green ask yourself these questions. how long do you expect to be in this home? how did current three ton AC perform? any comfort issues for top floor either cooling or heating? you are in a perfect climate for a heat pump with nat gas backup. plus you have reasonable electric rates. I would not even consider going down in size of the outside condenser without a properly performed load calculation to support it. You do want a new and correctly sized refrigerant lineset. I would also include a 4-5" pleated filter media cabinet. Now to the systems listed. Option #1 packs alot of punch and value. That is an XT80 gas furnace with the high eff blower motor. here are the numbers below. a little light in cooling BTUs, but it does qualify for tax credit. 3432940 Active Systems XR15 TRANE 4TTR5036E1 4TXCB004CC3 *UD1B080A9H3 33600 13.00 16.00 I would get an upgrade price on the XR15 heat pump version. Also you might consider the XV80 two stg 80% VS furnace. Regardless, I would want a good matching thermostat like Trane's 803 or the identical and probably less expensive HW equivalent. IMO Good Luck!

"I went to work in an office that had a pocket door that never worked right because someone had driven nails into it at some point and it was never the same after" (palimpsest) Yes. This happened to us when DH nailed the baseboard on the wall between the laundry and kitchen. The door came off track. When we renovate I will replace or remove. However, this was builder grade. On our extension I added three pocket doors. The one I had put in for the powder room is a solid core door, not thinner than most doors, as I wanted as much sound-dampening as possible with such a device. We used Johnson Hardware - not the home depot variety which runs $ 40 or so, but commercial grade. Look at the Johnson site under 1500 Commercial Grade and you will also find non-standard size frames (door max thickness 1 3/4"). Use a good carpenter.

Sina is correct regarding basic laminate. Cheap laminate won't hold up. You have to get the better quality. I used a moisture resistant and scratch resistant laminate at my front entry and it is holding up nicely. The upgraded laminate is still cheaper than I high end wood floor. the 5'x5' area that I did cost me around $100. That included the flooring and the transition strips. The flooring already had the padding on it. If you buy flooring without the pad/ backing you will have to buy it separately. I got my flooring at Home Depot on sale at 50% off as it was special order that someone didn't pick up. Shop around for deals and specials like open box or special orders that weren't picked up. If you are a member of Sams, BJs, or Costco, a lot of times I have found clearance laminate deals.

mirror and frosted mirror are more economical than most clear or frosted glass. But the cost difference is small enough that when they go on sale at big box store, it easily swaps or evens out. Tinted mirror is expensive as they are not as popular.