I agree with you about not buying the land until we were ready to live there, but......(there is always a "but" LOL) Years ago, we fell in love with the area where we bought our property. Land very rarely goes up for sale in that area. Since the land across the river from us is a nature preserve, we will never lose our view. The land was very inexpensive for what we got and we felt like we needed to just grab it and hold on to it until we could retire. We have family in the town where we purchased the land so we go up there once or twice a year to visit. Although our family always offers us a place to stay, we hate to put them out. (very small house). We have stayed in some pretty bad motels in the area, and would love to have our own house so we could sit on a deck overlooking the river and watch the bald eagles across the way. I do like your idea of perhaps renting the house out for a longer term, but of course that would prevent us from using it when we were there. There is no easy solution. I guess I just have to decide if I can put my heart into building a home, and then letting others stay in it. I have the feeling that our renters would not be nearly as careful as yours!

Yes we only want a cheap option for a year or so before we upgrade the kitchen. The upgrade will be new countertops and possibly new cabinets. We don't know if we will sell within 5 years. We like this house, the neighborhood and the schools but I've learned to never say never. And to never count on a house being a forever house. As our children get older we might find that our needs change. With that in mind, I don't want to make any changes that will make it harder to sell. Most of the houses that go on the market in this neighborhood have painted or stained builder grade oak cabinets topped with new granite. It's not that I don't want to paint the countertops but that I'd rather not mess with it. Based on what I've read online many people paint/stain their cabinets and have good results. However, it seems that fewer people paint their countertops and that the outcomes are mixed. Painting the cabinets seems much more of a sure thing. Especially given that it's so common in this neighborhood and all of the homes have the same cabinets.

The way you want to deal with this is: ignore them. Upgrade the bathroom to what you WANT it to look like in the FUTURE. Do NOT add cabinets that match a floor that is destined for demolition. It is a complete waste of time and money. Pick the cabinetry, paint, tile, etc with the FUTURE in mind. Ignore the floor. Wood flooring in a bathroom is rare. You will be dealing with it soon enough. Simply ignore it and design the bathroom as if the PERFECT floor was already in place. This is how you deal with 'piecemeal' renovations. You start with the FINAL look (because you are super industrious and have a COMPLETE HOME colour scheme set out complete with paint chips) and work towards it. You will be upset with the clash. Yep. No way around it. But that is your MOTIVATION to keep going. Right now you have a fully functional wood floor in a bathroom. Design around it. You are moving towards a final destination. Don't worry about the in-between stages. They take care of themselves (because of your immaculate colour-scheme planning!).

A couple pillows maybe: https://coteriebrooklyn.com/products/amsterdam and/or: https://www.amazon.com/MIULEE-Velvet-Decorative-Cushion-Bedroom/dp/B077HBVF2S/ref=mp_s_a_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=throw%2Bpillows&qid=1622621067&sr=8-10&th=1&psc=1 and/or: https://www.etsy.com/listing/960478042/southwest-pillow-covers-with-terracotta?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=siuthwest+pillows&ref=sr_gallery-1-10&organic_search_click=1