Larry, you may be behind last year, but you are ahead of me. My tomatoes are only about 4 inches high, but they look nice. I actually had to start over once. I started with a poor starting mix the first time and it dried out so quickly that I gave up and started over. Even after that, I planted too many seeds and probably have 60-70 plants, but I don't have a lot of variety. Outside I have planted onions, potatoes and a few peas. I threw some corn salad seeds in the onion bed, but I think the birds cleaned most of it up before it sprouted. When we had a hail threat, I covered one onion bed with row cover just to make sure I didn't lose them all, but the hail didn't come. I think the robins are having a family reunion in my garden this year. When we get past the next 10 days, then I will worry about getting everything in.

hollylh... I can't comment on brand as you want stacking and I have Bosch which does not stack (unless you go with the "smaller" European models.... but I can comment on second floor a bit... mine are one the second floor as I pointed out before, middle of the house, in a closet in a bathroom... they face each other with about 4 feet between their fronts.... basically they are surrounded by walls on all 3 sides... My house is almost 18 years old, so it's typical northeast US 2x4 construction, circa 1990.... We have negligible vibration problems. Once in a while if I really stuff the load in the machine (too many clothes!) then I will get some vibration when the washer goes into its top spin mode... otherwise, you don't know they are running... 100 year old house, I'm not sure what the construction was like.... IF you're not sure, it would most likely be best to open up the floor and look at how it is done and then decide if you need to redo the area.... or possibly go with one of the smaller machine sets... part of the vibration issue has to do with the weight and the the size of the load getting flung around... smaller machines are not quite as heavy and can't hold as much wet clothes... therefore less momentum to cause vibration... My late FIL had a one piece unit, washer (FL) on bottom and dryer on top... I think Fridgedaire??? but I don't remember any more... but he had this on the first floor of a 100+ year old house with no problems... It certainly wasn't "mega" capacity... otherwise, you may need to revisit "stacking"... stacking and pedestals both will add to the "sway" of the washer...

Hi Jo, and welcome to the Decorating Forum! Three years ago we finally redid our kitchen that opens into our family room. For years before that, I was very frustrated with how the two rooms did not work well with one another. There wasn't a good flow, and I think that this is the first thing you have to think about: will the look of both rooms work well with one another? Mine didn't. Our original kitchen had white-washed pine cabinets, a too long, light maple butcher block island counter and blue stone-look (hmmm, kind of) laminate counters. On the other hand, our family room had dark cherry furniture, with a beautiful dark brown leather sofa and some very nice art work. In our eyes, the kitchen was too casual. The two rooms did NOT work well with each other, especially since the view from my lovely family room was first and foremost, our refrigerator. We eventually bought a ss fridge , but it still didn't help the flow. I called it my Darth Vader fridge and ended up giving it away when we redid the kitchen. Here are 3 pics of my Before kitchen, the first 2 taken from our family room: My point in showing these Before pics, is to remind you that kitchens open to your family room are wonderful, but you really need to plan thoughfully so that they work well with one another and the flow is easy. For example, take a look at my fist pic, The half wall had to have that chair up against it, as we needed that extra seating. Now look at the third pic. The island was so long, that when the fridge was open or someone was working there at the end, or when the dishwasher was being emptied, I had to walk around the person/chair in the family room to get to the other side of the kitchen! It didn't work well, even though it was great being able to talk with my family in the FR. So, after many years of thinking and planning how I could make this open plan work for me, not against me, we had the kitchen gutted and started over with only our adobe walls and brick floors. First, the view and flow were drastically changed. Our new view from the family room is now of a beautiful Old World hood over our cooktop, instead of a fridge. And the new dark cherry cabs work so much better with the furniture and the art ~ and the entire atmosphere~ of our family room now. This next pic was taken right after we could use the kitchen again. The lace tablecloth on the window was just to get an idea if I wanted some sort of curtains in there. I didn't. The storage and work areas were dramatically increased, too, without adding even one more sf of space, but that's another story. My point with all these pics is to stress making good decisions that let both rooms flow nicely, before you commit to ordering new cabs, knocking down walls or ordering new appliances. And think long term. Our needs and tastes evolve and redoing a kitchen is a very pricey reno! Good luck with your kitchen reno and be sure to join the Kitchen Forum here on GW. I saved a lot of money and time (and stress!!) by reading and asking questions over there before I bought anything. I also avoided making some big mistakes, by first learning from other people's mistakes there. They're a very helpful, knowledgeable bunch. Lynn

Really, any way of using this forum that produces useful feedback and information seems okay to me -- isn't that the whole point of the forum, to get and give ideas and help? Multiple posts, many questions, few answers, whatever. I don't get being critical of how someone else uses the forum, how often they post, or reply to other's posts. Not everyone who needs help will be able to provide it to others equally; often the OP responds to responses and never gets another response; continuing in a thread with a slight change of focus ( ie what about *this* color?) often also gets no further answers. And, as we all have experienced, the search function is often not helpful. I am *extremely* grateful for those who do respond frequently and helpfully! and, especially, for those with a talent for recalling other threads, reveals, and sites that can be helpful!