Quote:
Originally Posted by honeychile
Does getting someone else to do the work count? My house was so 1950's looking, and there were some things done that I just wouldn't have been able to do on my own: gables, a deck, and a new garage treatment done to the front - my neighbors still comment on it. My daddy & I redid the kitchen and the bathroom (I have my own set of power tools and I'm not afraid to use them!).
My basement is 3/4 finished. I haven't decided which way I want to go with it yet. The male half of the original owners was a carpenter, so you can tell exactly where he was when he got ill. He put all sorts of storage shelves & closets in there (I think to make up for the lack of good closet space upstairs!), so it's pretty interesting. I think some hardwood floors would do wonders, though!
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"Curb Appeal" always helps, but as I said before, don't overdo it for the neighborhood. Since you don't get dollar for dollar on any improvement (unless you can do the work yourself), never go overboard unless you plan to "live it out"
Here is an example. When I bought my third house, there was no entryway. You walked in from the porch directly onto Living Room carpet. Bad news in Ohio winters. So, I put a small marble floor (maybe 4'x4') in to make a faux foyer. It was maybe a $300 investment in order to save my carpet and add something to the room.
The man laying the marble was talking about all of these elaborate entryways that he had put in McMansions. I stopped him dead on and said, "If you had all of the money in the world, would you do that in the house that you are currently living in?". He told me it wouldn't make sense and went back to laying the marble.