Thursday Thirteen – Home Renovations

Scribbled down on November 16th, 2006 by she
Posted in Popularity Contests

Welcome to the fifth edition of the screaming pages Thursday Thirteen.

I love my house. Since we moved in we’ve made very few changes. We re-painted the office from black to sage. This was previous owner’s son’s room and when we moved in we set it up as a home office and library for me. I didn’t really mind the black walls since so much of it is covered in shelving and bookcases, but the hubby didn’t like it and painted it when I was away on a business trip. Otherwise the house has been decorated very much to our tastes. However, there are a few things I would like to change in the next few years as the funds become available.

This week’s Thursday Thirteen is all about the renovations – big and small – I have in mind for the house and yard.

Thirteen Things about SHE. Renovation Ideas.

  1. Basement bathroom – I’d like to shift the toilet in the basement bathroom 90 degrees. The basement bathroom is small and the toilet currently faces the wall. It’s pretty cramped. I’d like to shift the location of the toilet to give anyone answering nature’s call a bit more room. While we’re at it, I want to replace the current bathroom door with a built in pocket door.
  2. New closet – In the basement we have a greatroom. There’s a large closet that we store the hubby’s military kit in. Since the house is small, storage space is at a premium. I’d like to expand the current closet or build a new closet beside it to store linens, Christmas decorations, etc. On the outside of the new closet wall the hubby wants to build a built-in bookcase to store cookbooks and knicknacks.
  3. Shoe storage – We currently have a small alcove built into the wall at the backdoor to place shoes. Unfortunately, it’s open space and we can’t use it for shoes because we have a shoe eating dog. I’d like to find a way to put a door on the alcove so that we can start using it to put our shoes when we come into the house.
  4. Built-in bar – There’s more than enough room in the basement to fit a small built-in bar. I’d like it to be built close to the beer/pop fridge for convenience.
  5. Kitchen banquettes – Our kitchen is a decent size but storage space is at a premium. We have a nice little alcove to put the kitchen table and chairs in. Unfortunately our chairs are starting to wobble and could use replacing. In order to gain more storage space and deal with the chair issue, I would like to build at least one two seater banquette in the alcove. This will keep our seating space and provide us a place to store appliances that we use on occassion. Currently they’re stored on top of the counters because we don’t have anywhere else to put them.
  6. Roof – The roof is going to need to be re-shingled in a year or two. If we can afford it, I’d like to do it next year.
  7. Furnace – The furnace is older and not as efficient as most of the current models. It works fine, but does use a lot more gas than a newer furnace would use. As soon as we can afford it, we’d like to replace the furnace.
  8. Replace hedge – Our front yard has a hedge along the bottom front of it. It’s half dead and the hubby really can’t stand it. We’d like to pull out the hedge and replace it with a flower bed or some small ball cedars.
  9. Replace trees – In front of the house (flanking the main door) are two trees. The pine was bug infested when we moved in and a family of woodpeckers has been having a field day with it. The other tree was planted too close to the house for the size of the tree. We’d like to remove both trees and replace them with dwarf trees planted the proper amount of space away from the house to ensure that they’ll stay heathy and not risk damaging the house in a case of a storm.
  10. Re-do basement ceiling – Our basement was finished with an industrial drop ceiling tile. We’d like to properly finish the basement ceiling and replace the ugly ceiling tiles.
  11. Front steps – We have a series of steep wooden stairs on the front of the house. I’d like to replace them with poured concrete (with a proper grade) if possible.
  12. Backyard deck – We have a gorgeous bi-level deck in our backyard but it’s a bit bigger than we really need. The deck will probably last a few more years before we need to replace it. When we do, we’ll be cutting two to three feet off the overall length of the deck so the dogs will have more yard to run around and play in. This will leave us with more than enough deck to host BBQ’s and gatherings on.
  13. Garage – The original 1950’s garage has seen better days. Next year we’d like to rip down the old garage and build a new double car garage in it’s place.
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. ItÒ€ℒs easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

Thanks to all who dropped by my T13 and commented: Laughing Muse, Caylynn, Sonny, Maggie, Jenny, Darla, Susan, Colleen, Skeezix the Cat, Di, John, Christine d’Abo, Maryanne, Cheysuli, Sparky, N Mallory, Carmen, Bond, tbirdonawire,

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22 Responses to “Thursday Thirteen – Home Renovations”

  1. …I feel like a horrendous slacker just reading that list…

  2. Wow, lots of plans for your house. πŸ™‚ Good luck getting everything accomplished.

    All that military kit does take up a lot of room! And some of it (like the snowshoes) are hardly ever used. But they still need to be stored.

    Thanks for stopping by and have a good day. πŸ™‚

  3. Lot of work to do!
    Good luck for that πŸ™‚

    Happy TT from Germany,
    Sonny

  4. You sound like me, with all these plans. I hope we can pull them all off … one day.

    (hello from a fellow bookcrosser! Now I have to check out your shelf — and wish list. You’ve got one, right??? )

    Happy TT!

  5. Found you via Caylynn’s blog–nice to meet you! πŸ™‚

    Sounds like a lot of work… but for a basement, I’d be willing to do it. Boy, I wish I had a basement. Fortunately, my husband’s always had room at his office to store all that excess military gear. I’ve no idea where we’d put it if he didn’t.

  6. I love doing home improvements. Just wish I had more time and money to accomplish what we wanted.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog. Hope to see you again soon.

  7. I’m with Laughing Muse………my plans involve successfully getting myself dressed of a morning…..and remembering to prepare myself breakfast at the same time as the boy’s….lol

    Best of Luck getting through your list! I’m sure you will feel so amazing when you have completed them all!!

    Jenny

  8. LOL at Laughing Muse’s comment. Me too.

    Actually, we want to do a lot to our house, but since the first step is a major, three-story addition that will include practially redoing the whole house, we’ve got to wait until we can afford it. We’re hoping this will be the year!

    There’s nothing like a house of your own, is there?

    Are you a Taurus by any chance? Apparently, we Tauruses really love our houses. πŸ˜‰

    Thanks for stopping by my TT: Reasons I love Trixie Belden better than Nancy Drew.

  9. No need to feel like slackers – this is my to do list.. not my “actually started” list. For the moment, I’m just busy working on the cleaning phase…

    And nope, I’m not a Taurus. I am Leo, here me roar. (Explains a lot doesn’t it?)

  10. This is a grate list. My peepul have plans like that.

  11. Your list made me start thinking about my list…30 year old house in which we currently have no flooring in the living room because we ripped up the parquet that was buckling, leaving the black subfloor. That was in January, so I probably wouldn’t be able to accomplish your 13 in a lifetime!

    Jealous of your basement (from Boca Raton, FL…where we have no basements! But we do have hurricanes.)

  12. I’m always thinking of things I can do to change things around here. I live in a mobile home, so there is a limit to how much I can re-do. The biggest problem is that there never seems to be enough space.

  13. Thank you for stopping by my blog! Wow this is a list that makes me envious. I’ve moved into a new house recently and I have lots I’d like to get rennovated as well. Now if I only had the money to do it. πŸ™‚

  14. Thanks for stopping by my blog! Wow you have an amazing renovation list. I just got a new house a few months ago and wish I had the money to do some basic renovations. Not that I need to do a lot mind you. πŸ™‚

  15. Hey there, thanks for stopping by. Owning a home means you’ll always be doing renovations in one way or another. I feel your pain but when it’s done iis so worth it. Have a good holiday.
    Toodles,
    Maryanne

  16. UGH what a lot of work! I hope you don’t need a cat to supervise. I’m booked.

  17. Cheysuli – Thanks for the offer but I’m sure Thanatos and Bubba will be sharing the overseer duties. They’re already well versed at keeping the puppies and hubby in line.

  18. Wow, I feel even more lazy now, especially since as I read your list, I was thanking my stars for being in an apartment.

  19. Our dog likes socks. Don’t dare leave your socks where she can get them or they’re done for!

    πŸ™‚

    Good luck on all the projects!

    Thanks for stopping by.

  20. I need to start getting new stuff for my kitchen. it never ends. πŸ™‚

  21. I haven’t even moved into my new house but your list has already made me tired. πŸ˜‰

  22. HI… Thanks for stopping by THE COUCH Hope you enjoyed your stay.

    Excellent TT list idea..BUT, if I ever did one, I might have to complete the tasks!

    Enjoy the weekend

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