Hi, Phyl. I would pretty much offer the same thing Pam said. If you set the plants on the floor, where they will actually remain warmer than if elevated to any degree. (Before I get corrected I'll point out that heat transfer by conduction, convection, and radiation are at work in a building. Even though heat rises & leaves the colder air at the floor, the conduction and radiation of geo-heat coming through the floor into the soil mass is enough to trump the cool air that settles there.) You should be able to pick up as full zone in hardiness just by being careful about not leaving the o/h door open for extended periods, so zone 6 plants should over-winter just fine, on the floor, unprotected. You can pick up another zone of hardiness (to 7) by inverting a cardboard box over the zone 7 plants, which is an excellent way to trap heat coming through the floor while still maintaining enough air flow so mold doesn't become a problem. The biggest problem with over-wintering in the garage is that plants will invariably leaf-out well ahead of their counterparts in the landscape. Though they need no light while dormant/quiescent, they will need light after they start post-dormant growth, which will occur after the chill requirement of the plant has been met and soil temperatures have been elevated to above approx 45* for several consecutive days. Freeze/thaw cycles do not kill plants unless the actual root temperatures drop below the minimum the plant is genetically programmed to deal with, or plants are warm enough for long enough to start out-of-season growth, which can later freeze. Billions of plants in nursery operations are successfully over-wintered annually under cover, so to suggest the practice is somehow inappropriate is quite a stretch. I overwinter around 200 containers of plants hardy up to 7 in my garage. All I do is toss a little snow on them from time to time to keep the roots from drying completely. Al

I have a Craftsman GDO that suddently developed the following problem. When closing the door with a remote the door will only travel a few inches and then stop (as if it struck an object) and reverse direction. I have to repeatedly press and repress the remote to coax the door all the way closed. When I shut the door with the wired button it will close all the way only if I keep the button depressed until closed. I have NO problem opening the door. I have adjusted the tracking force and distance switches and unplugged and replugged the unit to no avail. Thanks for your help. Ron Licata Weathersfield, CT

linelle -- I do understand where you're coming from, but for how we live etc, it's better to not bring the piano next to the kitchen table. If we were all adults, I think it would be a good choice. But my kids are 5 and 9, and they have little friends etc. It's our only kitchen/dining table and the farthest I could move it away is 2 feet from the piano...the piano juts out more than the buffet; it's a shallow buffet, 17" deep, and the back is finished, but the piano is 24" deep. So in pictures I do think it would look better, but in practice it would put the dining table right in the middle of the doorway into the kitchen, which would probably not be a good choice. As far as conflict over who uses what and when, that's never been a problem. DH may be stubborn in some ways, but he's a considerate person to live with. graywings -- over the fireplace would mean looking up to watch tv. I like your idea of in front of the fireplace, I am going to run that one by DH. As much as we do like the fp, most days where we live you aren't allowed to burn anything anyway. I can't remember the last time we had a real fire, I have candles in there that I light -- creates a nice mood. You're probably right about keeping just one color on the wall. coll_123 -- I like the ladder shelf idea too. When I get closer to being able to re-do the room I'll look for something like that. My DH said that he really wants a product that is meant to hold components though, so that may be a hard sell. Karenseb -- yes the tv would be too high if over the fp -- the mantle is over 5' tall. Really don't want to mess with changing that, especially if we may move in a few years. k9Arlene -- thanks for the vote of confidence :-) I hope I responded to everyone, I've really appreciated all the ideas and thoughts, especially the critical eyes -- it's challenging to think outside the constraints after living here 13 years. Our home is small and modestly sized, it's not in a hot neighborhood where people do awesome (ie expensive) custom things to make the small spaces work (and if they do, it's often at a loss if/when they sell). I have other outstanding home projects to complete, but DH agreed that once they were finished we could look into re-doing the living room -- like paint and the shelving/layout, everything. It might not be until after Christmas, but I'm feeling so blessed to have such a great start from all of you. Melanie

You might also want a "people" door from the garage to the outside, ... perhaps between two 12' doors, so you'd want six feet in between the two 12' doors and another six feet at least one each side. ... perhaps alongside the house between house and car leading to ?back? or ?front? door ... in which case you need to allow walking space for that. If your garage will have your cars parking with the house to one side, then, budget and lot/landscaping/driveway permitting, of course, something else to consider might be to add a back door to one of your garage slots so you can literally drive all the way thru as if it were an open carport. On that kind of garage (that could have a drive thru feature, whether or not it does), something else I like (but have seldom seen), is to have a small unheated breezeway between car and house -- a small "room" between garage and house with a window facing the front and a door facing the back -- both with screens -- and a ceiling fan or two. That breezeway doubles as a space for a door from the garage to both the house and to the exterior without going thru the house or making room for a second "people" door to enter/exit the garage AND it enables you to have a space to catch/remove fumes and smells from the garage before they enter the house. You really don't want either car or lawnmower exhaust in any part of the house, even the mud room. It is also a place to park a bike or two or a leaf blower or snow blower or hooks for heavy wet coats to enable them to air dry before bringing them into the house.