I seem to have a never ending list, landscaping was up there with firsts projects. Years later came the kitchen and next year is the masterbath.

travel

Guest room. My mother keeps asking when the guest room will be finished. ;)

I "should" have saved it so I could quit work in 2012. I THINK it was worth it. I did my bathroom, too. Walk in shower! But my kitchen makes me smile so it was money well spent. My priorities are a bit different than most. I fixed up my barns and pasture first. The house was later. I guess my next big expenditure will be equipment. Farm type equipment and machine shed maintenance. I need to paint a couple of rooms but that's not a big deal.

Many areas of our home NEED help. And not just cause the look is outdated or it's "not us". Oh no. This house is a major fixer upper. Things are falling apart, rotting, etc. We're getting around to it bit by bit. Over the past 5 years we've done the roof and siding, back room, the bathroom, now the kitchen. Next up is either gonna be the basement or the outside areas. EVERYWHERE needs help in our home!

We need to install pavers to replace what started as a temporary driveway and has turned into, literally, an alley running alongside the house to the back where the stand-alone garage is located.

And we have been dreaming for years about replacing all our windows with impact resistant glass. Living in Miami that's both practical and aesthetically beneficial.

Oh, we also are living on borrowed HVAC time with our 19 year old central AC unit.

But today I primed and painted the kitchen and as everything comes together it is so perfectly and exactly what I have dreamed of for 20 years that I can't begrudge one cent of what I spent on it!

When we bought our house 4 years ago we knew the roof was on its very last legs but did not care. We knew we'd be extending and renovating so were glad not to pay for a newer roof that would end up half ripped apart.

We finished the bsmt first to make a great playroom for our kids (1 is still scared to be down there alone despite ample lighting and cheerful decor, sigh).

At the one year mark, we were granted a variance to do the work and found out 2 days later that our plans were $120k more than we had been told. We had no choice but to put things on hold. Of course, real estate values came down in the interim and we could not borrow below keeping 20% equity even though the work would have immediately made our house worth more. We have the ugly runt of our neighborhood.
The work to the living spaces and roof went from a want/need to an urgent need this year. We had a storm in March that ripped our gutters off, pulled down the soffits, blew some roof shingles off and even took some siding off. The insurance company was generous and that started us to explore doing the work again. The insurance check will end up being approx 4-5% of the total bill, but it got the ball rolling. Last Fall, we had almost gotten the roof, gutters and soffits done without extending or renovating, but were told we could get one more winter out of them. If we had done the work, the storm would not have damaged the newer better secured roof, gutters and soffits, so we'd have gotten no check. It all just fell into place after years of bad luck about the house.

Our next project will be solar in the Spring and our family bathroom which will probably be in the Summer. I went back to work full time a year ago and despite the poor housing market have had my best year in all my 20+ years of r.e.. I had taken 8 years off while my kids were little and only sold a few houses a year to referrals and repeat business. Now, I get new leads and am trying to make the most of things. We won't do any more projects after this current project unless we have the cash for them. We took a loan for this one and will refinance it all into a new first mtg at lower rates than we have (no cash out). With rates so low, we will not prepay since it will be another 15 year loan and we owe such little interest.

In 2012 we will finally be able to take the boys to Europe as we have always wanted to do. They will be old enough then to appreciate it better.

a friend of mine told me a few years ago that most people do the inside if their house first and then the outside.
this was after she came and saw what u had dne outside in the back.
well, 2 years ago we put down new floors and of course this year it is the beautiful kitchen
next on the list (one day) will be the bathrooms ( main & ensuite )

I realised you don't get the proper idea from that picture
so here are a few more of the back portion of the garden
for your enjoyment

early spring

later in the year

looking back toward the house

in the evening

Muspic, your landscaping is beautiful! Love that waterfall!

For us it will be the bathrooms and the basement, then travel and oh yeah, we have to save for a wedding somewhere in there. Eek!

Landscaping here, too. In fact, we were all set to embark on an $8,500 landscaping project and a $2,000 driveway gate in the fall of 2008 when it became clear that I was about to be part of a probable layoff. We called off the contractor and three weeks later I was indeed part of a RIF.

I got a new job in about 4 months, but in 2009 we decided we could live with the landscaping and really wanted to do the kitchen instead. We knew the HVAC was old and wheezy, but figured we could deal with it when the time came. Our DIY kitchen came in around $14K and we finished in April of 2010. The A/C died in June! We had a small piece of property for sale and sold it for just about what it cost to put in a brand new HVAC. Somehow, it all seemed to work out.

I still want to do the landscaping, but we have decided to do some of it ourselves a little at a time. DH has torn out all the delapidated raised beds. Now we need to get out there and smooth out the humps and reseed grass. The other work involves a lot of fill dirt and routing of drainage, and we need help for that, as well as the gate. However, I've also embarked on a new business adventure that leaves us short of disposable cash, but has a great upside to it in about 6 months. So here's to hoping that 2011 will bring landscaping at long last!

Car.

When we refinanced our mortgage for a whole-house remodel in 2004, my daughter was a HS sophomore and about to learn to drive. We decided the most important thing was to have a safe car (not a tank, but AWD for our N.E. weather and as many air bags as possible--we also kept an eye on mpg). So money came off the top for that and we rearranged thinking about what we would remodel.

If I had the money back again, I would get a car for me since dd took the good car to college with her. Mine has 180,000 mi on it and needs some expensive repair work.

I would love to travel more. Landscaping was high on my priority list as the next thing after we finish our house. I've since decided that I really love our property as is--good thing since I don't think our house will ever be done. But if I could have a yard like muspic's I most certainly would change my mind again.

We could also use money back for some furnishings--but I wouldn't trade our kitchen for furnishings or having the rest of the house finished. Travel is a bit difficult so putting money into our house makes sense.

OOps--just read over my message. When I say "If I had the money back again" I'm referring to the money spent on our kitchen remodel--not the safer car for dd's use. That car was the best thing we did with the money.

buy more rental property. We did a MAJOR remodel and spent twice as much as an average home. We got the home of our dreams (well, after we complete phase 2 and phase 3).

Bostonpam, you got the house of my dreams too!!!

I like your answer, I'd like to "buy and hold" a piece of property now too for retirement!

Our yard needs serious work! Would love to see more hardscape since grass doesn't really grow well with large trees. Front lawn needs aeration and seeding.

Our HVAC is a poor-quality, repair-prone model and will need to be replaced probably sooner than later.

Travel!

Landscaping here too. And travel. I've done just about everything else to this house over the last 17 years, in the last 7 years alone I had a deck put on, had the front porch torn down and rebuilt, a new driveway, a new boiler, new windows and added central air. When the kitchen is done, I'm done. The backyard will be fixed up next year, then any spare money (HA HA) will be spent on me.

We bought our outdated but still functional house 11 years ago. There was a lot to be done, but gardening is my passion so that came first. We finally finished the last major projects in the yard last summer before baby #2 came and under pressure to finish as we were a garden host for the county Master Gardeners Tour. Now the kitchen! Well, as part of a major whole house reno. If we weren't spending this cash on the kitchen, we'd probably buy a new car. Mine is 13 years old. It still putts along fine, but gas mileage isn't great and space is limited with two kids and all of their gear. Believe me, I'm much happier spending the money on the kitchen than a new car!