My Home Improvement To-Do List
Do you have a running list of things you want to fix or improve around your house? What are the top-three home-improvement projects on your to-do list?
This is one of those writer's block things, which I found on squigsoup's journal. I wouldn't want to actually participate in one of those writer's block things, officially, but I thought it might be fun to list everything in one place that I would like to do to the house, in an ideal world.
in no particular order:
new, larger garage, probably 1.5 stalls. this includes excavating some dirt from the backyard so as to reduce the angle of the driveway up to the garage, and of course a new cement pad.
ideally, replacing the garage would also include redoing the sidewalk from the garage to the patio. we'd like it to be wider.
and while they're at it, rewire the garage. currently we have two wires running to the garage, one underground and one from roof to roof. and we have a diagram of how the electrician ran the wiring in the garage when we were having trouble with breakers being tripped for some reason. it's be nice to have some sort of organization put to that.
bigger kitchen. did I mention a world where money is no object? I would love to bump out the back part of the house about 10 feet. not necessarily the whole back end, but my vision includes a larger kitchen, a mud room, and a main floor laundry room.
kitchen floor needed.
bathroom, complete redo. I'll be working on the walls soon, and hopefully we can get the grout repaired. but really I'd like to completely retile the shower and put in a new mirror that is higher up so David and I don't need to sort of hunch over to use it. new fixtures. I guess that goes with "complete redo."
back bedroom/office needs the floors sanded and refinished. we tore out the carpet when we had the leak after moving in, but haven't done anything else. also, would like to paint the walls.
front bedroom/TV room. paint. carpet is okay, but new wouldn't be a bad thing.
living room. paint. refinish all the woodwork. get rid of the big mirror over the fireplace and do something else above the mantle. [David wants a big flatscreen TV over the fireplace.] we also would like to put a gas fireplace thing in. and paint. have I mentioned paint? almost the entire house is still white.
I think the entire house could use new windows and screens. even the "new" windows upstairs could probably be replaced. we also seem to have an issue with shifting, as evidenced by the cracks in the walls that were painted over when we purchased the house, and are now very visible again. we keep meaning to get a contractor in to talk about this.
upstairs. first of all, paint. and more paint. new windows, as mentioned. really, though, the upstairs is fine. oh, the upstairs bathroom needs the walls either repapered or painted. and having better airflow up there would be nice, so it's not so stuffy in the summer and cold in the winter.
basement. it'd be awesome to finish part of the basement. totally awesome. otherwise, basement is okay. probably could use a newer shower, but we don't use it, so...
outside: less weeds, more flowers. get rid of huge bushes in front of house and replace with... something. the reason we still have huge bushes in front, in part, is because we haven't decided what to replace them with.
also in front, tier the hill.
redo entire front stoop. and front walk. the sidewalk leading around the side of the house to nowhere has... issues. redo. and the stairs down to the public sidewalk need care. and the public sidewalk. really, every piece of pavement associated with our property needs to be replaced or repaired.
otherwise, I love my house!! =)
ETA: also, paint exterior something other than white, and new gutters.
This is one of those writer's block things, which I found on squigsoup's journal. I wouldn't want to actually participate in one of those writer's block things, officially, but I thought it might be fun to list everything in one place that I would like to do to the house, in an ideal world.
in no particular order:
new, larger garage, probably 1.5 stalls. this includes excavating some dirt from the backyard so as to reduce the angle of the driveway up to the garage, and of course a new cement pad.
ideally, replacing the garage would also include redoing the sidewalk from the garage to the patio. we'd like it to be wider.
and while they're at it, rewire the garage. currently we have two wires running to the garage, one underground and one from roof to roof. and we have a diagram of how the electrician ran the wiring in the garage when we were having trouble with breakers being tripped for some reason. it's be nice to have some sort of organization put to that.
bigger kitchen. did I mention a world where money is no object? I would love to bump out the back part of the house about 10 feet. not necessarily the whole back end, but my vision includes a larger kitchen, a mud room, and a main floor laundry room.
kitchen floor needed.
bathroom, complete redo. I'll be working on the walls soon, and hopefully we can get the grout repaired. but really I'd like to completely retile the shower and put in a new mirror that is higher up so David and I don't need to sort of hunch over to use it. new fixtures. I guess that goes with "complete redo."
back bedroom/office needs the floors sanded and refinished. we tore out the carpet when we had the leak after moving in, but haven't done anything else. also, would like to paint the walls.
front bedroom/TV room. paint. carpet is okay, but new wouldn't be a bad thing.
living room. paint. refinish all the woodwork. get rid of the big mirror over the fireplace and do something else above the mantle. [David wants a big flatscreen TV over the fireplace.] we also would like to put a gas fireplace thing in. and paint. have I mentioned paint? almost the entire house is still white.
I think the entire house could use new windows and screens. even the "new" windows upstairs could probably be replaced. we also seem to have an issue with shifting, as evidenced by the cracks in the walls that were painted over when we purchased the house, and are now very visible again. we keep meaning to get a contractor in to talk about this.
upstairs. first of all, paint. and more paint. new windows, as mentioned. really, though, the upstairs is fine. oh, the upstairs bathroom needs the walls either repapered or painted. and having better airflow up there would be nice, so it's not so stuffy in the summer and cold in the winter.
basement. it'd be awesome to finish part of the basement. totally awesome. otherwise, basement is okay. probably could use a newer shower, but we don't use it, so...
outside: less weeds, more flowers. get rid of huge bushes in front of house and replace with... something. the reason we still have huge bushes in front, in part, is because we haven't decided what to replace them with.
also in front, tier the hill.
redo entire front stoop. and front walk. the sidewalk leading around the side of the house to nowhere has... issues. redo. and the stairs down to the public sidewalk need care. and the public sidewalk. really, every piece of pavement associated with our property needs to be replaced or repaired.
otherwise, I love my house!! =)
ETA: also, paint exterior something other than white, and new gutters.