Moon, I've also read literally dozens of landscaping books, and still couldn't landscape my way out of a paperbag until I started studying design in a classroom setting. Some will say I still can't, but there it is. So it's not you. The way design principles are presented in gardening and design books makes sense only when you understand the principles by actually practicing using them. At least that's how it was for me. A scale drawing of your property showing the location of the house is a good place to start. Once you have that, you can use tracing paper to play with ideas. Start by listing what you do want and prioritizing the list. I can't tell from the photos if that's a little patio in the fenced off area behind the house or not. If you need a small patio for yourself and a couple of friends, you may want to start there. You can start by sketching in possible plantings around the patio to give it a little privacy. You don't have to block out the neighbors completely if you don't want or need to, but even a low planting will give you a feeling of comfort, and visually reduce the size of that space to a more human scale. You can then think about what you want to look at when you are on the patio, and sketch in ideas for beds that will not only give you a view, but a place to putter as well. Maybe a patio is not your first priority. It may be that you want to landscape the front to make the house seem more like it's "in" the landscape than sitting "on" it, all alone, as it is now. Think about adding some ornamental trees that frame the view of the front of the house. Pencil them in and go outside with your drawing, and imagine how they will look when they mature a bit. Do the same from inside the house, in the rooms where you will spend enough time that the view might be important. You may find that your placement blocks a view you want to keep, or will block the sun too much. Adjust if necessary. If you already know you want a fence, sketch it in, and play with plantings that conceal parts of it to make it less conspicuous. If you need shade, that's also a good place to start. Research trees that will flourish in your conditions, see what the local nurseries have available, and plan where to put them for the most benefit. The afternoon sun in the west tends to be hot, so trees placed to throw some shade on the windows or sitting area can be selected. They don't have to be huge trees to give shade as the sun gets lower in the afternoon, and the southwest and west sides might need it the most, but experiment with where shadows fall and pencil in some trees. Do you need a veggie plot? Compost pile? Shed? If so, figure out where they will be convenient to use. Veggie gardens need water, compost pile may need screening. I wouldn't worry about microclimates yet. As you plant things and put in fence, etc. they will change anyway, as sun and shade patterns and wind will be affected by anything you add. For the moment, select plants that are at least hardy in your zone, or go one zone colder to be safe in an unusually severe winter. You can experiment later with fussier plants. Hardscape is expensive. Fortunately, if there isn't a good reason to have a walk or other feature included, you can skip it. If you know you'll need a walk to make access from front to backyard more convenient in wet or winter weather, include one, just don't put it so close to the house that you end up with the dreaded 3' bed. Leave 5 or 6 feet for shrubs or groundcover, or a flowerbed if the location calls for one. I wouldn't put in a walk and focal point just for the heck of it. If you find that once you get started a walk seems like it makes sense from point A to point B, add it then. You can always wait to see where you wear a path in the lawn. All of this can take a lot of time and thought. If you're patient, you can start small with whatever ends up at the top of your priority list. If you're impatient, you can always hire a designer to do a full plan or give you some direction.

We just got a top loader Maytag Bravo MVWX500 and so far I'm really loving it...but I've only done one load of wash in it so far. The MVWX500 is a High-Efficiency machine with a very large drum/capacity (4.3 cubic feet, no center agitator). About the "tangling" issue: I read the whole entire Maytag manual today and noticed that in the "Soil Level" section, it says "Lower soil level setting will help reduce tangling and wrinkling." Under the Spin Speed" section, the manual says "Faster spin speeds mean shorter drying times, but may increase wrinkling in your load." The manual also says, "When loading the washer with dirty laundry, fill it evenly around the basket wall," and "do not wrap large items such as sheets around the washplate; load them in loose piles around the sides of the basket. Try mixing different sized items to reduce tangling". There is also a little picture in the manual that shows how to load the dirty laundry into the washer. This evening I washed two huge (3 feet x 6 feet) towels and one smaller bath towel all in the same load, and everything was clean and fresh, and extremely well-spun. I had the washer set on: Load Type: Heavy Duty Soil Level: Extra Heavy Spin Speed: High It did spin the towels quite intensely. But with these huge towels we have, that's a good thing. With our old washer, sometimes I had to actually wring the towels out by hand because they were drippy when they came out of the washer (an old Kenmore). I also could only wash one of these huge towels at a time in our old washer, because the washer was just so small and wouldn't spin everything well enough with two towels in there. The Maytag Bravo seems extremely quiet to me so far, but I'm used to our old Kenmore (non-digital/with the old-style knobs) which was pretty loud. Went with a top loader because of the mold/mildew issues that I've read about with the front loaders. I think the thing with the front loaders is that you're supposed to leave the door open for at least an entire hour between every load of wash. Since I do multiple loads of wash on laundry day (I dry half of them on the outdoor clothesline) I don't really have the time to wait a whole hour in between each load! Also, I just was scared off by the word "mildew" or "mold" in the same sentence as the word "washing machine". I also read that the top loaders last longer with fewer repairs needed than the front loaders. However, front loader vs. top loader also depends on your lifestyle/laundry habits and how mobile the person doing the laundry is. I can imagine that if one is in a wheelchair that a front loader would be better, for instance. I'll report back once I do a normal type of load in the Maytag Bravo MVWX500 with garments with sleeves and things that can tangle...will set the washer on "Normal" and the Soil Level on "Medium" for that load. Will also try some delicates on the "Hand Wash" cycle and see how that goes. That's my two cents for now.

Dilly, ultimately about the kitchen, but regarding your statement that you wanted the deck off the living room because that's the nicer side of the propery: Decks almost always block the view of the landscape beyond from inside, replacing your view of garden (or valley, marsh, etc.) with a clutter of chair backs and legs, table and legs, railing and posts, BBQ, cushion storage, and of course...decking. No matter how expensive and how well done, at the best of times it will be less attractive than what it's blocking (and in many climates a desolate unappealing wasteland in winter). Besides you'll always have plenty of chair legs, tables, etc., inside to look at. How about instead: * moving that deck elsewhere, where it has a nice view of the good end of the property from a different orientation, * taking some of the current deck space *for the kitchen,* and * having the living room feature a pretty view of your garden while still having good access to a nearby deck? (BTW, balcony-type walkways can connect doors to large open deck areas without destroying views).

Aisles...42" will only "work" for a year or two, at best. By then, there will be more than one of you working in the Kitchen at the same time -- you + one or two children. Unless you plan to remodel again in the next the couple of years. Cheri, they key in your situation was that you had to make do with what you had -- a small Kitchen with many doors. And even you admitted there were issues ("inconveniences"). Forever Now doesn't have those constraints -- her Kitchen is actually at least a medium size Kitchen and she doesn't have as many doors, so deliberately planning a Kitchen with issues when it's not needed doesn't make sense. I would not do less than 48" b/w the island and perimeter -- especially since the DW situation will not be ideal. Keep a wide enough aisle to not only work around the DW but also to allow more than one person to work in the Kitchen at the same time -- it's really a one-aisle Kitchen, so that needs to be accounted for as well. My recommendation is to: Move the island toward the window by 3" or so -- as you said, there won't be much traffic there and, besides, 33" is around the width of a standard interior doorway. Granted, a doorway is only a few inches thick, but I think it will still work, assuming the windows aren't an issue b/c they appear to open inward. Reduce the island's length by at least 2" -- that would still give you plenty of workspace if the DW is moved to the other side of the island sink. Reduce the 9" utility cabinet to a 6". If you keep narrower doors, you may be OK -- that just means french door or side-by-side refrigerators. See below -- you know have a 48-inch aisle. If you cut off the corner as in some of the layouts above, you might gain an additional 2" or so. Just be careful on the left b/c the front door is also in the Kitchen on that wall. BenjesBride...unfortunately, I don't think there's room to turn the refrigerator 90 degrees and place it on the exterior wall. There's not enough room for the refrigerator itself b/w the bathroom wall and the sliding door, let alone the necessary 9" or so needed b/w the wall and refrigerator to allow the refrigerator doors to open fully. Layout #2: With the 21" sink base, you can probably do all your dish rinsing at the island -- so not much, if any, dripping to the DW. . Layout #2 Zone Map: . In the end, it's up to you -- I'm just trying to get you a Kitchen that will work for several years to come while you save for a gut remodel. [It took us about 12 years or so to save up to do a gut remodel of our Kitchen, Foyer, & Powder Room (& replace all water pipes in our house), so I know it can take a while to save money for a remodel.]