Let the Renovations Begin

Spring has finally sprung (more or less), and you know what that means! Time to get some more changes done around the house. The other day, our kids asked if there was ever going to come a time when we weren’t doing yearly renovations. It’s a valid question, since we’ve done so much over the years to our house. Part of me assumes that surely there will come a day when there’s only the need to maintain, not continually improve, but then I look at all the things we still need to do . . .

Who knows?

We’ve spent a lot of time planning a kitchen renovation, and we followed that up with pricing a kitchen renovation. We are not doing a kitchen renovation this year. It’s just outside our price range, and we need to be able to save up some money to get it done all in one fell swoop. (I estimate it will be in the $25,000-$30,000 range, and that’s if we’re lucky . . .)

Perhaps the smart thing to do would be to do nothing on the house and save all that money toward that kitchen. However, there are some things we feel must be completed, just for the sake of our sanity and the overall look of our house:

  • The front steps–Two years ago, we ripped down the front porch and put in cement steps, with the plan of topping them off with granite treads and adding a wrought-iron railing. Then we got sidetracked last year by putting in our screen porch/shed combination, and the stairs never got completed. That needs to change, just because it’s good to finish projects, not just start them. Also, the front of the house needs serious help, and those steps are a part of that.
  • The sun porch–Again, this is a project that was started last year when we ripped out the old sun porch, put in new windows and a ton of insulation . . . and then stopped before the outside was complete. (The inside will wait to be done as part of the kitchen renovation.) So right now we have the front of our house basically naked, with no clapboard or covering at all. Yuck. We’re going to put in clapboards and stone to complete it and tie it all together with the rest of the house.
  • The wood shed–Many moons ago, we put in a wood shed behind our house. In the winters, we’d attach plywood to the sides of it to keep the snow out. The last few years, we just left the plywood up the whole year. It looks . . . very not good. So we’re going to switch that so that the whole thing looks more complete and intentional, and much less ply-woody.
  • The front bay windows–The trim is in bad need of repair. No big renovation here. Just getting it back in good working order. We’ll likely also need to hire someone to come paint the whole thing, because my personal desire to paint things is much, much less than it was in previous years.
  • Landscaping–With all of that done, and the front porch torn down, we have massive bare dirt piles as the first thing that greets people when they come to our house. That’s less than optimal. But with all these other smaller jobs completed, we can actually turn our attention to landscaping the front of the house and making it all look much more appealing.

The net effect of all of this won’t be that significant when it comes to how we live our lives day to day. However, it will generally make the house much more visually appealing, and there’s something to be said for that. The hope is to have the renovations complete within the next three weeks or so, and then find a painter to have that done soon after, so we can finish off the landscaping. May should be a busy month.

Wish us luck!

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