I am an entrepreneur and own several businesses with more than 1,000 employees. The name of a business can be very important particularly when the business itself has low consumer concept recognition. I would suggest you find a name that helps the consumer know what you do. Ex - "Blinds by Tomorrow" or "Drycleaning Depot". How about Kitchen Garden Installers or something else that really tells a consumer what you do. Then you set up a boot at the next Home and Garden Show and folks will stop to talk to you because you are clearly offering a unique service.

Hello dream garden, Around here, having had a skiff of snow over the past few days, the concept of a garden is pretty well a "dream" at present - though I think that it's past time that I should put some seeds into the earth that I stored in pots in the basement. Thank you for your message of appreciation. Yes - "stretcher" is an interesting site. Some years ago when my son and I had a display at a fall fair, mine being along the line of "Making Your Dollars Work Harder" and "How to Pay Less Income Tax", a man came up to me and asked me what right I had to call myself a financial planner. I told him that all that I have to sell someone is looking at money a little differently than they, for if I look at it (almost) identically, they won't pay to talk to me ... and if I look at it from a hugely different perspective, they'll clap their both hands over both ears and think, "Oh, Lord - no way am I even going to consider trusting management of my precious money to *this* flake!!". I said that it seemed to me that the time when I began to look at money somewhat differently than most city folks (my major potential market) was when I grew up on the farm. He replied, rather vehemently, that that had nothing to do with it! I told him that I thought that it did, for most city folk have regular income and if they miss a couple of paycheques, are crying the blues such that you think that the world was about to end, while for most farmers irregular income is an ongoing fact of life. Further, most city folk don't think much about the difference between cash flow and capital - their main capital issue being their mortgage, on which they make regular payments without thinking. They have no idea how one needs to consider, having enjoyed a little larger income than usual this year, whether to do an overhaul of the tractor motor, or trade it on a better one, and whether one can afford to get a better/bigger combine this year, or buy some more cattle, or hogs, put a new roof on the barn, make an extra payment on the mortgage, etc. I also told him that I'd taken the courses that stockbrokers take - much more complex than the training of most mutual fund sales folk. Plus six courses (passed 5) leading to title of Chartered Financial Planner - later revised, I'd have to start all over: at 70 or so (now 77), and receiving 3 pensions - I thought not. By the way, having done a preliminary calculation of my tax for this year, I find that I may be paying something under 10% of income in tax - about half of the amount of my charitable contributions (without considering the political ones, that are partially deductible, up to a limit, as well). Hope you enjoy your spring - and your garden. Mine, in the corner of a field of beans for processing (freezing, canning) got sprayed last year ... twice! ole joyful P.S. When you live among refugees for a time - it gives you a whole different outlook not only on money and its uses, but on various other dimensions of living, as well. Including being thankful for the accident of birth that had me born in this country rather than in many others - but they are God's people, too - and I owe them something o j

Maybe sell it during the winter so folks won't hang around outside very long. Also - if you have a rainy season maybe sell it then so if folks are looking they would not stay outside long or would hear the rain and maybe not notice the traffic as much (though when cars drive through wet streets after it rains, it could be more noisy). Also note some folks like busy streets. They like the activity. One positive note - you get more drive-by traffic to see your sign. There are many homes on busy streets all across the USA that sell every day. Maybe the place is subject to future office or restaurant zoning - which could make it be very desirable. Often busy streets get rezoned and over the years offices and such eventually convert all the former homes. An insurance firm, for example, would love to be on a busy street so they could benefit from drive-by traffic.

You mention the possibility of a paid caregiver, indicating that aging in place is one of their concerns, yet the whole house is anything but age-appropriate. First the good: - Great sight lines at the front door. - Nice layout for great room, kitchen and dining area. And the bad: - The master bath is a study in inefficiency. Excess space in the middle of the room, yet a person using the sink must stand practically on top of the tub. An oversized shower (good idea for aging in place), yet the window is a problem. A toilet closet with a door that can't be closed once a user enters the room (and toilet closets are difficult for elderly to enter, as well as being difficult to clean). Your parents have allotted plenty of space to the master bath /closet, but this needs a whole re-do. Personally, I'd start by placing the closet in the spot that's now the shower; that takes care of the window, and it'll allow the shower to move "in" rather than being on an exterior wall. - The 90 degree turn into the bedroom does allow for privacy, but it can be difficult for an elderly person to manage. - The island prevents good flow in the kitchen, and your work aisles look narrow. In general, square kitchens don't work well. In a kitchen you want cabinets /countertops /space for your appliances; thus, rectangles, with greater wall area are superior. In contrast, squares allow for empty space in the middle, which isn't particularly what you want in a kitchen because that means your "important players" are farther apart from one another. I think I'd drop the two-island concept and instead go with a simple row of cabinets against the wall and a large island dividing the kitchen from the great room. This would be very affordable to build, and it would look great with that layout -- as well as increasing the size of a modest great room. - I like the dining room except for the door to the porch. Once you insert a table, it'll block access to the door. The great room doors are only steps away, and this door isn't needed. This dining room would look great with a banquette against the wall, and that would make the dining room more spacious. - The dining room must serve as a walkway to the secondary bedrooms, and you have a "bottleneck" in the spot where the kitchen and the dining room meet at the corner -- keep in mind you're going to have to bring bedroom furniture through that narrow spot. - I like jack-and-jill closets, but this one seems cramped and is just doors-doors-doors everywhere. Imagine if you ever needed to replace that tub - a new one could never be brought into that spot. - Do they need the e-space near the secondary bedrooms, or would that be better as a large storage closet? If you ever do have a paid caregiver in the house, a good-sized closet would be an asset for that person. OR, if they have lots of grandchildren who enjoy spending the night, that little spot could be a cool little built-in bunkbed right in the hallway. OR, you could move the half-bath to this position, allowing for a more comfortable laundry room. - The laundry room suffers from the same problem as the kitchen: The walking area is quite narrow, which is not age-friendly. Moving through that narrow hallway with a basket of clothes may not be so easy as your parents age. Note, too, that when you open that door, it covers up a portion of your folding area. All that wasted hallway space could make a nicer laundry room. It'd be nice if it could be closer to the master bedroom closet.