Ask for 50% off at any retail lightning showroom, even when not on sale if that will finalize your decision. You might be told .. OK.

Call around and see what's available in your area. Call Milgard and see what they charge and what their warranty is. This project is all relative to availability , quality and pricepoint. Do the research on the options you have and make a choice. A landscaper broke one of my MIL's Andersen casement windows. He had a local glass guy come in and repair it. It's been in for 9 years with no problems. Ron

Thanks guys for your continued input. I am making a simple turkey dinner for the family (It is Thanksgiving in this part of the continent) so can't play around with furniture arrangements until later in the week or next weekend. However, I plan to rework the furniture arrangement multiple time with my little furniture cut-outs to see what I can do in both the great room and the dining room if the window seat moves there. I will post some alternatives later this week and hope you will come back to see them when the post pops up again. Here are few replies: Oakleyok, Your idea of placing a love seat in front of the window seat had not occurred to me at all. I will try out your idea with my furniture cut-outs. I agree that we should have room for a couch facing the TV if we lose the end table. The plant idea on a window ledge is great, although I tend to send plants into palliative care quite quickly LOL. I do see the family using the window seat for reading. Given we are in Canada it is rarely too hot or too sunny near a window. Thanks again for your help. Lavender_lass, Wow that dining room bump out is so beautiful!! Sadly, we won't be able to do that at this point in construction as the brick cladding is already on the back of the house. Also, we have a climber rather close to that side of the back now that the addition is done, and I wouldn't want to reduce the passage between climber and house any more. Yet, I will draw up a window seat in the dining room as I like that look. I was going to make a shallow shelf for decorative plates in the south/west corner of the dining room (top right corner). Maybe I can make some sort of combo window seat/plate shelf. I just have to find a way to accommodate that smaller dining room window on the west side. Thanks for your help and inspiration. Rosie, I am totally with you on disliking the "turn your back on family" seating arrangements. I do think Lavender's arrangement improves upon that problem. I am not worried about anyone walking in front of the TV. We don't even have cable, so mostly use the TV for movies once in a while. The kids use the one in the basement with their X-box a bit more frequently. I will do just as your aptly described to try every possible arrangement with a variety of furniture. Maybe the TV has to move so we are facing the dining room more rather than having our backs to it. Do you think we need a new spot for the TV?? I hate to think about moving that fireplace other than scooting it back a bit as the vent is installed through bricks, but if it has to move....don't tell DH just yet. Thanks ever so much for your kind help, Rosie. Carol P.S. Please come back everyone to see the various alternatives I post by next weekend. In meantime, if you have any more ideas I am all ears.

+1 Nothing Horrible about the Simonton window at all. Once you get into the upper end lines it tends to run a bit bulky and you could argue that the fit and finish aren't as nice as some of the other windows out there but I would never use the adjective of horrible. Foam filling, and its impact, depends on the extrusion, design, and realized U-Factor improvement. Some windows it makes no difference, others and make a great difference. Just depends on the window. You budget is a bit light if you ask me. The question I always tell folks is would you rather spend a bit more now for a great window and not have to re-do this project of go cheap now and spend again? You are dealing with that very issue right now in your current windows. The Euphoria of a "great deal" has long since worn off when you are stuck re-doing the work.