House Plans

All in all, things are going quite well with the new home. It's not entirely a new home since it was built in 1969. But considering it's 40 years old, it really doesn't seem like it's that old. The ex-owners have done plenty of work to the place to modernize it over the years, including making exterior improvements like vinyl siding and a new roof. Inside, the kitchen is relatively new with new cabinetry and new flooring. Yet when you're a new homeowner, there's always things you want to do to personalize the place. At this stage of the game, I am not going to go crazy and make mass improvements to the place. I want to stage out the improvements gradually. And as I've posted previously, not a lot of work needs to be done with the home. Just minor improvements for now, if you will.

So it's a three bedroom, one bath home. At some point in time, I'd like to add another bathroom somewhere, whether that'll be in the basement or if I convert one of the closets upstairs into one. But the main bathroom is already on the west end of the house where all of the bedrooms are. On the other end of the house is the kitchen and living room. It'll take some planning and engineering to decide if another bathroom can be built somewhere upstairs or not. I am sure it can happen, but whether it's the absolute perfect location or not is left to be determined. The basement is probably the most logical location since I've got lots of room down there and it's where I'd like to build a sauna at some point in time. And as far as the size of this new bathroom, I'm only looking at a toilet and a sink, so it won't be tremendously large. The sauna, which will be located in the basement, will be large enough to accomodate a shower. So at this point in time, the new bathroom would be best located downstairs. But at this point, those two projects won't be in the immediate future.

As for projects that I am planning to tackle in the near future, they involve repairing walls and repainting rooms. Two of the three bedrooms, the hallway, and the living room I am all planning to repaint at some point. One of the things that all these rooms are lacking is baseboard trim. I believe when the ex-owners installed new carpeting, they also removed the baseboard trim and never re-installed it. There are few trim pieces in the garage and basement, but not nearly enough to install it in all the rooms. I would like to buy new trim for all of the rooms, stain it, and install it in a room-by-room basis. I'm looking to start in one room of the house, probably the guest bedroom, by this fall. In addition, many of the electrical outlets do not match other outlets or light switches in the rooms. I plan to buy new outlets or match outlets properly and put up the wall plate that matches the best. Again, not major improvements but little things to make the place my own.

Most of the additional "major" projects involve landscaping improvements and additional exterior fixes. I am hoping at some point to get some top soil for the front lawn and re-seed the lawn. As it stands now, the entire property is comprised of sandy soil. Needless to say, the grass doesn't grow real thick. Eventually I'd like to try upgrading the lawn, but that might be a pretty large task to overcome. I am also tinkering with the idea of installing a doorway leading into the basement from the rear-side of the house. The ground slopes away from the house in the back and it actually could work. But all of that will have to figure in as to where I plan on putting the sauna and bathroom. It all takes planning and I've got many years to make it work. All in all, when time comes for me to sell this house or for someone else to sell it for me, I want to be able to make a profit off of it and to really be proud of the place I've come to call home. Hopefully these improvements through the years will allow me to do just that.