(Above post, continued) I also have very soft water. I don't use a lot of detergent -- 2-3 tbsp of Tide HE powder or Ecover. I struggled with the sweaty gym clothes when I got our first FL. They would come out still stinky in the arm pits. I tried more detergent, less detergent, different detergent, hotter water, etc. All the same stuff you tried. Nothing worked until I used a higher water level cycle (delicates on my GE). Oh and it had to be warm water (104F) or higher -- cold didn't work for some reason. I also had the stiff towels problem. Luckily it was just the towels and not our clothes. I never did solve it and it was starting to drive me nuts. It seemed to develop over time, as new towels stayed soft for a while after purchase. I started trying more water, vinegar in the rinse, fabric softener etc but wasn't making much difference. Then I moved and got a new washer (a Miele -- the last of the 220v ones which retained some of its European features). Same water supply (we moved 5 min away in the same town), same detergent, same towels. It could be my imagination, but I think my towels got softer after a few months with the Miele. I don't know what to make of that -- except that in reading your post, I kept wondering if you had tried 4 different brands/models of FLs or if you were getting them switched out on warranty and therefore kept getting the same model back? Because... (segue to my last anecdote) Because, we went on vacation and had to use a Maytag Neptune for a week. And it was there that I realized, as not-entirely-satisfied as I was with my GE, there were infinitely worse FLs out there. It was the commercial version of the Neptune in a laundromat. Most of them smelled like old socks. I didn't think anything of it and washed in a stinky Neptune. That load came out smelling like old socks. Afterwards I learned that Neptunes were notorious for having standing water left in the machine that could cause the smell. The time after that I got smart and washed in a non-stinky one. Better, but still did nothing for stains. I was washing diapers in them so I was trying every trick I knew. My conclusion after that week was that there are some truly awful FLs out there. OK back to the stomach flu you are dealing with currently. Do a pre-wash on delicates or something with a higher water level to get the vomit/poop/whatever you're dealing with out. Then wash on the hottest temp the fabric will tolerate (hope you have an internal heater) with a goodly amount of Tide HE powder (maybe use more than usual). Run another delicates cycle as a super rinse afterwards. I got rotavirus smell out of my cloth diapers this way. On one particular diaper that got it really bad, it took multiple subsequent washes, but it did finally come out. So there is hope. Sorry for such a long and rambling post. To sum up, for the stink/general clean, I would try: 1) higher water level cycle 2) warm (104F) or higher 3) 2-3 tbsp powder detergent (since you have soft water) For the scratchy towels, I guess I can't really suggest that you trade your new washer in for yet another one... so I will suggest a different detergent. Ecover powder. Whole Foods carries it if you have one of those near you. This detergent does crap for stains (I have to pre-treat everything if I want a stain out) but on the flip side, it doesn't fade colors like Tide HE does. It does not rinse out as well as Tide, but I think it is that very quality which makes my loads come out soft and nice. It doesn't sound like you are dealing with especially sensitive skin in the family, so I think it would be OK to give it a try. It does have enzymes (I am a strong believer in enzymes because my diapers never stank so much as each of the times I deviated from Tide and tried a "more natural" detergent with no additives, no enzymes, etc.).

You can try Crypton fabrics  they are stain resistant. About abrasion  it doesnÂt matter if a fabric is printed or woven, the most important thing is how tight its weave is, so you can go to printed cotton also, just check if itÂs tight enough. If you want to get a sort of fabric where spots will be invisible  choose one with small or medium pattern and with colors that dark enough and not very contrast. For home decorating and window treatment ideas visit www.window-blinds-project.com Here is a link that might be useful: www.window-blinds-project.com

Those are not oak cabinets. As I started reading this thread, I was starting to compose a reply -- "Am I the only one thinking those are not oak?" but then started running into a growing number of folks saying the same thing. They have a tight grain that looks like maple or possibly cherry, but the way they appear to have taken a stain makes me thing maple. Maple has a tendency to not accept stain evenly and you have some lighter and darker areas. I suspect they are not alder because that is a softer wood and I don't see any dings. They do appear to be in good shape. I'd work with them. As said above, if you have money for granite and tile floors, you have money for paint or stain. If you are willing to take the time to learn and DIY on the cabinets, you may be able to do both. You showed us a lot of the kitchen, but not two things I'd like to see -- your lighting and the cooktop. Do you have a vent hood? Does it exhaust or recirculate the air? I'm wondering if the cabinets have years of gunk built up on them. They look not only yellowed, but possibly dirty or dry. I would give them a really good cleaning for starters. You can't paint or stain until you do that anyway. Then I'd look at the lighting -- It looks like it may be adding to the yellow cast to everything. Any chance you have an older florescent fixture in the kitchen? The wood color looks better in the breakfast nook than it does in the kitchen. Changing or improving your lighting and cleaning your cabinets could make things look a lot different and neither of those should be budget busters. I would paint the walls with some color and then step back and take a look. If you want darker hardware, I'd buy new. It doesn't have to be expensive, but painting hardware is likely to be very temporary. So far, with DIY, we're looking at a few hundred dollars. I would like to remove the soffit in the kitchen itself if possible. If not, I'd paint it or give it a deep crown treatment to carry the cabinet line to the ceiling. You could also paint the ceiling crown to match the ceiling if it will not bother you that is will then be different that the rest of the house. I would not paint the window trim -- the window itself is stained wood and matches all your other windows. Once you get to that point, I would make a decision on painting, gel staining or stipping the cabinets and refinishing. Those are all things you can DIY, but paint and stripping will be time intensive -- which is why there is a lot of cost to them, especially if they need a lot of cleaning and prep work. You don't want any painter who isn't looking at good prep work because the job will not be good or last unless they do it right.

"We've had a few landscape designers come out to give us ideas, but most of them want to over-plant and turn the place into a forest." There is pressure in the industry to go in this direction and it comes from everywhere: the client, the boss, the contractors. Everybody wants to squeeze more plants in if they can. Part of this is impatience. Everyone wants quick or instant results. Part of it comes from the urge to sell product. And part of it comes from peer pressure; a designer may not feel like they're "doing enough" professionally if they aren't providing the fullest look. I felt this in my early days of work and it took a long time to resist. It's a nice looking, good sized house, but the walk to the front porch is seriously undersized relative to everything else. Unfortunately, it cheapens the look of everything else. The walk and the step should be the width (or nearly) of the opening between the porch posts. Due to the grade, it would probably require installing a small retaining wall. (There really ought to be a retaining wall there now. I can picture maintenance difficulty and erosion problems on the way.) If you ever decide to fix it, I would explore the idea of eliminating one step, by tilting the walk slightly upward as it approaches the porch. (The picture doesn't indicate if this is feasible.) IMO, there is not enough shown in the pictures to give much feedback on planting. From the overall front, it looks like you could use some large trees off the corner of the house, but neither of these areas can be seen well. Nor can the complete foundation planting area be seen. (We only see the central part from a hard angle.) My picture is not a comprehensive look, but is only addressing the walk issue.