The house is not our "dream house," but we hope to make it at least a little more dreamy.
Here's a slideshow with captions from our Picasa Web Album of the house, plus some photos of ideas for renovations, and some inspiration from other houses:
As you can see, the house has a lot of potential, which is realtor-speak for "needs renovation."
We have some money saved for renovation, but already have about ten times more projects on our list as we have funds. A few things we really would like to do, not necessarily in this order:
- Upgrade kitchen
- Open up kitchen to living room - at least a little more
- Add window or French doors (or both) to living room
- New front door
- New windows (dual pane, low e, etc)
- Wood floors
- Paint
- Get rid of the acoustic ceilings (aka "popcorn" or "cottage cheese")
- Change some lighting fixtures (not too fond of the look of the track lighting, for example)
- Upgrade main bath: new tub, surround (tile, preferably) and add shower and arc shower curtain; new counter and two sinks, paint, flooring
- Upgrade master bath: convert stall shower to wide walk-in glass shower width of room, new vanity/sink/fixtures
- Landscaping
- Get rid of wall around patio
- Add front patio area
- Close off laundry area from garage - create pantry at other end
- Solar hot water
- Plumb propane to kitchen and laundry
- Install Solatubes (tubular skylights) in main bath, hall, and maybe other areas
- Add more insulation (there is only pink batting that is about 4" thick now - add a layer of blown-in)
- Consider adding forced air heating (the kerosene heater in the living room is the only heating for the house currently)
- Add barbecue area to patio with sink and counter/bar
- Add a clothesline in side yard (I love hanging clothes to dry!)
- Plant a garden
- Plant some fruit trees
- Get some chickens
- Get a dog :)
That's all... for now!
