to go; the wooden joists run the other direction. If these were reversed, the plumbing issue would be easier. The garage ceiling is relatively high so plumbing could be run under the steal beams but above the garage door system. We need to do better measures of what height clearance we have and the distance lines would need to run to ensure there’s enough height for the lines to drop for proper drainage. The plumbing lines then go into the cement floor of the garage and run under the concrete driveway down to the city lines. This all makes the plumbing issue a tad more complicated to deal with. And thanks for the cardboard idea for playing with window sizes. @practigal: Interesting idea on the windows. I never thought of expanding them. The would be cool. I am uncomfortable with the cost of doing that as, in our area, our view is NOT worth a fortune as it’s known as “the Appalachia of Washington”. Our logging and commercial/sport-fishing industries tanked in the 80’s and we have never recovered. Even though the location and homes on our hill are considered some of the nicer ones in the area, most sell for only about $125-200k. And that’s if you can find a buyer because of the severe wage stagnation here. Buyers for homes over $100k become scarce. And housing prices have barely increased since the mid-80’s. We didn’t even really feel the effects of the 2008 crash because we were already in a long-term crash. However, we’re also not seeing the recovery other areas are seeing so it’s hard to justify that extra expense. Even though we plan on being here for a long time, probably our forever, we need to keep our own spending down as we are nearing our own retirement years and need to stretch our bucks. I’m not sharing all that for a pity-party but, rather, so you understand why I’m trying to be very careful and frugal with the remodeling budget. Anyway, it’s a wonderful idea so I am not ruling it out and will play with the idea. @rina: Good point on the bottoms of the windows being at different heights. Another one of those things I’m so used to that I haven’t thought much about it. Hmmmmm….I’ve always wanted the window over the sink to be counter height. Love that look. Convincing DH might take some schmoozing. I think if we did we move the current sink or make it a small prep sink, it would be easy to center the range. Another visual issue that I didn’t notice until you pointed it out. Thanks for pointing that out, too. A smaller sink there would mean there is still enough prep space between prep sink and range. So...clean-up sink to peninsula then? @Everyone: While DH is cutting out sections of the garage ceiling, I guess I’ll be playing with these new ideas. Thanks to all of you. You’re all awesome!

Actually you are low on CA pricing as you have to buy one year of SSA, which gets you lots of downloads like standard windows, doors, etc. It also gets you a new version if it comes out during that year. I bought the Home Designer Pro in 2010 for $500 and thought I had hit its limits. I did a trial on CA x5 and went ahead and purchased the upgrade. It was the $2195 less the $500 I paid for Designer Pro plus $395 for one year SSA. I think SSA is more now. The SSA got me the X6 upgrade before it expired. My total cost was the $2590. I have to say the Designer Pro is WELL worth the $500. I can't say CA is worth the extra money for someone working on their own house. I have the computer to run the high end stuff, which helped as I benefitted from the x64 version and better rendering on my high end video and monitors. I also have free access to large plotters and didn't like the 11x17" limit for printing on Home Designer Pro. With hindsight, I THINK I should have spent more time working with HDP, instead of paying the upgrade. I had planned on sharing my license with another nut that wants to over analyze and redo his house like mine. I would do the upgrade to the current HDP. I think it might be less than $500 but perhaps your's is too old to upgrade. Your files will upgrade from HDP to CA without issue.