handymax and palimpsest, thank you very much for your help. Mostly they'll swing on them, maybe once a month, my son might slam the door when he gets angry with his dad. They will never tape/nail/staple things on the doors. Will the solid core prone to warp due to the change in temperature or humidity? I am living in the bay area, and I hope this shouldn't be an issue. With solid door, they may not need to put on earphone to listen to the violin or piano video clips. But I might not be able to hear if my son was properly playing violin.

Paint is a wonderful thing. We had a similar situation but had to get the water away from the house. (We live in the south and I don't want to do anything that will possibly attract termites.) So I painted the downspout the same color as the pillar. No one ever even noticed it after that. Where it joined the bricked area along the foundation, I painted that section of downspout a brown color so it would "fade" into the brick. Now one noticed it after that. Then I joined a round pvc pipe to the where the water came out because I wanted that water far away from the foundation. Spray painted the pvc pipe brown also and it ended up being covered by pine straw that is in the garden area. Water shoots out onto the driveway and gets carried away. End of problem and the gutters do their job nicely.

So many good suggestions! Unfortunately we live in West Texas, so not the greatest climate for living things outside of desert plants. I probably won't be doing any climbing plants just based on our severe water restrictions and and my lack of a green thumb. Plus we have some heavy dust storms most of the year that sand blasts anything too delicate. I tend to let the lawn do it's thing and keep it cut and edged. Lavender_Lass: I absolutely love the idea of a little seating area out there! I would go with a concrete bench and small table (things tend to walk away here). I hadn't ever thought of this.. but sometimes I do loiter out front waiting for guests to arrive for dinner parties. Kippy: Possibly a small flowering tree to cover some of the area from heat? It gets extremely hot there in the middle of the day. annkh: my handy man skills probably lack too much to remove my covered area, but I'm thinking I could replace that column with something not so... terrible. I absolutely hate that thing! Do you have any thoughts on what I can do to keep it and pretty it up some? We do get some pretty heavy storms sometimes. Any suggestions on paint color ideas for that siding? I have a feeling that's really going to help out alot, but I'm not sure what colors to go with to modernize it all (gonna paint before I plant/landscape). I've attached a full photo of the house, plus a photo of inside so you can all see that I have at least done some nice remodeling in there at least. And we had a nice hail storm yesterday evening so I am getting a new roof!! No more brown orange roof! woohoo!!

"Are hollow doors moisture-resistant for a different reason, or do they just warp like hell?" Hollow core doors are built as a torsion box. Solid wood is used for the per miter, with additional blocking for the knobs. One face (often 'Masonite' for size stability) is then attached, and corrugated cardboard strips are placed and glued to the face of the door. The other face is then attached with glue on the cardboard and the solid wood edges. Any veneer is attached to the face plies. They are actually pretty stable and unless they get soaked with water 9think a flood that submerges the door) hold their dimensions and shape very well. They have a lower sound transmission rating beacause the faces are not as thick or as rigid, and of course the 'hollow' sound if you rap one with your knuckles since most of the volume is hollow. you can decorate the face with molding to create the appearance (from a distance) of a panel door, but hey are still a lower cost substitute for a solid wood panel door. Doors are also available that use shipped wood and a binder impressed in large forming die to create the appearance of a panel door. They are typically VERY heavy, but still not as stiff as a real wood panel door. The extra weight can improve their sound transmission qualities though.