Whew - I read all the threads on this post! We are building our first home and I am very excited about it I have to say! I have not had any negative feedback from friends so I am lucky there. One of my good friends is building her house at the same time so that helps a lot. She is not as excited as I am as she has done all this before but we love to talk to each other about the houses. I have gotten some negative feedback from family though. It has not been to bad, just little comments here and there. "Do you like the lay out of your master bath"....I just want to say if I didn't like it that why would I be building it! :-) I just smile and say yes. I do have two sister that have never once asked how the house was coming along. It hurt at first but I need to just get over it. I am sure they have other things on their minds and I know my house is not the focus of everyone's lives! The one main thing that I have learned from this thread is that I think I will keep the 'updates' to myself. I have sent out emails with photos of the house and how it is coming along, but in my mind I am just so excited I wanted to share with everyone. It never crossed my mind that people would not care! LOL! I look at all the pictures and endless scrapbooks from friends and in all honesty I could careless about their scrapbooks but I sit for hours and say how nice they are just because I could never say anything negative knowing it would ever hurt anyone. I had one friend tell me I am the only one who sits and looks at her scrapbooks. I felt bad because deep down inside I am hating it, but it makes her happy and she puts so much work into it. They are wonderful and she does a great job but it just clicked to me that I am doing the same thing with all the pictures I send out. So, I am so thankful my cousin sent me to this forum! I have already gotten such great advice and made some great friends in the short amount of time I have been here! Now to just tone it down on my happy news. I think I will pass on the depressed thread..... :-) Kelly

Ok, so no floor plan. Brunch turned into a 6 hour mimosa-drowning. No complaints, but productivity suffered! The more I think about it, the more new paint and window treatments would greatly help. We would like to swap-out some of the appliances like the DW & OTR pretty soon, as they are not so great. The DW sounds like it’s trying to escape when it’s washing and the OTR is visibly cracked on the front. Oh, and the timer doesn’t work when the microwave is heating. It’s amazing I haven’t taken it out with a baseball bat yet. I’m unsure whether to vent this unit (or a replacement) as the future kitchen would certainly have a vented unit. How many holes do I need to cut out of the house? Really, with some new appliances & new paint, I think we could get by for a few years. And then knock it all down & re-use the appliances in a new kitchen. Maybe with the new Ikea kitchen line. Fun! Some tidbit responses (and thanks so much for the advice everyone!): -The 6” to the right of the range is just filler. It’s totally an empty space under the granite. We could move the current range over, but then a granite fabricator would have to come & chop it off & move it over. That sounds tedious. -The range is *pretty* close to that side wall, but not touching. There is something like 2” of space. I could easily mount a piece of glass on the wall as a precaution, but I don’t really fear the wall will go up in flames. @joaniepoanie - Thanks! I think we’d like to keep the breakfast bar even after a reno. We plan to buy some stools and like that guests really use that space while we are in the kitchen. But I like the idea of a pantry. That would be amazing. @mic111 - I hadn’t considered changing the pulls. Everything in the house is ORB, so if they are dark brown circles or squares, I’m not sure it really matters. But I could be wrong. I will say that working on the house is something we really enjoy, so sweating a kitchen remodel is really no sweat. It’s just a question of money and true need. @annkh - Wanda the corgi loves to photo-bomb. Does yours do that too? And she does match the floors! But of course, that doesn’t mean the tumbleweeds are invisible ;) Laundry in the kitchen is no biggie. It’s plenty convenient. We had a combo washer/dryer in the old condo, so the size of these units still astounds me. Just have to keep that washer door open. Mold/Mildew City! Also, good tip about the step-stool. We’ll get that stat. -@cluelessincolorado- Thanks for the shout-out! We do miss that small, cool kitchen! It was nothing fancy & it was a tight space. But it was a fun project and the functionality gained was glorious. Really, that one 30” cabinet of Ikea drawers held more than all the base cabinets in our new/big kitchen. Pics of the old kitchen:

In my experience your house would benefit from painting (siding and brick). Just remember, once painted, brick can never be unpainted. So, if you commit to paint the brick it will be a forever commitment. Yest to trimming the trees around the house (if possible). I agree with cat_ky about hiring a landscaper or landscape architect. They should be able to produce a design that accentuates the house. If you are replacing the garage door I would replace it with one that has light (windows) so that door doesn't appear as just an expanse of wood. Operable shutters would be an awesome addition. Your entry porch could use some enhancement. If the floor of the porch is more than 30" above grade a railing would probably be required. Good luck!

Several things..the island will feel less contrived if you were to replace the table with a round. The current square brings too much attention to the angle of the island. Either replace the foyer wallpaper or re-do the wainscoting to match the two—tones in the d.r. If you decide to replace the foyer paper be aware of background white/off-white/creme, etc. when choosing your paint color. I agree new fans without lights is in order. I think once you have all elements in place then would be a good time to reselect your lighting. Lighting has a huge influence on the overall look you are trying to achieve. Your home is lovely and has a very nice lived-in look. Good job!