Personally, I would spend the money on any structural and integrity related things, then budget on the stuff you can see...appliances, cab's, etc. One of the hard things when you redo an old home is not knowing what to expect until the interior walls are removed. We found that out even on our 30 year old home. You're a huge chunk of money ahead of the game by having the previous owner redo the electrical systems. Expect that much of the plumbing will have to be redone, as well. You should be able to salvage, reuse, or save much of the stuff already. Try to rescue as much of the baseboards and trim as possible. You can sand it, repaint it, or have it stripped and stained. Windows in an old home are quite controversial. It's up to you, but check with your local ordinances to see if in the process of renovating you have to bring the windows up to code in terms of efficiency. You may be able to save all the old sashes and frames, and have all the glass replaced with double pane low E with argon. I've seen that done in old turn of the century condo loft conversions in midwestern cities. It seems like it would be quite a bit more expensive than replacing the windows. There are cheap sources for flooring, but be very careful with them...many use a sub grade of wood, or the wood comes from questionable forestry practices around the world. Cheap bamboo from China is particularly bad. Check with Habitat for Humanity for second hand building materials stores. Here in Seattle we have one called Second Use, which is basically a consignment store where the proceeds can be directed to Habitat. Some incredibly great stuff from old houses are there, and they even accepted my 30 year old solid fir front doors. Many cities, big and small, have second hand material stores. Plus there are old building supplies available online...I've seen old turn of the century mantels and doors sold on the internet. Kitchen and bath cabinets can eat up the biggest part of your budget. Do what you can live with, but remember that structurally a 5K IKEA kitchen will be just as sound than a 40K custom kitchen. You're just more limited in cabinet sizes and door finishes. Do your hardest shopping for cabinets, both in retail and online. And don't overlook all the small custom cabinet makers in your community. Many times they are the same price or cheaper than the big name brands. Plumbing and lighting fixtures can be purchased online with huge savings. Your plumber or electrician can also let you buy direct from their wholesale supplier at cost...you have to do the legwork, pay the tax, and pay the company directly. You just have to ask...some want to make their 20% markup, some don't mind passing the savings onto you. And check to see if there is a building materials supply house near you where all the contractors shop. Many times you can start an account yourself...some outfits require you to have a license, some don't. You'll get about 40-50% savings on building materials, carpet, tile, flooring, etc. THey usually go by names such as Builder's Supply Co. If you are doing an extensive renovation, spend the money on a good set of architect plans, even if you're not moving walls. You'll probably need it for the city/state permits, and your GC or subs will need it for construction. Sit down and be very realistic with yourself about what you can do personally to save money. Demolition sounds like an easy job on paper (just swing your sledge hammer, have fun...), but it's a dirty and very dangerous proposition. Painting can be fun, but exterior painting requires a skill level and knowledge, and an abilility to climb scaffolding or ladders. Framing new walls or windows is a lot more technical than it seems. And tiling a bath has to be done correctly or you'll suffer the consequences down the road. In other words, hire good people to take care of the structural parts of the renovation. You can general contract this yourself if you have the time. We just did a total house remodel, GC'd it ourselves, and it took way more time than we expected, but it wasn't as hard as I expected it to be.

@Ron, you are wrong. Do you understand how that code applies? The claim it is "against code" in a private home is simply wrong. There is no jurisdiction for such a usage in a private home. If an inspector issuing a certificate of occupancy in a pubic place such as a restaurant, they could deny the cert, but there is no mechanism, no jurisdiction, for which an inspector could assert a violation in a private home. The only case in a private home would be if a installer under license did so as a necessary permanent application as part of some electrical work. For the private homeowner no such prohibition exists. The jurisdiction is ABSENT on several levels because an inspector could not assert the homeowner is doing so as a permanent usage. That is differnt than the question of whether it is simply a bad practice, it is bad practice.

A few observations by me: 1) The "new" outlet box's intended use should be considered permanently installed electrical equipment as it is mounted to a fixed piece of the dwelling (as I understand the authors article). If instead, it was simply strung through the opening and 'laying' on the desk or the desk was movable and not attached to the wall you could argue that the NEC doesn't apply. 2) Being permanent, the NEC rules do apply. 3) Since NEC applies, the extension cord material cannot be used and therefore technically a violation for a couple reasons. First, it has been modified and thus no longer meets its original purpose as defined by its UL listing - and all electrical components must be third party certified (UL being by far the most commonly accepted). Second, we all know this type of cable cannot be used as permanent wiring. 4) As itsunclebill points out, AC cable does not offer any more protection from physical damage vs. NM, sched 40 PVC, BX etc. at least as far as the NEC is concerned. Practically speaking, it probably does, but that isn't the issue. 5) A legitimate solution would have been to simply put a power strip on top, drill a hole thru the counter, and plug it in to the outlet below. All products are now performing their predefined UL listed purpose. NEC rules apply as far as the outlet underneath and that would be all. 6) Answering the original question on "is it safe", my answer is NO simply from the standpoint of the danger because of the possibility existing of the wiring pulling out of the outlet and the components not being listed/tested for that purpose/use.

Thank you for all the great ideas and info on how to landscape the way you have it! The retaining wall we just added last fall as the side of the hill was starting to cover a window over there and my dad (a civil engineer) said we needed a retaining wall to keep the side of the hill from becoming structurally unsound. The fence is there because that side of the yard is not dog proof yet and probably won't be until we rent a big dumpster for the yard renovation as the previous owners left a bunch of dangerous (to dogs) junk under those stairs. Because at the time we didn't have the time to clean up the yard, we just put up a fence and have just left it there as we have discovered the rocks and yard in general isn't working out well for the dogs anyways so we would have to redo everything. I don't know what kind of soil we have. I've been planning to stop by the local Extension office to get a soil test kit to find out what the soil is like. There is a bare patch of grass near the deck stairs that has been bare since we purchased the house so I'm wondering if that part of the yard has something wrong with the soil. We have tried seeding that area multiple times with different type seeds and nothing ever worked. You have me very excited about doing the yard now. I can't wait to remove all that rock.