Question of the Day: Sunday, July 1st.

[calico2222]

So, my husband is outside on the bobcat, digging trenches for the footers....whatever that means  

 . Basically, we are expanding our sun room (actually, our computer/junk room) to make a bigger living room. At this point, I have no idea what is going on and just keep saying "yes dear" and supplying him with water and Popsicles. All I know is sometime this week half of our house is being torn down and redone. I wish I had a magic wand I could wave and it all would be done!  I'm sure I will love the outcome, but the actual "doing" part is a pain in the butt.

So, today's question is, have you done any home improvements/renovations recently? And, if not, are there any in your future plans?

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

No in 2002 we built this house we live in.  Right after that, we built a new church.  That is enough to last a lifetime.

 

[margecat]

Welcome to the Wild, Wacky World of Home Improvements!

We bought our house in February, 2005.

1. New French doors to replace sliders

2. New heat pump

3. New water heater

4. New ceilings in the kitchen, family room and living room, + crown moulding

5. Crown moulding also in the downstairs bathroom, dining room & foyer (every room but the laundry has it now), and in the upstairs landing. Will do the rest of the house later

6. New deck

7. All new flooring throughout the house, except for 2 of the baths

8. New kitchen cabinets, backsplash, countertop, floor, applaiances and chandelier

9. New tub, shower, vanity, granite countertop,sink, toilet and tile shower surround + crown moulding in my bath, plus painting

10. I've painted the ENTIRE house, except for Dh's bath (he has the original paint)

11. New granite vanity top, sink and new vanity + crown moulding for the downstairs bath

12. New header + bi-fold closet doors in the 2 master bedroom closets.

13. All new doors througout the house (some were damaged when we bought the house)

14. Created a pantry under the stairs

15. New cherry-stained stair treads, and matching bannisters and balusters. It sued to have the plywood builder's stair treads and UGLY wrought-iron railing, which was not up to code, BTW

16. Built a sort of china cabinet in the pass-though between the kitchen and study

17. New floor in laundry room; new appliances

18. New fence

19. New chandelier in the dining room

20. New mailbox and post

21. New shed

22. Epoxy-coated the garage (a.k.a., Kitty Potty Palace) floor (not worth it--wears off immediately)

23. Laundry sink in the Kitty Potty Palace, so I can clean the litter boxes

24. Three new windows, as the old ones had leaking seals when we bought the house

25. Don't know if this counts, but dang it, I broke my back to do it, so I'm claiming it!: I've created raised garden beds, and planted about 30 dwarf fruit trees, raspberry , blueberry, and blackberry bushes, and about 12 rose bushes, and various lily bulbs. I also made a tiny patio with pavers in front of the house, ripping out over-grown shrubs. I made a small flower bed between that and the house wall. I also just completed Mom's memorial hummingbird garden on the opposite side

26. I created a tiny rose garden with white stones, an arbor, with a bench

27. DH designed and built a barn owl nesting box (no takers yet!)

28. Bought a new patio table and chairs, and a swing

29. I installed window boxes

30. New door handles/locks

31. DH made a few new cable TV outlets from the outside

32. Just bought a new sofa

33. Bought various loveseats since 2005

34. New steel bed

35. New ceiling fans with light fixtures for upstairs

36. Window A/C unit for the master bedroom (the central A/C doesn't work well up there)

37. New attic vents

38. New wiring for lights in the attic, plus indoor/outdoor carpet (the floor is particle board, and we have to scoot around on our behinds to move boxes, and we get splinters!)

39. New attic stairs

40.  Reversed the upside-down outlets (what were they thinking!?!?)

41. Replaced the doorbell circuit in the circuit-breaker. It was dangerously placed

41. New doorbell

42. New doorknocker

And many other things I can't think of now. I'd like to add that, with the exception of the Silestone kitchen counter and some of the crown moulding. DH & I did everything listed ourselves. No wonder I'm broke and so is my poor back!

 

[Draco]

Does paint touch ups count? I live in an apartment so I am pretty limited on what I can improve on!

 

[Winchester]

We built our house in the mid-80s. A small, pretty basic bi-level. We've done a few things to the property, but nothing really big.

Installed the in-ground pool about a year or so after we built the house.

Created several flower beds and have added to them over the years.

Got rid of the ugly metal sliding glass door in the dining room and put in a French door (both doors open, not just one).

Got rid of the ugly bow window in the living room and put in a bay window (the cats just love that window. Both ends open, so the cross-breeze is wonderful, even on the hottest of days).

Repainted the entire house several times (and it's time to do it again)

We've been working on the basement now for about year or so.

New flooring in the kitchen.

New interior doors throughout the house, except for the master bedroom closet doors

Ceiling fan with lights in the dining room.

New windows throughout the house (we still need to do the windows in the master bedroom)

Will start working on the kitchen cabinets (hopefully) this month

In the computer room (formerly a second bedroom), we put in hard wood flooring, new mirrored sliding closet doors, new moulding and new window trims.

Within the next seven years, we have planned:

2-1/2 car garage with room addition above the garage (for a living/family room)

Finish the kitchen makeover (it's just a makeover, not a new kitchen)

Finish the living room makeover into the dining room (with a new wooden railing and bannister at the steps to replace that ugly wrought-iron stuff that MargeCat was also talking about.....ugly, ugly, ugly!)

New front door

New basement door

Crown moulding in the living room, dining room, kitchen, and hallways

New pool fence and (hopefully we'll have the new deck done, too)

Install a garden shed right outside of the one end of the pool area and use one side of the shed as a dressing room for grandchildren to change after being in the pool

Black fencing at the front of the yard by the road and landscaping

Hard wood flooring in the master bedroom

Bathroom remodel (we want to take out the bath tub and just have the shower install, take out the old double closet and just have a single closet with a larger vanity....with room for a litter box in the side of the vanity)

Rick uses the master bedroom closet and he's planning a new closet organizing spree

And once it's all done, I should be able to retire!

 

[coolcat]

Think: yes we are doing the Garage, putting the floor and some details more...