If you could, is there a room in your current living space that you would enlarge? What would you add or change? I'd love a totally different kitchen. Right now it's a galley type that was standard in 1960s apartments. My complex converted to condos years ago but we're all stuck with these awful, cramped, small kitchens. To change it would mean dealing with a load bearing wall and a lot of electric and plumbing changes, so that's not going to happen. But I sure would like a breakfast bar island, more storage, larger fridge, bigger pantry. What would you change about your living space?
I'd move my laundry room upstairs; that is the one regret I have always had with this house. Have to drag laundry downstairs to wash, then back upstairs to put away.
I would also enlarge my kitchen, although there are upsides to a smallish one. The women on an America's Test Kitchen episode were talking about the benefits to being at the sink & countertop, and just turning around and grabbing something out of the fridge without having to make tons of trips across the room. The immediacy of the cook top to all that is also a benefit. I think there's a middle ground somewhere...a kitchen can be too small (as it was in my 600 ft² home.) I would like to have a decent sized fully-outfitted exercise room with a tall ceiling.
We’ve just had a fairly large verandah built behind / attached to the back area of our double carport it was only finished yesterday ,so I haven’t had time to put any pot plants I at a yet and besides hubby wants to high pressure water clean the cement as it’s discoloured from years of all sorts of weather
That's nice, Kate. It's amazing how building a deck or laying a slab increases the square footage of our homes. Getting it under cover is like putting on an addition!!!
Yep @John Brunner it’s like we’ve put an extra room on the house, it’s been on the 15 year plan ( as long as we’ve lived in the home ) In the past we couldn’t use the door showing in-the photo which is the dinning room combined with the living / kitchen , and of course close to the carport . We had a blind over that door due to the burning 43 c+ hot sun in summer so we’d carry groceries ect right around the back past rainwater tank in all sorts of weather …that ended yesterday after the verandah was finished YEAH …
43 c is scorching hot!!!! I gotta think that roof is really going to make a difference in the comfort level of your home...and might save a little on your utilities. Plus finally being able to take that direct route with groceries!!! My deck is directly southern-facing. I want to have a retractable awning installed to cut back the heat that gets through the sliding doors. Right now I have vertical blinds I close...I just hate sacrificing the view. I'd also like to have a roof similar to your veranda installed over my side entrance where my grills and smoker are. The kitchen is right through that door, so that's a convenient spot to grill. It would be nice to not have to dodge the rain both for cooking and for when I'm trying to unlock the door.
I put a third-floor attic in. When we bought the place, the space was there but there wasn't a floor. I put the floor in and was working on the walls when we got a deal on free insulating. Unfortunately, they insisted on adding a couple of feet of insulation on top of my new floor, so I had to put another floor in on top of that, and it's not as nice as the one I had put in before, when we still had money. Plus, there's not as much headspace as there was before. I keep thinking that I'll finish the walls during the winter, when not much else can be done, but the last few winters went by without my doing so. There's still enough room there for a workspace, so I'd still like to get it done.
I'd extend our porch and screen it in. Place a couple of ceiling fans on the ceiling and fix it all up as a family gathering place.
I think I was a bear in another life. I feel the need to finish my basements. It is cool down there without air conditioning. I wish I could do pix. My last house had a diy bar room. I put in a much more formal room next to it. 15x22' Color tile was in business. I put in a patterned italian quarry tile, with a smaller tile, floor. I had bought a victorian marble fireplace mantle, and a beautiful stained glass window to put over it in the corner, at an antique auction. I just put electric logs behind them. I built in a 'picture window' frame and then put a mural into it of fall woods. It took me four years but I was the cheapest labor I could find. In my present house. the basement was poured. I primed it extremely well and then wallpapered the foundation walls. People told me you can't do that but it has been up about 15 years. I put in mirrored sliding doors and another mural 'picture window' of a Japanese garden. You just put a small light inside the top front of the frame and put up drape panels and sheers. I got nice carpet tiles for one side and peel and stick linoleum tiles for the other, after priming the floor.
I certainly can understand that at this point. Hope these past few days have been easier on you Beth with the lower dose of chemo.