Ally, your proposed new driveway layout, with the turnout, and curves looks very functional and a good use of space. Your walk to the front door should meet near this layout to direct guest to your front door. Your garage like millions of others faces the front, but don't worry about it. There are more extreme cases of "Welcome to my garage", like my house and other recent posts. From the photos the garage is very noticeable, only because of it's large white expanse in contrast to the rest of the house or the shadows of the porch. Your front door is hidden in the shadows of the porch overhang, which because of the post spacing doesn't call out the door either. If the driveway is a hard sell with DH, then consider changing the garage door color and style to blend it in with the arches and shadows of the front porch, and change the front door color to bring it out of the shadows. Also for the front step up into the house, don't forget about how much having some freeboard between the outside and inside protects against flooding.

I do not see any correlation between the accident and the ignition key switch engagement effectiveness. As a guess, maybe one of the relays ? Better guess , maybe the ignition switch on its way south. You need a really experienced man, with a sensitive feel, to perform an accurate diagnosis...If the switch is turned 50% and the car springs to life, then, I think this is good.. If at 90% and the starter motor finally spins, then this is not so good.. And the repeatability must be at 100 %..

@ justmetoo----His now 21 year old son assaulted me, not the one that lives with us now. His mother does feed him stories and has for years let them in on the finances and done everything in her power to cause trouble and discontent. To be honest, in my opinion, this all went off the rails with this particular child when WE bought him a car. After my husband and I did this he kept the ca for about 2 months and decided that he didn't want it anymore. I had a truck that we were not using so SS came to me and said he wanted to buy it because, a. he wanted a truck, b. it would teach him what it was like to have financial responsibility. I should have seen through that right there, because I don't know many kids that would say that. I was honestly against it because I saw nothing but trouble, but after all the hounding I got from my husband and SS, I gave in just to shut them up. I stipulated that there would be rules, the vehicle would not be his until he paid it in full, it could not be driven out of the local area further than 50 miles, and since it was in my name and under my insurance he was not to haul all his friends around and he had to let us know where he was going. Keep in mind at the time he was 16, so I don't think I was being to unreasonable. That was fine for about 2 months and suddenly he stopped paying (payments were $50/month), breaking curfew, rude, sassy, etc. He wants to put the vehicle under his mothers insurance, because she doesn't have to know where he goes. Then he decides he doesn't want this vehicle and he wants to sell it and buy something else. Now I have no way of knowing what my husband and his son discussed or concocted, and they are famous for making little deals and leaving me out of the loop. (That's another issue) So, I agreed to allow him to sell it with the stipulation that he only keep what was leftover from what he owed us because I just wanted to be rid of the situation.. Well you would have thought I was asking for his first born, because suddenly he doesn't understand why he has to pay for something that had been given to me in the first place and why did I not just give him the vehicle. So he sells it and when my husband does not turn over the full amount to him, he says, "Mom told me you would not give me what you owed me!" HAHA BINGO! So I told my husband, BM is obviously planting seeds in his head, which you can't reason with this woman she is a nut job, we have tried. He gets a new car with his mother and adds it to his insurance and in even more attitude, he came over one night to fight with my husband about this entire transaction. Do I know if my husband has lied to him? No, I do not, however that is no excuse to talk to your father that way. In my opinion, bottom line SS is mad because he did not get what he wanted from us. This is the same child that asked his Dad to change the custody agreement so that he could stay with us more because he did not like living at his mothers house because everyone fights there all the time, per him. My husband even gave him $400 to register his new car that he got with his BM with the understanding that he would pay it back because he is working. This was 6 months ago and the boy has yet to make any attempt to give us anything, in fact he told his Dad in the past few weeks, "I don't have any F*&^ing money, so why would I give you any? I'm not paying you back." NICE! My husband left his son OVER $300 for lunch, food, etc whilst he has been away, gives him money to eat when the SS is at work, school, to go out with his friends....but the boy has a job, he is already in college. I feel that we have done so much for him and all he does in expect more and disrespect more. He will walk right past me in my home and look right through me and not say a word. I feel that I have done more for him in the 5 years I have been married than his own mother does for him. Its just a mess and it makes me very sad because it was NOT always like this. We used to do things as a family, have dinner together, go on trips and now I can't stand the sight of him.

My 10 cents worth: -it must clean clothes (stating the obvious) -absolutely can't leak (we value our house) -must stay in one place when run (again - we value our house) -reliable (you press go - it goes) -durable (they are expensive, you don't want to have to buy one every 3-4 years) -must be a reasonable cost for the projected life expectancy (I require 12-20 yrs) -cycles must be quick (laundry at my house never ends) -must deal with out of balance loads (I wash lots of rugs, shoes, etc) -must offer at least a normal and delicate cycle (wife relates to concept of delicate) -must be energy efficient (money doesn't grow on trees last I checked) -should spin out at least to 300G (I pay for the drying) -has to be simple to operate (no rocket scientists in our house) -must be easy to load and unload (I'm not getting any younger) -must be reasonably quiet (mine is on the first floor, but I can shut a door) -must be offered in materials and colors that are timeless (1970s orange, green,...nasty) -exterior must be easy to keep clean (detergent compartment in particular) -exterior appearance should withstand 20 years of use (and interior for that matter) -should be easy to install and later remove (I do my own appliance installs) -parts must be available when needed (again laundry at my house never ends) -qualified service personnel must be available (doesn't do wash when it won't run) -must come from a company on firm financial ground (see parts and service notes above) -must come from a customer focused company (decisions based on customer needs, not company needs) Things that may have some value to the right person (based on quite a few posters here): -adjustable end-of-cycle signal, at least one loud enough to hear 30 feet away -electric heater - for the times the $&@# hits the fan and you need to nuke the germs -nice styling (ours is in a back room that nobody sees when visiting) -pretty colors (although I would rate stainless steel more timeless) -steam functionality (not sure how this works - see electric heater) -built in detergent/softener/bleach storage and dispensing Always a tough decision since you need to live with it for years unlike the purchase of a vacation. Like picture-in-pictures hocked as a gotta have on TVs 10-15 years ago, do you really need all the bells and whistles touted by the sales guys on the floor? It's just laundry at the end of the day, and we would all prefer to be doing something different if given the choice. laundryvet