qYv,BNe0NK(+Vg~~_7.JPG "soul_art"){kind=avatar}
@the*scarlet*pimpernel wrote:I wish I could start again.
I would spend the few extra dollars on nicer carpet in the bedrooms, and I should have stood up to hubby more on some of the fixture choices. And I'd get a carpenter to make the inbuilt cupboards rather than the prefabricated type that I got. The bloke advertised as custom wardrobes, but they weren't very customised and costa ridiculous amount.
I wish i could start again too. We'd pull the house down and build a new one ๐
10+ years here and the stuff we actually managed to finished is at the point where it already needs updating again ๐
Later this year I am going to pay somebody to paint the entire house inside and out. Sick of it looking unfinished and I know now I'm never going to get around to doing it. We plan on only being here another 5 - 10 years, so whatever we spruce up now should still be good enough for when we sell later on.
@soul_art wrote:Punch, I've come to the conclusion that if things aren't done within the first year of moving in, it's unlikely they'll be done until a lot,lot later or you have the money to pay someone.
Ours was always going to take more than a year, its was in an appalling state after being a rental and completely trashed for many years, and it wasnt just the house, we had over an acre of jungle outside to deal with as well. Also our kids were very young so there just wasnt the time. We spent the first few months doing major stuff, bathroom, kitchen, knocking out walls, replaced all the windows etc. But after 2-3 years it all became a real drag and I think we got used to the unfinishedness and it didnt bother us so much. We started just doing bits and pieces and really never finished anything properly, my kids bedrooms still dont have door handles and I hung the doors the year we moved in ๐
We're really just down to the cosmetics, patching up a couple of spots where the roof used to leak, filling the nail holes in the skirtings, painting etc somehow we just dont get around to it. Now the kitchen cuboard doors need replacing, the vinyl wrap has started to peel on some of them, so we wonder do we patch that up, or do a whole new kitchen again?....its really never ending.
We moved here almost 5 years ago.
We have stripped off wallpaper and repainted in almost every room.
Stripped out the bathroom and loo to empty shells and started again from scratch.
Painted all the kitchen cupboards white (with laminate paint) and replaced the handles with new ones. That made a huge difference and put off having to replace it by maybe 7-8 years. And we had new flooring laid.
At the end of last year we pulled off all the cedar wall paneling in the family room extension and removed the door between that and the kitchen area so it's now just a large opening. It's so much brighter now with freshly painted plaster instead of the paneling.
I've just had plantation shutters installed on the 2 big windows facing the street and I love them.
Hopefully this time next year we will be extending/enlarging the small back bedroom (which has the nicest view and gets lovely morning sun) and putting in a small ensuite. That will then become the master bedroom and the one we currently have at the front of the house will be the guest room.
And there's still lots more left on my to-do list 
Thats probably what we'll do, but we could do with a new oven as well and we've always wanted a bigger one. Dunno, I could probably change the doors and rearrange the cabinetry we already have and fit a bigger stove in. We could also put the fridge in the pantry to gain more room, but then we'd have to remove a window....lol, every great idea just creates another job!
......and we never did get the wall in pantry shelved properly......lol.
