Regarding the rose, a BIG problem with putting roses in prominent spots is the dreaded BLACKSPOT, and yes carpet roses are indeed susceptible to blackspot. For that reason, I would skip the carpet rose. Other roses to consider instead are one of the Knockouts (pretty darn resistant to blackspot!) - Blushing Knockout is a lovely soft pink, or a rugosa rose (resistant to blackspot as long as you stick with rugose varieties - i.e. non-smooth-leaved rugosa hybrids). Rugosa roses have outstanding foliage all season, the fragrance of many of the varieties will knock your socks off, many varieties set hips, and the thorny craggy bark is attractive in winter (IMO). They bloom heavily in late spring, intermittently through the summer, and pick up again in the fall, whereas the KO rose will bloom more often through the summer. Regarding the caryopteris, I really like mine, and yes it does add interest towards late summer with the lovely purple blooms. No winter interest, though (don't know where you came up with that idea - ?).

Thank you all so much. My husband and I are really conflicted on what to do about the tree. To add to what the last poster put...it kills me to think we could possibly remove this tree. My babies are 5 and 3, and they've grown up playing near it, and learning about nature, seasons, birds, etc. from this tree. It has significant meaning to me. Plus, I really do think it helps our front porch and living room stay cool. It would definitely alter the look of our house if we removed it. I just honestly don't know how we'd take care of the sidewalk without killing the tree. Even if we tore up the two blocks of sidewalk being buckled up, how would we even fix it, because the root is clearly what is tearing up the sidewalk? We couldn't remove the root or grind it without killing the tree, right? In any case, the tree needs trimmed. The branches are extending over the roof of our front porch, causes clogged gutters and so forth. It's enormous and needs to be at least trimmed. That we can all agree on! I want to save it. My husband is very anti-tree and wouldn't be upset if it was gone. I personally listed the tree as one of the reasons I wanted the house. I hear that at one time, when the street was newly established, every other house had a sycamore, but over the years, they've been removed. We've also asked the city about help, and they said that trees and sidewalks are all the owners' responsibilities. :( Trust me, I want to save the tree at all costs, but I have to think about safety, too, you know? This is all very confusing. Especially because today, my daughter and I made shortbread cookies, and as I was cleaning up the mess, I thought, "If these were dark granite counters, I would have smears and streaks from rolling this dough." And with the laminate, it was very easy cleanup. So why mess with a good thing? See how conflicted I am? I'm not completely sold on granite, really. I just think it looks sooo pretty, that's all. Thanks again, everyone! Oh, and the reason we would want a permanant roof over the patio is because we really would like a ceiling fan, and it would feel like more of a room than it would if we just had an awning. But i did consider one. Beth

windows provide at best a 14% energy savings. if the duct system is sized correctly then mastic sealing all seams & joints would be worthwhile. hot dirty work, so high cost to do this type of work. I've done a few and it is difficult work, wothwhile, but a real pita. the average amount of duct leakage is 30%, by eliminating the duct loss, less tons of a/c is needed to overcome the loss. much easier to just install a bigger unit than to actually seal duct leakage. rather than add 3 returns in the 3 rooms (bedrooms?) jump ducts or transfer grills would be a lesser cost way to provide return air pathway if main r/a is centrally located. upsizing to 3 ton may only be a few hundred, but do you need to oversize? oversized a/c units don't remove humidity as well as a correctly sized system. definitely invest in variable speed air handler, which will help to remove humidity. but think about increasing the efficiency to mid range. 16 SEER over 14 SEER, the latter of which will be the minimum efficiency made in the near future. for our climate 16 SEER seems to be the sweet spot between efficiency & costs. once you get the ductwork mastic sealed, & the system installed your next big thing should be to air seal. the attic floor/ceiling of living space is your air barrier between attic temps & living space. sealing all penetrations between these two areas, and then adding insulation on the attic floor will bring you some real savings, better indoor air quality, and most importantly....comfort. best of luck.

Traditionally try to have individual window panes as vertical rectangles, not horizontal. The extra horizontal muntin bar makes the individual window segments horizontal. Your house has traditional window proportions.