Where's your next home improvement project going to be?

Re: Where's your next

home improvement project going to
I don't know about you but to me the Kitchen and the Bathroom are the two most

important rooms in my house. It is imperative to keep at all times those two rooms in the best condition possible.

Just went through some major home improvements including all new termal coated double glass windows throughout the house and a lot of redecorating -- new wallpapers, painting, faux finishes and aren't finished with that. The kitchen is probably next along with the bathrooms for new flooring and since I buy all the materials wholesale, I don't know what's holding me up other than inspiration!

We're doing lots of 'miscellaneous' in preparation for putting the house on the market next year (plus daughter's upcoming wedding with associated visitors). So far I've painted the dining room, the office, my son's old room and trim all over the place. Hubby hates painting, but he did our bathroom with some of that new textured paint and will do the second bathroom soon. He's also put down a new floor in the kitchen, fixed the front brick stoop (it was sagging a bit) and on and on and on.

So much to do, so little time!

It's not the time or the money that stops me but really only the inconvenience of it all.

Im thinking about the kitchen, needs a lot of help

If I could just figure out how to make the laundry clean and iron itself.....

Iron? You still iron?

Have you ever used the stuff (I think that one of them is called "Dryel") where you can Dry Clean clothes in your washing machine? I love it for clothes that are a little bit wilted, but not too dirty. I works wonderfully. If you're quick, and pull it out of the dryer as soon as it stops, and put it on a hanger, there is absolutely NO ironing

I'm STILL in the process of building a workshop for my tools and blacksmithing equipment. I've been at it since May. Things don't go so fast when you can only work a few hours on weekends and an hour or so after work on weekdays, but I've got the framing, the interior wiring and most of the roof done. "All" I have left to do is pour concrete supports for the anvil and post vise, install the floor, install the back door, shingle the roof, install the chimney pipe, hire an electrician to run the service wire from the main panel to the subpanel, install the drywall and paint the whole damn thing. If I can get the roof done before the rain starts, I'll being doing good.

Our home, Corazon de la Osa, was built in 1978 and is over 3300 square feet on just under a half acre. The property had fallen into disrepair, and so we've been overwhelmed with projects since we purchased the place (April, 2001).

Here's the list of projects that remain (as of this time, and not in priority order):

· Replace all of the air conditioning and furnace units. There are three air conditioners, and two furnaces. All still work, but they are old and inefficient.

· Install a large fountain in the stairwell. The stairs between levels winds down in front of a two-story window, and is one of the most striking features seen when entering the house. The stairwell already has a thirty-foot tree, but would be greatly improved by the addition of a fountain. The sound of the water would touch another of our five senses, and help keep the humidity of the house in balance.

· Replace the window in our east guestroom with a French door. We want our guests in that room to be able to step directly out onto the pool deck, or onto the lawn. This may be the next house project, because it isn't too expensive. The toss- up next project would be replacement of the kitchen windows with modern double-panes with better insulating capability.

· Install crown molding in the Library. This is another relatively inexpensive project that I may get around to before spring. We also need to install another bookcase in the Library. Unfortunately, there isn't room for more than one more bookcase in the room. I suppose we'll just have to continue living with books scattered throughout the house.

· Build another large deck adjoining the pool deck. Corazon is built into a hillside and so our wonderful views are limited downstairs by the pool fences and a stand of trees. The new deck will make over 180 degrees of view available from the mid-level of the property.

· Convert a large shed on the lower property into a studio where I can paint in comfort. Conversion will require running electrical service down to the building. The structure needs insulation, interior walls, and replacement of a small window with one six times larger. I'll probably have the roof redone as well before that project is done.

· The lowest third of the property will be xeroscaped (sp), but there are several fruit trees down there that require a better irrigation system. I need to have a number of specimen plants brought in down there as well. Desert plants tend to take a long time to mature, so if that garden is going to shape up before I die, I need to start with good sized plants.

· There are three gardens on the uppermost level: a grove of pine trees, an Oriental Rock Garden, and the English Garden. We want to put several more pines in to improve the screen between Corazon and the outside world. The Rock Garden needs more interesting rocks and a large sculptural piece. The English Garden was put in this year, so much remains to be done there.

I am enlarging a built-in china cabinet in my dining room!!

You go JerryR! Since we just completed a remodeling job, we are now moving on the the fun stuff- painting color on the walls which we just made white initially. That and buying new furniture to decorate with (NOTE: Be careful! Remodleing has a snowball effect).

Next I am going to go outside to clean windows, siding, leaves and pecan dirt from the roof and do some landscaping projects.

If I had the money I would install central air.

My house was built in the swinging 60's and there's a Austin Powers bar in my family room that has to go. There's the bar, a small sink, a frig. I want to have it all ripped out. There would be so much more space if that thing was gone. Of course, altho' it serves no purpose and we have never used it in the four years we've lived here, my husband is against getting rid of it.
I think I'll have it done one day while he's at work. We'll just have to fight it out.

Good luck, eoe!

Painting the main bedroom.

Still putting furniture back upstairs after having painted the big room. The small room is finally paint-ready but I'm just not inspired to start. Maybe in February?

When Spring finally arrives, I need to fix the cement cracks on my porch and also to fix the little cracks in my bathtub. A new tub could be very expensive and I'd like to avoid having a completely new tub installed at this time.

The Never Ending Story
The problems with owning an old house, is the constant need to repair and upgrade.

Lets see, the list of repairs on my present home are:

1. Ripping out the cracked driveway

2. Trenching out and replacing the sewer line all the way from the bathroom to the street.

3. Replacing the old 120v, 60 amp fuse box with a new 200 amp main

4. Scheduling with the power company to replace the old natural gas lines.

5. Ripping out two old wall furnaces, and replacing them with a energy efficient attic HVAC furnace.

6. Gutting the bathroom, new tile and new fixtures.

7. Replacing all of the old sash windows with dual pane

8. Installing a new wood stove, new hardwood flooring and new front door ($1000 -ouch), in the living room.

9. Forming and installing a new driveway

10. Installing a sprinkler system, lawn and landscaping.

11. Remodeling on of the three bedrooms into an office.

12. Stripping off and laying a new composition roof.

13. Ripping out 300ft of old redwood fencing and replacing with a cedar.

14. Extending the front porch out, two feet.

Projects pending:

1. Building a metal and wood 12ft sliding gate to the back yard

2. Ripping out the kitchen to bare walls and starting over

3. Finish setting up my metal fabricating shop.

4. Quit wasting my time, just bring in a D5, and start over from the ground up.