One new dishwasher = completely remodeled house
 

About three weeks, we decided to replace the dishwasher. 14 years old, loud, doesn't clean very well anymore....so it was off to Home Depot.

Well, you know how HD is. Right next to the shiny new dishwashers were shiny new ovens and stoves and spacesaver microwaves. And there was a sale going on.

Well, the next Saturday they were delivered. Looked great. So good, our 14 year old fridge started looking pretty bad. So back to HD, where we found a nice shiny new fridge (all of this is stainless steel).

So we started looking at the rest of our house.

200 square feet of tile installed in the bathrooms. In the process of ripping up all the carpet to put down 1100 square feet of laminate now (I didn't do the tile, I am doing the laminate). Before putting new flooring down, though, it only makes sense to paint the walls that haven't been painted since we bought the house (including my 20 ft vaulted ceiling).

Washing machine broke this past weekend. Coincidence? Or sabotage? Why pay to fix a 14 year old washer? New set comes Saturday.

Kids rooms? Being repainted. Not just with a coat of paint, but thematically. Damned Ty Pennington and his stupid show. One of those done, two to go. Our room was repainted not too long ago.

Kitchen counters? Going to replace. With what? I'll have a better idea after I finish refacing the cabintry.

I have at least 4 more straight weekends of intense home improvement labor staring at me, probably 5 or 6.

I'm probably going to have to replace some windows, too. Duel panes windows that have cracked and allowed water to get between the panes, and the mineral deposits have made it so we cannot see out of so of them.

Home equity lines of credit are a wonderful thing.

All because we needed a new dishwasher.

HA! This is Chris' worse fear realized. He's just gratefut it was realized in your house on your budget. ;)

You lost me at shiny.

I think that's the closest scaeagles has ever gotten to posting a poem ;)

Home improvement rules. We fell into the same appliance craziness when we decided that the dishwasher had to go. It made the range look awful, and when it turned out it needed a repair we tossed it and got a new one. New counters means new sink, new faucet, and a new disposal (though that was free, the fault of the plumbers).

There are so many things that I wish we could make "perfect", but the serious stuff is not in the cards any time soon. More art and decorative touches, yes indeed, new windows, not so much.

Here's to hard workin' spring weekends :cheers:

Sinks! How can I forget about sinks! Of course those go with the counters. Silly me. And faucets, too.

And if you're buying a sink you may as well get a cool one in a specific color or shape....and if you're buying a faucet you're going to get a quality one with a bit of flair, right?

New faucet means new hardware for the kitchen drawers to match as well...

Sucks ya right in, doesn't it, Leo?

I'm having a blast though.

It'll be time to start on the kitchen soon.

I so want one of these. I said nothing about need ;) Want

Sounds entirely reasonable to me :D

It's a slippery slope. I'm putting in a 2 person whirlpool tub, as a result, we had to add a whole new septic system...

Dude, that thing is a monster! All I can think is "I'd have to keep the fridge clean, everyone can see what's inside" ;)

Yeah, it is... I could never use all that, but it is fine.

I'd like to find a smaller combo model with glass doors, though.

if that were in my kitchen, that'd be the ONLY thing in my kitchen.

I feel for ya sceagles (et al). Im dreading what will "need doing" once I start replacing floors.

It is just endless. Also ripped up the baseboards to put new ones on.

As far as flair....my wife and I are a good combo. She points out what she likes and if I don't dislike it I'm the affordablility guy. However, with the home equity line going into the improvements it's going to be hard to say "that's $50 more than I wanted to spend on the faucet". Really considering I was planning on about $4K for flooring about 1100 sq ft and I got all the stuff for 2200 (love lumber liquidators).

Where I'm having a hard time limiting expenses is on the new kitchen counters. We can get a new tile counter custom built for about $35 a linear foot, but I'd rather have some sort of fake stone (like dupont corian kind of stuff), but that over 50 a square foot at the low end.

Glass door on the fridge? Not on your life.

We've been selling this interesting countertop at work the last year or so and I love it. It's much less expensive then solid granite and the like and is similar in appearance. I can't remember what it's called though darn it.

Imagine thousands of little pieces that are "glued" together by a colored "glue" and when it's done it looks great. Okay - that sounded really ugly by that description. Point is - there are many options available today that make great alternatives to getting granite, for a similar look and very durable, but for much less money.

If you're interested, I'll find out what it's called. (Sheesh - I *should* already know that - but what do you expect at 5;15 a.m.)

Please do, Betty. I'm interested in all options. Thanks.

We love our Corian countertop. Cleans really easy. We considered tile but the cleaning is what really changed our mind. We did not do the undermount sink and we should have! Learn from our mistake, go for the undermount.

What are the advantages to the undermount sink?

If Crystal sees this thread, you'll be dead to me, Leo.

It's moments like this, I'm grateful to be a renter and did not have to do anything but hang for the plumber yesterday and not pay for his visit.

That said, does this feel like you have the Indy boulder following you?

Lol!



See, what you need to do is plan your home improvements around vacations. When we had the exterior painted, new carpeting and a new roof put on, we also went on an Alaskan cruise. Our next big project is new covered rain gutters, all the zillion trees in our yard pruned, and a Hawaiian cruise. :D

Crystal! Hey Crystal!

We will definitely do the undermount sink when we get to that point. Right now I'm thinking that will be September sometime.

Tomorrow evening I'm starting to paint in the 5 year old's room (giving her a tinkerbell theme) and will also rip out the carpet. Saturday will finish painting (4 colors total - ick) and perhaps put the floor down.

I don't feel like a boulder is converging upon me.....I more like a man with a completely torn up house and no end in sight. Wait....that's exactly what I am.

You need a trip to DL. Next weekish. :cheers:

A house I held open a couple weeks ago had great counters... they used granite/travertine (can't remember which) tiles instead of a continuous piece of stone. It's much less expensive, and frankly, the 12" tiles look great. Plus, by using the larger tiles, you don't screw up your work surface.

Yeah, Morrigoon - we're considering tile as well. When I was at home depot over the weekend I was looking more at the Corian stuff....the $51/sq ft that I thought was the price was the installation charge. ??? Yikes. I'm thinking tile will be the way to go for sure, because I've seen some like you have that look great and have very minimal grout.

Over the weekend I got my 5 year old's tinkerbell room painting done and the flooring down. Not a bad first attempt at the flooring, and it looks good, but I'm glad I didn't start downstairs. There's a definite learning curve and having a couple (minor) booboos hidden upstairs in a bedroom is definitely preferable.

And the say you can't see into the future.

It's right here.

We are meeting with a design/build firm this week. The plan is to bump out the back of the house to expand the kitchen (on the second floor) and make an in-law suite on the first. Of course once you do that..... Apparently we need to improve "the flow" between the family and dining rooms (what is it with women and flow?) replace all the windows, etc.. etc... On the up side I'm trying to work my obsessive home theater plans into all this.

Wow! An upper floor expansion! That's gotta be tough. What is below where you're expanding? We looked at doing that with our master bedroom but decided it wasn't worth it because of the structural strengthening we'd have had to do under it.

Yup, I guess I'll have to put off that Club33 membership for at least another year.

Currently there is backyard below where we are expanding. Which is why we are also going to bump out the first floor to match the kitchen and make room for the in-law suite. Between us we have three parents and it's a pretty good shot at least one of them will be coming to stay in the near future.

On the plus side my new theater room will share a wall with the in-law suite :evil:

Here's a pic of an undermounted sink.



You can wipe the counter down right into the sink. Our sink seems to have a large top area and it's less convenient having to wipe around it.

That is nice. I'll keep that in mind for the future. Thanks!

3 weekend have passed, 1100 ft of carpet and padding and all the furniture moving that goes with that is done, all 4 bedrooms have the new flooring down, and I still have the hallway, a set of stairs, and a living room to do. So today while I working on our bedroom, my wife says "Ty Penington builds a whole house in a week. What's taking you so long?"

Ho ho, he he, ha ha. What a laugh.

The end is in sight though. Next weekend the hallway and living room, the following weekend the stairs. I am tired.

Budgetwise going to have to hold off on the new counters and refacing of the cabinets for 6 months or so.

If I get one of those, I'll finally have a place to store my severed heads!

But scaeagles, once the rooms look all tidy, then the furniture has to go. I know this because our glasstop cook top shattered last June. Seriously......probably more than $50K later...yes more than $ 5 0 K, later!

I now have:

Brand new Kitchen (from scratch-totally gutted) and new cooktop with new dishwasher and range hood and refridge.

Brand new Bathroom (from scratch-totally gutted)

Tnkless water heater (you forgot about that one...I'm sure it coming)

Air conditioning (never had it before)

New 6ft wide window (to take out the wall mounted non working air conditioner so we had something pretty to look out at)

New side yard full of concrete and a new planter (for my DH to grow fresh herbs to cook with in the new kitchen)

Several painted rooms (but now the other rooms need paint, they look horrible!)

New furniture to match new paint jobs

New brick facade on the front of the house and a matching porch extension

New front door (old was now looked terrible)

New front lawn and sprinklers are in process

New paint on whole house waiting until lawn is done


I am fairly sure I am forgetting things. But my point....all from my DH cracking my pretty cooktop just to boil some water for spaghetti. All since June of last year.

You guys are scaring me......we just bought a new fridge and now my wife is dropping hints that the Kitchen looks old and rundown next to it:eek:

I think my priorities are messed up. Our house needs work, but I'd rather travel.

I'm with you jdramj.

The 5 year old got new furniture. The living room is also getting new couches. We got new dishes, new chandaliers, and the cabinetry will all be refaced with new counter tops as well. I'm debating exactly when that will happen....I'm thinking I'm going to try to reface the small bath myself to see how it goes and make a determination as to if I want to do the other baths and kitchen myself or hire someone. The labor is so ridiculously expensive. I'm saving about 3K installing my flooring myself, and while it's several tough weekend in a row, it's certainly worth 3K.

And Sleepy....be afraid....be very afraid....

What I did not mention....I TOTALLY LOVE IT! I would not trade my new remodeled digs for anything...ok well maybe a new suburban, which will have to wait until the kids are done with college in 2022, due to my new digs, but whose counting?:D

Mommy:eek:

Nah, I'm with you. I'd rather spend a couple grand going to Europe than replacing windows, even though I'd like the efficiency of double or triple panes :)

We need a new kitchen floor, but instead we just bought our airline tickets for our Hawaiian cruise this August.

I know what sort of trouble a new kitchen floor will led to, so I figure the cruise will be cheaper in the long run. Funner, too.:cheers:

But how will a Hawaiian cruise increase the value of your home? My consolation is that I know that every dollar I invest is worth probably 2 to 3 dollars (because I am doing the labor) in value.

You're such a Republican.

(We have seen our house double in value since we purchased it. Right now, we are more interested in enjoying our time together as a family before illnesses, old age and the teen years destroy such opportunities.)

The nice things about not having kids is we don't have to worry about thins having any value past our own lifetimes. I hope to die with all my credit cards maxed out

Note to self: do not loan any money to € later in life.

You're such a democrat - flittering away your money and expecting others to care for you in your old age and illness. ;) :p :)

How about a compromise? self install dual panes, and go somewhere in the US. :)

Then mine are really screwed up because I'd rather not own a house at all. Even if I don't travel.

Can't I do both???

I'm with Scrooge on this one. Balance!

Absolutely! It's times like this I really appreciate renting. But, I do confess the desire to have a little condo to call my own.

You can if you have the money. ;)

Damned straight.:D

Not always, dear. In fact, many folks overspend on home improvement and are often disappointed when they find out that some of the work they did only returns pennies on the dollar.

Well, we are getting new rain gutters. Does that count towards balance?

There is a difference between the custom painting I did in my kid's rooms (likely to lower the value, in fact, unless the buyer of my home when I sell it has three kids of similar ages and interests) and the new flooring and appliances I put it.

And having concrete and plywood floors would be of more value than my very old, very nasty carpet that has survived (only barely) three children and all their puking, which somehow managed over the years to happen in the middle of every room.

Not saying it won't improve the value... just that sometimes people overestimate the increases in the value of their home.

I see examples of this all the time on those H&G shows, like 'Flip that House', etc. Last year we got a new roof and had the entire exterior re-stained. We also got all new carpeting. While the carpet is better aesthetically, it was the roof and outside work that brought up our assessed value. Things like new appliances won't do diddly because most people take their appliances with them when they leave, although new flooring is generally a plus. We don't plan on selling our house anytime soon but we are interested in keeping a healthy equity balance, so we do keep an eye on it.

Well, I did tons of work...well I didn't do it, but I paid others to do it for me and I don't care about value currently. Maybe someday, but I care that I have a much better kitchen that I can enjoy and has become more of the center of our home instead of the rooms with TV. That is more priceless to me right now.

Oh, don't get me wrong- I totally appreciate the value of cool digs. I just am a place in my life where I want to do other things first, like travel. We are still keeping up and making improvements, but some things are on the back-burner. (Like really English-gardening out our yard; it's huge, three-tiered in back and very heavily landscaped. With the proper attention it could be gorgeous, but it really needs a lot of work). We have plans for a waterfall, pond and the like, but right now Hawaii beckons.:D

Paint upped our resale value considerably. I did much of it myself. All three bedrooms. Had to hire someone to do the main areas, because I don't trust myself on really tall ladders, but got a referral for someone cheap, but who did good work. Now I'm working on a bathroom, but between the two jobs and the school, it's hard to find the time. Gotta finish painting this bathroom (which also needs a new floor, crown molding, and a new backsplash), then there are two more, and the kitchen (which also needs a new floor and new backsplash.)

The only problem with painting is that now it's just the colors I want - and in time to move. At least I know what I like for next time.

OK - suckiest home improvement job is putting laminate on stairs. I started at 7:30 this morning.....and only got 7 stairs and the landing done by 4:00. Holy freaking cow. I did my 22 by 16 room in in only 6 hours last weekend.

The builders did a massively piss-poor job....I guess they figured that it was just going to be covered by carpet, but I spent most of the time simply making the structure able to take the laminate. Yikes. But I did prep all 14 stairs, so I'm looking at only 3-4 hours next weekend to finish them, and then all I have left is a bunch of trim things, which is easy.

The end is in sight......

At least I discovered a new product....forget liquid nails. Power Grip rocks.

We had the new raingutters installed the other day, and our new range and overhead micro arrive on Tuesday. We've also had a pallet of rose cinder blocks for a new retaining wall delivered on Saturday, and just set up our new patio furniture and brazier. S'Mores, anyone?

We just had our new range and microwave installed today- I am thrilled with the new stove, as it is a bit bigger than our old drop-in model, and much cleaner! The over the stove micro is great as well; we had one before, but it died and we just used a countertop one for years. I now have mucho more counter space, and all my appliances match!

I begin to understand the allure of home-remodeling.:eek:

I bet those new appliances make your paint seem rather dull and old.

How's your flooring look? I'm sure you need new flooring, too.

You are soooooooooo very :evil:

... and that backsplash? Sheesh!

:evil:

I've heard that many of the new stoves these days come clean.

Over the range microwave would be next on our list for the kitchen (assuming our fridge doesn't give out first). Not only would it be nice to have it match and reclaim some counter space, but it would give us an opportunity to get a quiet hood fan. The one in there now is freaking loud.

Those are nice. We have one and it has a temp sensor in it that will turn the fan off/on in response to the cooking down below, along with a nice light to luminate the stove below.

I just finished installing an ice-maker. In my opinion, there's noting quite so civilized as ice (especially when you don't have to make it).

Actually, we are planning on new flooring- that was supposed to be before the appliances. The painting was just recently done, and our backsplash is very nice, new-looking tile. So, nice attempt to be evil, and I will be sure to think of you when I'm standing on our balcony aboard the cruise ship, gazing out at the Na Pali coastline and enjoying a margarita.

I wish I could be rich like WB. Remodeling AND a cruise? You must not pay your fair share in taxes.:evil:

What sort of flooring?

Very glad to have the over the stove microwave. Great space saver, but it doesn't seem a whole lot quieter than our old hood.

But scrooge, why did you have to go and say backsplash? My counters and related look aweful. It's that or plantation shutters with the rest of our budget, and we're going with the shutters. Getting measured tomorrow. They are supposed to help with the cooling bill immensely, so they should pay off sometime....I suppose.

I am a small business owner, so unlike the big corp you probably work for, Scaeagles, I don't get to duck out on my taxes. :p

Not wealthy, either. I just work hard and play hard.

The reason we haven't finished the kitchen flooring is we can't find anything we like.

"Oh, no reason" he said, surveying the ceramic tile countertops and cheaply panelled backsplash in his own kitchen.

We just installed a new shelving system Home Despot was having a sale on concrete bricks and pine planks.

I am truly evil, WB....I used to be self employed, went to work for a company with 90 employees, which was bought by a company with 50,000 employees.

But I am not here to discuss that....I am here to declare that my floor is done! Well, except some trim that's on backorder. I still have two stairs that need stairnose, and some other trim things that will take a day once all the stuff is in (it's on backorder).

I was very proud of myself. I had measured 1002 square feet, and purchased 1098. When I was done, I still 45 square feet left, meaning that I only had 51 square feet of waste, or right at 5% (I was told to expect 10% waste), so I had enough to do the two closets I hadn't planned on doing.

Now it's on to the backyard....remember my saga of putting in the trampoline? I think's it's getting taken out....[soft cry]sob.....[/soft cry]

I swear these ideas enter my brain, start germinating without any feeding whatsoever, then bloom while Chris listens patiently over dinner. They even ordered themselves in a logical order:

Replace bedroom windows
Paint house and trim
refinish front door
build gate and back awning
plaster/paint bathroom and office
landscape front yard

GAH! Make it stop!

Make sure you get any, and all, foundation work done first.

Yikes!

Well, at least they're not on a hill!

This place, if I miss my guess, was really not that far from the mousepods lair.

Gives new meaning to the term fixer upper, it was demolished yesterday.

It's several blocks away from us - but I know exactly where the house is. I think I would have avoided purchasing a house that had any kind of reinforcements in the form of cereal boxes.

I still don't quite understand how they did that. Did they use Captain Crunch?

It won't stop. You must do these things. You must do them now. You will have no satisfaction until these projects are complete.

No no no... Compressive strength is what you're after in a foundation. You want something more along the lines of Honeycombs, I'd think.

The Honeycomb Hideout's foundation gave out?

Yes. I know. And, after I made that list I thought of about 10 things I could easily add. Maybe it would be cheaper just to move.

But then you'd just have to start a new list for the new house.

As Katiesue points out, moving solves nothing.

It isn't about what needs to be done, it's about the feeling of accomplishment that goes along with completing it. The only item on your list you probably couldn't do yourself is replacing the window. Although maybe you could. I've never tried to replace a window, so let me know how it goes.

Replacing a window isn't that hard. I did all the windows in our condo. The trick is to do a small one first and gain confidence.

Really? This is good news, because I have 5 windows I need to replace (dual pane windows that have gotten water between the panes that has left tons of mineral deposits). Perhaps I should look into how to do it. Thanks, DPR.

Okay, so how hard is tiling walls? We have about 2' of wall above the tub/shower unit, and right now it's just painted wall. I'd love to do a fancy tuscan-style tile dealie there.

If you have the right tools to cut the tile, tiling anywhere is easy...I've tile a wall around my fireplace to match the tile on the floor and it wasn't anything major. The only issue is patience, because you have to hold each tile a while until the cement sets a bit so that gravity doesn't pull it down the wall and out of place.

Pick a window in the backyard (that no one sees). Take a picture of it and go into Lowes' millworks department (or Home Depot if there's not a Lowes nearby), they can talk you through it. For a retrofit window, you just need to measure the rough opening. Pella makes the Thermastar line that's pretty good. I got low e, dual pane windows with argon gas. They make a retrofit window, so all you do is take the old window apart, but you leave the outside metal frame in place (I'm assuming you have stucco walls). The new window fits inside the old frame. Installation instructions are here, along with how to measure for a new window.

Errr, I thought jobs like that were why we had kids.

The first domino is about to fall for us....

Our window guy (hey, I got a "guy") comes tomorrow to take the technical measurements. We signed a contract last week to replace 25 windows with nifty cool triple this and argon that windows. They should be installed in a few weeks.

After that we repaint, add new gutters and then tear off the back of the house for the new kitchen. Ahhh spring is in the air....

25 windows? Gosh Moonliner, just how big is the spaceship?

I want a house :(

Stuff always sounds so easy until I look at my 1920's construction.

Agreed, everything of that vintage is a special case.

And, my entire house is pretty much vintage (which is why we bought it - no unfortunate remodels). I don't want to be the one to spoil it. Oh the pressure!

I do. Wow. I could do that. Thanks, DPR.

Okay, so I have a question...

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?actio...134&lpage=none

I like this door. It costs $169... but how much will it cost me to get the damn thing installed? Anybody?

Does Lowes do installs in your area? Ours does, and a call to the store will tell you for how much. It seems to me that when we wanted a new entry way door installed, they quoted us something like $90.

A lot depends on what you are replacing. If you are replacing a similar door, it should be around where WB stated. If you are changing the type of door and it has to be mounted in a different fashion (as with when I replaced my arcadia door with a french door), there will be additional materials required and a much higher installation charge (I spent about 140% of what my door cost on additional needs for the installation and the installation charge).

Well, right now we have a wood door, and as much as I like wood, I have a feeling it'd be replaced with a vinyl or steel door, because that's what they make these days, and they're easier to maintain.

...I passed the condo with the pretty oval window door today.... *jealous*

Well, if it is the same size and you have the same hinge placement, you should be able t install it yourself - just an issue of taking off the hinge pins.

Huh... I guess I was under the impression that the door jamb and door come as one piece these days. Maybe I'm overthinking this!

On a slightly unrelated note, my mom's going to come out sometime and help me repaint the kitchen :) No more ugly olive green, hello sunny Tuscan yellow! Unfortunately, it's either glossy or semi-gloss paint, so we probably have to sand, which sucks.

You can purchase them that way, but if you are replacing the same size door, you shouldn't have to purchase a prehung door. The problem with that, though, is hinge alignment. You would need to be very sure that the new door as the hinges in the same location that your old door does.

For painting over a semi gloss or glossy, you might be able to use a primer instead of sanding. I'd check with the Home Depot people about it.

Anyone remember my tramploine saga of a couple years ago? Guess what I took out of my back yard today. Sigh.

Now I'm trying to figure out what to do back there. My yard is very small...18 deep by 45 wide (in feet). Any ideas?

I've thought about artifical grass and a putting green, but that's pricey.

I recommend raised planters around the perimeter and flagstone the rest.

Or spanish tile with a fountain in the middle?

I already have a flagstone patio that runs down the wide side of my yard - it's probably 12 by 20. I'm leaving that in an probably going to get a nice BBQ island eventually to go on that.

I have some raised planters I made with some sort of red trapezoidal brick type stuff, and they look OK, but I'm considering yanking them. It's so small already they kind of look too big for the yard.

Contemplating a spa. I've also seen at some new housing development models with some above ground pools in smaller yards that are just really nice. Kind of a black marble look for the walls with water that spills over the edges into some river rock, which is of course pumped back into the pool. Looks nice, but I fear something like that is VERY pricey.

What style is your house?

they are quite expensive. a nice raised patio deck? relatively inexpensive and durable. nice lil bbq, table, seating area and an awning for shade. throw some outdoor speakers etc and its a nice outdoor entertainment area.

My house? I don't know much about architecture, but it's the basic Phoenix subdivision with stucco walls and a red tile roof. Two story. Small yard.

There a nice view of my house on google earth, but that would require revealing my address....scary....

Is it like a Mediterranean style, or is it more of a Native American-esque adobe look? Or more Spanish?

Definitely not adobe or Spanish looking. It basically looks like this pic I pulled off the internet....

I'd call that fairly Mediterranean.

3-car garage... nice. Your backyard could lean toward Italian if you wanted. Maybe plant an olive tree in the corner, add in a cute little cafe table, something delicate looking (in the shade, obviously), maybe some bougainvillea?

Well, I said basically was like my house....I don't have a three car garage. In fact, take an imaginary line from the one car garage up, chop that part off, and up have a fairly accurate representation of my house.

I like those ideas, except for the bougainvillea. I despise them, and have a couple in my front yard that grow and grow and have huge frickin thorns. I hate them.

Okay, no bougainvillea ;)

I hear this guy is pretty good at designing with shrubbery:

Ha! That's funny. Can't mojo you at present or I would.

Outdoor kitchen. Of course, I wouldn't be outdoors in Phoenix in Summer if you paid me.

Shade and a mister would seem like a good idea.

Hehehe yeah.... my first thought was "build a nice little place to sit in the sun. :evil:

An arbor could easily be built in the general style of the house. Wisteria or Trumpet Vine are the most popular choices of plant cover here but you'd likely have trouble growing those in Phoenix. Like bougainvillea, they grow and grow but when you give them something to grown ON you get a lot of shade out of the deal. Depending on the plant, there can be a good deal of maintenance every growing season. The wisteria I mentioned MUST be cut back faithfully every year, sometimes twice a year or it will take over. But, you're rewarded with masses of lavender or white flowers that hang like bunches of grapes all over the vine. Is there some other woody climbing vine you do like that does well in your area?

I also like Mori's olive tree idea. I'd have one in a second if they grew here. And a bay (laurel) tree.

I say build a nice home theatre in the space.

Well, we did some looking, and....we're most likely going to get a pool.

A few things favor doing this. First, since this counts as home improvement, interest on the financing is tax deductable. Second, you can amortize these the same way you do a house (and same length of time, so we're looking at very minimal payments). Lastly, an article from the WSJ says that a pool in the southwest increases the value of your home by about 7.5%. Knowing what my home is currently worth and what the approximate cost of the pool is, it's about break even. Staying in your home for 5 years or longer puts you ahead of the game on the investment, and we most likely will.

Haven't made the full decision....but we're leaning that way.

After the pool is in....not much room for anything else.

I started the final phase of my indoor remodelling today....redoing my son's room. Making a sports room. One half of his sliding closet door has a basketball court on it painted with magnetic paint so he can move magnets we made of him and his buddies around on it. The other half has a fathead (life size sticker) of Sean Alexander. On one wall will be a fathead of Dirk Nowitski, and one wall has a fooball field. Various sports related paraphenalia hang around it. Will take me the evenings the rest of the week to finish it.