There is also a laundry forum on GardenWeb, but, as you already are here, I shall address your question here. First question: Do you take guests to your home for a tour of the laundry room? If the answer is no, and you do not care if the so-called styling of the washer and dryer match each other, then consider getting a hamper door (hinge on the bottom, not the side, of the door) model of Whirlpool dryer (also sold by Sears as a Kenmore). The model has been around, with refinements, for five decades or more, and it is fully debugged, and, except perhaps for a new drive belt every seven or eight years (a cheap and easy replacement), just keeps on running and running and running. Dryers are, and should be, simple appliances, basically just tumbling the laundry in front of a fan than can be blowing heated or unheated air. Except for the essential feature of a moisture sensor that shuts the dryer off automatically when the laundry is dry, and (in some models) a shelf in the middle of the drum that does not tumble for drying delicates, most high-end (that is, expensive) dryer "features" are silly and not utilitarian. With that part of the decision out of the way, and looking at washing machines, a good feature to look for is a stainless steel dimpled surface drum. The dimples on the drum's surface reduce the degree to which fibers from your laundry are pulled through the water drainage holes in the drum during the high speed spin part of the cycle, and that helps maintain fabric appearance and increases fabric life. However, the dimpled drum criterion will limit your choice to the only two brands that have dimpled drums, Miele ("Honeycomb" drum) and Samsung ("Diamond" drum). The Miele is the premium choice, reflected in price. There is some evidence, anecdotal but persistent, that Samsungs have insufficient protection of the electrical circuits against "dirty" electrical line power spikes and surges. Fortunately, for under $10, you can compensate for that implied design deficiency by placing a Tripp-Lite Spike Cube at the electrical outlet where the washing machine plugs into the wall. The latter is the path that we chose, getting a 400 series (ours is a '419, but I think that model has been superseded) Samsung several years ago, and it has been plugged into a Spike Cube from day one and never has given us any trouble. If you are coming from an exclusively top-loader history, do not allow the numerous and endlessly recurring threads on this site about "musty smells" from front-loading washing machines get to you. A few simple tips will avoid the issue: (1) Use much less detergent per load than you have used in the past: back way off, then bring the quantity back up in drips and drabs only when you discern that not all of the soil is being removed because you reduced detergent quantity too much. (2) Add a scoop -- 1/4 to 1/3 cup per load -- of plain borax (40 Mule Team is fine) to every load you run through the washer. (3) After unloading your laundry from the washer, do not close the washer's door until it clicks; just let it sit against the latch without engaging the latch; that will allow enough air to circulate to fend off mold. Good luck, and enjoy your new appliances.

Hi pippit, I am a little late in answering your original posting but thought I would chime in anyway. Our entire new home was painted in SW Ivoire. I think it is a good soft yellowy "beige" color, goes with anything. In the rooms with sunlight coming into the room, the color is more yellowy. In the rooms with just light, no direct sunlight, the color goes more beige. I do not think it is dingy or grayish, at all. In fact, I chose it over the color my builder uses all the time. Her color, a custom mix, had a lot of "gray" in it and I did not want a grayish dingy color. I think the SW Ivoire is a very "clean" color. Very safe!! Not dark or dirty looking. Hope this helps you or anyone else looking for colors. PS I was actually wanting a tad more "yellow" but did not have time to custom mix a color and test it out, so I am happy with this. Ginny

I think of SW Believable Buff, and really the entire color strip as the perfect color for any lighting situation. I have used it in rooms ranging from a 12' deep bathroom (separate vanity and shower/toilet rooms, so the shower/toilet area didn't even get ambient natural lighting... it was truly cave-like) without ANY natural lighting, to a 6-windowed living room that got the full effect of rising and setting sun, and it worked equally well in both places (and everywhere in between). I do not have a picture of the color without natural lighting available, but under our bathroom lighting (we used halogen bulbs with acid etched white glass shades). The color read a little more on the yellow side than it did in natural sunlight, but was still gorgeous.

"I am assuming you are painting the wood green to match the other pieces in the room (if I am remembering correctly)." Les, How sweet of you to remember! Then again, when you post your responses you always make the poster feel as if you are their own private decorator. You don't know how much I appreciate your response, your opinions to my little M.Bdrm dilemma here --Thank you!!! When you say a wide band all the way around, do you mean top and bottom of the panel, also? I will need about 2 inches to have the panels meet (when closed) with a little gather of the rings/fabric at the rod. Would 3 inches of band on each side of the panel be enough, do you think? Or should I go a bit more? But as per your suggestion, solid banding it is--Thank you! Light terracotta for the headboard -- it doesn't matter if the color of the fabric on the headboard is not the color of the coverlet? As long as the color is in the same family, right? What is the general guideline about a tailored bed skirt, same color family but different shade OK? I'm having a heck of a time when it comes to the colors Terracotta/Rust. Everyone has a different hue/shade of the color. Haven't been able to find any two that even come close so far but I'll keep looking for that special pillow I want to make. On the same thought, if I go with the Blue Banding on the panels, what if I have the same trouble finding the exact blue as in the window panel fabric? The blue is not blue-blue but has what seems like a bit of green. Not enough to make it aqua but enough. This is going to be a tuffy. *smile* As for the shams, oh how I would love to make matching shams (I'd have to read up on Welting 101 but I'd do it!) but I don't think I'll have enough fabric----eeeek! Unless I do the panels with a different color at the top and the print 3/4 the rest of the way. But that would bring me back to trying to figure out more color coordinating combos. Why oh why couldn't I have been born with even a tad of decorating gene *grrrrr* As for the dark bark green bed -- I love how it's turning out as long as the room's lights are on or at dusk. With natural light coming in the window each post, each side of each post of the bed takes on a different color---- Another Eeeeek! I'm thinking about adding an antiquing on top of the dark green just to unify the dark bark green color all around. The antiquing would look ok in the turns of the posts, no? Don't mind the temp bedding or stuff on night stands. All temp until I figure out what I'm doing. Colors of Footboard Post and Wall just to left of post are the true colors. So I ask daughters this morning what they thought of the direction I was taking in the bedroom and one said "Mom, looks like you're going for a Bold Mediterranean Mother Earth thing". The other daughter nodded wildly in agreement. *sigh* I haven't seen that style listed in any decor book.