Ten on Tuesday

Ten Things You'd Fix in Your Home (if you had the time and money)

Ack! Only 10? Our house was purchased, um, 17 1/2 years ago as a fixer upper with lots of potential. Well, the potential is still there. Some things have been fixed. More things need to be fixed.

1. New carpet in living room. This stuff was old when we moved in and it is still on the floor! We once had a cat who could hide in the middle of the living room floor. She was the same color and pattern as the carpet.

2. Tile or wood in the entry way and family room. That carpet is even nastier than the living room. The problem here is two-fold. First, we haven't finished painting the family room (stop laughing, I am quite aware of how long ago it was that I posted that photo of the ladder in that room where I was going to finish the mudding and patching). Second, we can't agree on which to put in. We really don't want carpet in the entry. The problem is that Mr. Engineer and now Young Man both like to sit on the living room floor and read the paper or do homework with the papers on the entry floor. It is our only step. Hardwood or tile will not be nearly as comfortable as carpet.

3. New kitchen cabinets. Again, more than one problem here. The current cabinets are original 1968 vintage and were never cared for before we arrived. The hassle of clearing out the kitchen for the rework is only a small problem. The bigger problems are (again) picking a style and resigning ourselves to the fact that we will need custom cabinets or we won't be happy. We also like the current layout.

4. New front door. We actually know which one we want for this one! We just need to order it, paint it (another decision, oh, no!) and install it.

5. New cabinets and vanities in both bathrooms. I suppose I could count this as two separate items, but I won't. One of our fears with this one has been put to rest. We were afraid to find out what was behind our cabinets. We feared that termites had eaten out the studs. When Mr. Engineer broke a pipe in the wall changing our shower head, we found that the walls are sound!

6. New flooring in both bathrooms (more decisions).

7. New cooktop. This goes along with the new cabinets. What is truly pathetic is that the new cooktop is already in the house. It is stored under our bed. The problem is that it is smaller than the current cooktop so installing it means new counters and that means new cabinets (see item 3 for that can of worms).

8. New oven. Again with the kitchen! Once again, we can't decide what we want and the choices that seem clever are so expensive. If we had done this 10 years ago we wouldn't have to worry about the oven door falling off every time we open it.

9. New patio furniture in the back yard. This one sounds so simple. All we have to do is go buy something, right? Right. Let us go to the biggie, the main event, the thing above all things that we want to fix, item 10.

10. New sun room!!! We were really going to do this. We had the styles and colors and builder all picked and had even signed a contract when we went to check on permits. Six months before we made up our minds our city had changed the codes. All enclosed areas have to be set back at least 20 feet from the back fence and total enclosed area of home cannot exceed 39% of the lot size. That would leave us with a room two feet deep and eight feet wide (and we still might not squeeze it in the percentage allotment. I know that this code change was made in response to the people who build non-residential additions and then rent them out. I know it is a measure to prevent overcrowding. I don't care! I still want my sun room! We will probably have to go with just a patio cover (that can be closer to the back wall). It's a poor second. For now, the back patio is completely bare and Young Man uses it to run down lacrosse balls as he uses the side wall as a backstop.