Thanks guys. I can't go totally 50s because my hubby isn't on board (even though I'd love to). Once the azaleas bloom this spring and I get a chance to enjoy them, I'll rip them out and add height to the middle with probably a Japanese maple. The azaleas are so old that I don't think they would survive transplanting and I don't think my back would survive trying to dig them out intact. I can get the gardener to try though. I hate losing them but I really don't like how they cut the house in half. We're going to replace the front windows with newer more energy efficient aluminum windows and I was going to try to get some in black or dark bronze. Many of the neighbors have painted theirs or gotten storm windows and they look really good. I think we might try painting the garage door black as an interim solution since the ones I want are really expensive. Paint is cheap so we can see if we like them. Mari, the tree was slightly crooked (but not as much as the picture shows) but hubby tightened up the bolts on it so it stands proudly now. I was trying to tell hubby how I wanted the address plaque made and was searching ebay at the same time for anything teak in case I ran across something really fabulous furniture-wise. I saw the breadboard and thought, "great! now I won't have to wait a year for hubby to actually make what I want." He thought I was crazy at first but once he saw the address numbers on it he loves it too. Once we take the Christmas decorations down and put the light bulbs back in the fixture, the address shows up really well with the light aimed at it. Thanks for all your help. It's really nice to have extra sets of eyes when making decisions.

My most vigorous returning tulips are Ivory Floradale. Originally planted in the fall of 2001 they have returned every year since and are as large as ever and the clumps keep expanding. The soil here is heavy clay. They were planted at least 6" deep. The Dasystemon Tarda tulips and turkestanica tulips were planted the year before and also come back every year. They are small 'botanical tulips' and I let them set seed and spread that way if they wish. The Ivory Floradale get their flower stalks cut down to the base as soon as the petals start dropping, so they never set seed. The three of them make good companions - The Ivory Floradale start out yellow and fade to creamy white. The Dasystemon Tarda are vibrant yellow with white and bloom when the Ivory Floradale is in its yellow phase. The turkestanica does not look particularly tulip-like, blooms a bit late and its creamy white flowers go well with almost anything, including the white phase of Ivory Floradale. We have other tulips that come back each year, including Queen of the Night and Angelique, which are not as vigorous but still pop up regularly in places. Orange Emperor has been a reliable returner but not very vigorous. And then there are other unknown ones - the squirrel-planted ones! - that are vigorous returners but I don't know their names. In my densely planted gardens where tulips are mixed in with other plants (rather than being in a dedicated space of their own) the dying foliage doesn't bother me too much. Cutting down the flower stalk really helps minimize the visibility of the mess I think.

Thank you for all the suggestions. Do not be sorry for saying your opinion, I have understood that everyone has different choice and likes. So I will not mind. We do not have any book collections. So I am not sure what I will be storing in them. The first photo was taken when the house was staged. To make it look that I need to but those huge books that we do not read. :). Jokes apart we will using the space as secondary TV room\entertainment area for big gathering. We already have another primary family room. I like low maintenance, with so many shelves I need to do regular dusting which I am not up for. We are painting all the windows and trims and base boars white in the room. I do not like the wood color. It make the room dark. Here are the additional photos of that room. These photos are from listing so the room looks brighter, but believe it does look this bright in reality. To explain my choice, I know adding a window seat that current height would be too high. So I wanted to reduce the height and get it to 20 inches. We may have to change the window in the future as these are really old. When we do that we can get bigger window that will match the window seat height. I hope that makes sense.

I'd go a nice crisp white and redo the landscaping with lots of lush greenery. Black door. Remove the shutters. White railing in front and maybe add thicker, square columns on the porch.