The front door is just ugly aside from not being very weather tight. During the winter it leaks a lot of cold air from all sides of it. It's a solid core door, that has been dinged up through the years, no window either. We want something which will let in light to the hallway. Plus, the existing screen door, is a cheap one with fake stained "glass" in it and is falling apart. We recently painted it which improved it's appearance dramatically but doesn't take care of the problems it has. Plus it does nothing for the overall appearance of the home. We've been able to stop some of the air leakage with weather stripping, but because of the way the lock is installed it tends to jamb and not close properly if we use enough to really make it as leakproof as it needs to be. Thanks for the links for the French door tho. I do agree with you on the point of it going to look like a front door in the living room if I use something else - which has been part of my problem all along and why we haven't yet jumped into replacing this one. I want to make sure I pick the absolute right door here or it's going to really look terrible!

I don't live in Madison, but do have a little knowledge of the place. It's hard to describe what would be the 'east side' of Madison due to it bordering the two major lakes of the area, Lake Mendota and Lake Monona. The narrow strip of land between these lakes contains the Captiol building and the University of Wisconsin, and is congested. Auto parking is scarce. However, the Student Union building has a lovely view of Lake Mendota. The most eastern part of Madison lies between Lake Monona and interstate 90/94. The part near the lake has many upscale homes and little businesses. East of interste 90/94 is open land and no city. Refer to a map of Madison, WI: I recommend looking along highway US 151 and US 51 north-east of the University. These highways have good access to the interstate and the aiport is nearby. This is also motel row. There are no views, however. Since pizza is student food, Madison is filled with pizza parlors, but mostly small, cozy affairs (near the University). However, I bet there are caterers in the area who could supply a delivery truck load of hot pizza. Also, consider serving bratwurst, a Wisconsin speciality. Some suggestions of venues: 1. Hotel/Motel meeting rooms 2. Student Union 3. Church Fellowship Hall 4. Meeting rooms in banks (A number of banks in Wisconsin will open their meeting rooms after hours. Many of these are in the basement. Larger banks do have rooms that can handle 70 people and offer restrooms plus kitchenettes, and many do have off-street parking. Look for banks in new industrial/business parks as these will have adequate parking.) I hope you all have fun - it sounds as though this will be a gala party.

Errant--You gave me a little spark of hope but alas I checked and the other side of the tank lid is unfinished. I've searched the Kohler Stately toilet and haven't found anyone else having this issue but the seat I have is said to have a design flaw by many reviewers. The best seat I ever bought is the Tuscany Premium from Menards that is in our other bathroom. I may get another and try it on this toilet. It is a very heavy and substantial seat but doesn't have a soft close feature (and has the loudest slam of any seat I've ever heard!)

'Nana' can be quite variable in form and it does assume a very conical appearance with age. Google some images and see. I would not immediately assume it was mislabeled....... 'Dwarf' in respect to conifers only means it grows more slowly than the species.