Home Improvement Woes

Does anyone else live in a dumpy fixer-upper of a home??? Please tell me I'm not the only one. And, to top it all off, finances right now are SUPER tight...and I have limited experience with home improvement endeavors. Here's what I have awaiting me in the future, room-by-room:

Enclosed porch- Clear all the CRAP out of there, sweep, scrape off old paint on the floor, re-paint walls and floor, replace windows, get patio rugs, get some nice furniture (wicker would work well out there); re-hang a porch swing, get a neat light fixture and install. Plants, plants, plants. Replace storm door.

Living room- have already pulled old carpet out, need to pull up nine million carpet staples, pull out the wall boards, 2nd coat of paint (painted 2 months ago), refinish floor with drum sand, stain, seal, new electrical plates, replace windows, new window frames (debating on wood finish or painting white), replace baseboards and add quarter round, dust off and repaint ceiling, get a loveseat, put slipcover on old couch (to match slipcover on new loveseat), get bookcase from Pier 1, get ratton chair from Pier 1, get two large area rugs, get nice art for above the couch, new electrical outlet faceplates...bahhhhhh!!!!!!!

Hallway- Clean walls, remove hideous light fixture, prime walls, paint hallway to match living room, frame nifty art print I found at the Dollar Tree, hang, new outlet cover, put in new light fixture I bought at Menard's, refinish wood floor, add baseboards and quarter-round, throw down a nifty runner rug dealy-o.

Bathroom- I'm currently working on this. What a pain in the rear. I had to remove 3 layers of crusty nappy wallpaper, and on the ceiling as well with a steamer. Then I had to seal the torn drywall facepaper, spackle, spackle, spackle, and I'm now in the process of sanding the walls down with my handy-dandy orbital sander. Dust everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We need a new tub/shower unit. The floor is also rotted underneath, and we need to tear the vinyl flooring out, replace the sub-floor, put concrete backer-board down, and ceramic tile the floors, and halfway up the walls. I am painting the bathroom a nifty color called "Passion Fruit", after I prime tomorrow. It's a very bright orchid-purple.

Bedroom- We won't go there. It's frightening.
Son's room- We won't go there either. *shivers*

Kitchen- Kilz prime over the scary but well-hung wallpaper (nope, will NOT remove it...it was applied directly to the wallboard anyway), and paint a lovely terra cotta color (with sage green accents), repaint cabinets, replace cabinet hardware. Repaint ceiling. Replace scary Victorian light fixtures. Hang pot holder/rack thingy. Replace windows.

Ugh. Anyone else here ever done a complete home overhaul? My house is smaller, but does have potential to be very cute. We also need new siding. We do have a brand new roof, which is a relief.

I just realized that the whole point of my posting this, was to further stall the spackling process in my bathroom. Well, off I go.

Wow! Think you'll get all this done by Monday?
Actually, I know how you feel. When we bought our home many years ago, the entire place needed redecorating. The kitchen had horrible oilcloth wallcovering that was yellow with red tulips & silver metallic squiggles! The living room & dining room were celery green with dingly white woodwork. (The lady we bought from made a big point of telling us how she & her sister had painted "all that dark woodwork after our parents died.")(idiots) One bedroom was painted turquoise, one gold, and one flamingo pink. Boy, I could go on & on, but you get the idea. To top it off, there wasn't a single thing growing in the yard--nothing.
It's taken a long time, but we've sided, roofed, new bathroom (we also had a rotted out floor), new furnace & ac, built a 2-car garage, refinished hardwood floor, etc. And my garden is to die for. And we're still not done!
Now, to make matters worse, we've decided to buy my family homestead someday (hopefully in the far distant future, as my Mom still lives there). It hasn't been re-decorated since 1970, so..... here we go again!
Good luck with your home. My advice is to just do a little at a time, or you can become overwhelmed!

Yeah, it has been little by little...and we're still no where near being ready for company yet. I will NOT invite family or friends over here when my place looks like a complete dump. I did go spackle for a while, and ran out of spackling...so once hubby comes home, I'm sending him off into the wild blue yonder for some spackling.

I will get this bathroom primed by tomorrow night if it kills me. And it just might.

If this makes you feel better I grew up in a house that was built in 1929, and my parents redid it room by room. It took them almost three years, but it did get done.

Just to give you the low down on the house: It had seven bedrooms, four and half bathrooms, steam heat, a slate roof, and a basement that was supposed to flood because it had a small trough that ran around it that let the water drain out. It also had a ball room, library, space for two offices, and a mother in law suite.

Good luck! I know it is going to take time, but it is well worth it in the end.

I know how you feel and you are not alone! I am doing the same to my house now. I have 4 feet of water in my house due to the hurricane. I have most things done however I still have to paint everything and my 2 daughter are still sleeping in my den because their room has no walls. I didn't have flood insurance. I know its hard when money is tight and I hope you get everything you need done soon and I am sure once it is done you will sit back and forget how hard it was to finish!

Originally Posted by prncss89

I know how you feel and you are not alone! I am doing the same to my house now. I have 4 feet of water in my house due to the hurricane. I have most things done however I still have to paint everything and my 2 daughter are still sleeping in my den because their room has no walls. I didn't have flood insurance. I know its hard when money is tight and I hope you get everything you need done soon and I am sure once it is done you will sit back and forget how hard it was to finish!

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Awww, bless your heart! I didn't even think of those of you whose homes were destroyed/damaged from the hurricane...how quickly we forget, I'm afraid. I'm sure you do have a lot left to do! Well, we'll keep plugging away at it, and someday, we'll be done. Oh, wait...houses really are never done...they're kind of never-ending.

Oh this thread is great! So glad I'm not alone. At least you guys OWN your houses - I'm renting an apartment that we're basically redoing top to bottom. We moved 3 months ago and we're still sleeping in the living room. Seems redoing the flooring in the bedroom is our white whale, just a distant dream. And everything else except the kitchen hinges on getting the bedroom done.
I have finished the bathroom though. That makes a huge difference!
Good luck everyone in getting the renovations done. At least we all have a roof over our heads.

Hey, I'll join you in the frustrated Fixer-Upper Club! Actually I just started a blog so I wouldn't forget all the details and can actually remind myself that we are making progress. We lived in a condo for 5 years and Rob got itchy fingers and needed to swing a hammer. Unfortunately for me, since I enjoyed the condo, we started looking for a house and found a fixer-upper. Now Rob is happy and I'm not.

We purchased a century old, one room schoolhouse in a historical area. I love the neighbourhood and love Rob....but those are the only reasons I'm still here. Within the first 6 months of purchasing this place we had a sewer backup that destroyed almost all of our possessions (they were all in the basement since we were renovating the main floor.)

In the last few years we have completed the following: insulated the house, updated all the old knob and tube wiring, replace the ancient boiler, renovated the washroom, replaced the roof, replaced the front porch, torn down the ancient garage and built a shed. We just tore down the walls that separated the small bedrooms upstairs and now it has a loft feel. Wow....I guess we really have made some progress.

The house was previously rented out and the wonderful renters decided to paint almost all the floors with GREEN outdoor paint (and walls painted turquoise and yellow). Very lovely. On the July long weekend we stripped the stairs and right now we are adding closets to the upstairs bedrooms. Did I tell you I don't have any closets? Again, it's a one room schoolhouse so I've learned it's better to donate than collect stuff.

I'll post pictures maybe tomorrow if I get a chance. I still remember when I first walked into this place. Yellow walls and shiny green floors greeted me but Rob's eyes were like a kid at Christmas. Who was I to say no to him? Also, I currently don't have air conditioning. I told Rob I'm leaving him if we don't install it by next summer....