Hi pudgybaby, we are nothing if not opinionated :-) The rock is far too orange for me. Natural material or not, I don't think I would ever come to terms with that color by trying to camouflage it by painting the siding. I agree that trying to stain or mortar wash the stone is your best bet. That said, if you don't like orange, why have you chosen essentially the same color for the front door? I think stained, not painted, wood doors are perfect for your style house, but definitely in another stain color. I'd wait to choose those until you decide what to do with the major design element--- the stone. Double doors are, IMO, perfect for your house--- wide and welcoming. If your budget allows, could you replace the garage door with a real wood one stained to match the door (whatever color that turns out to be) ? You can't pretend the garage is not front and center, and I have never seen a garage "disappear" with paint.....if you paint it lighter it is a bright mass in front..... Darker and it becomes a black hole. There are some beautiful wood garage doors out there that,would tie in the front entrance and the garage stylistically, and give you another natural material that will go well with stone. I would definitely do something with the concrete porch, either stain it, use quarry tile, or flagstone tile. Brick pavers is too much. But again, until you make a decision about the rock color you cannot pick a material for the concrete. The massing of the planters and paths is a task best left to your landscape designer, who should be able to give you the feel of your inspiration picture without duplicating it exactly.

Moving the striker plate can be done, but doing so usually is difficult if the distance moved back is not more than the width of the screw holes. It is difficult to make new screw holes using the old ones as a starting point. I have had some success= at using a brad point drill bit and starting the hole at an angle. I then straighten the direction to make the new hole. That is done after chisling out the jamb so the striker plate can move back. I use 2" screws to reattach----to minimize the old hole/new hole from stripping out. The other solution is to move the door stop on the jamb---if, of course, it is moveable.

We're currently remodeling our kitchen with Ikea cabinets, and the folks at our local Ikea (Portland) said that they do accept returns of assembled items, but you need the receipt and the packaging(!). I assume most people recycle the packaging as soon as they assemble the cabinets, so that's a little tricky of Ikea, but still - it is possible. I agree that those little plastic feet are a pain - we screwed ours on, which is a big improvement. Just make sure the screw is not long enough to go through the base of cabinet. I believe they may also have some shorter adjustable legs - worth checking out.

Mary, Are you referring to window restoration or just sealing up some existing windows? The two are going to be very different type professionals. If it it just sealing up some exterior trim on windows, a decent painter can do that. If its window restoration, that is a different ball of wax. Window restoration is a very niché marketplace. The best thing to do is start with a Google area search near your home and especially in those areas that are more heavily concentrated in older homes. Next would be to ask around any of the historic districts that are in your area and see who they might have a list for. Hope this helps.