brutuses, I'm just realizing that les917 also said "the full width of the porch." It didn't sink until you wrote the same thing! Wow, I never even thought of extending the step out along the entire porch because of the boxwoods (which are trying to hide the exposed foundation). I figured the step would just lead to the door, but I can see how a full length step would leave lots of room for sitting! Would you run the walkway just straight up to the step, but have the step run the entire length of the foundation? There are a lot of homes like ours in our subdivision and everyone has the same walkup, so it's hard to visualize. Plus I've only had one cup of coffee! I really appreciate the new ideas!

I think you're right about the 14". Unfortunate the Wayfair site, where I plan on buying it, has a big discrepancy between the specifications and the part number,. No one there until Monday who can maybe figure it out. Some of it says it is the floor lamp and other parts of the info says it is the floor model. i plan on getting the aluminum. I already have a lot of black pieces and one more black might push it over the edge.

Thank you for the replies. My laundry sizes vary. I have 5 people in my home. Some of them actually do loads according to color, some just take the weeks worth of clothes and do one load lol. I have 4 Queen size beds and one king size bed. We have animals so all bedding is done once a week to cut down on the hair building up on our comforters. I wash a lot of rugs. I do my rugs in front of the doors and in the bathrooms once a week. They are really hard on a top loader but with the new larger capacity front loader I am hoping to be able to comfortably wash the rugs as well. I live in Florida and between summer rains and sand the rugs are dirty in no time. Before I moved here I had a Whirlpool Duet with steam front loader set. I loved it and actually thought about buying the set again but while I could wash a queen sized comforter in it I was stuffing it in and I am almost positive that they could not handle a good sized filler king comforter without possibly over loading it. Samsung seems to be one of the few companies that make larger sized machines. I will have the 5 year warranty on them plus my appliances will be included in my home warranty as well so while I hope I have no issues maybe this will at least cover any repairs needed. Again Thank you.

Have you looked at casement style windows, which form a tighter seal? Loewen, Marvin, Pella, Anderson are other options, if in your budget.