Tinker if this is what you want to do, I say go ahead. You have outlined your situation and it sounds like you understand full well what you're getting into. That said, a couple of stories: We have lived in the same neighborhood for 15 years. We rented for about 6 or 7 years, then started to house hunt--only in our neighborhood. We found THE house. We bid higher than reasonable and were confident we would get it, and didn't. It was bought by a developer for 30% more, who reconfigured the antique house so that the lot could be split and added two really ugly condos. We were aghast, and I can't believe I still have to look at that thing every day (we pass it on the way to dd's school). It was the best thing that ever happened to us, because we learned that you can lose your dream home, and life goes on, and unbelievably, better dream homes came along. We bid on 3 more "dream homes" in our neighborhood, getting a little more cocky and skeptical every time. I live in the fifth house we tried to buy, 4 years later, and we're very happy with it. We got a great deal, and it's head and shoulders above the first house we went for. So, as much as this house speaks to you, keep in mind, other houses can still do that too. I recommend taking 48 hours and looking around in some other places, with a different realtor. Look on craigslist--you will see things that don't show in mls listings. I have a friend that was house hunting in two of the most expensive towns in our area, my modest mid-range town wasn't even on her list. But she stumbled on a listing in Craigslist, and now has twice as much house, just as good a commute, and far better schools than she expected. Before you commit to this house, think outside the box. Heck I wish 2000 people like you would descend on Galveston, TX and invest in those crumbling victorians. Or Brunswick, GA. Just look at this: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-Detail/817-Egmont_Brunswick_GA_31520_M63142-27459 or this: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-Detail/815-Albany_Brunswick_GA_31520_M60146-44621 I'd buy the second house just to get a tree like that. Finally, if you are open to spending that kind of money on preservation, from a stewardship standpoint, it makes more sense to spend the money on a house that won't be torn down when you move on. Could you look in a more historic district where these types of homes are valued? If you can live with the idea of your work being undone, then I guess you're ok, but knowing with certainty that the work I put into my house would be ripped up would drive me nuts. But that's just me.

Hi again, it appears that there are a ton of tiny bubbles in the spa when the POOL heat is on. Does anyone have any idea why there would be so many tiny bubbles in the spa when it isn't "on"? Just to be clear, they aren't bubbles created by a jet. Thanks, Marta

The bedrooms and bathrooms are in the same family of colors but are a lighter shade. When you open the door to go into the bathrooms they are a lighter gray from the same color family. Nicely done. I personally think blues are hard to coordinate, but I also know my own limitations, and I know I am a total idiot when it comes to color. As far as my house looking real people nice .. you said it perfectly! That is exactly right on point and exactly what I wanted and could afford It’s just my family home, sweet, simple and a place that makes me feel happy when I look at it That's my goal too. Also, my bedroom suit was dark oak and in pretty good shape. I lightly sanded it, primed it, sprayed it and brushed the tops of the dresser, night tables, and chester drawers so they would be more durable It turned out beautiful and I finished the entire project in about 5 days You've convinced me to paint my bed when we move. but I can assure you that I would never paint my home again.. it would have been worth double that to pay someone It gave me a great respect for painters and why it cost so much .. it is a job that I would never want to do again.. I’m still touching up paint and if I could I would have used spray paint I don't mind painting a room here and there ... but to paint the whole house /I assume you mean interior only ... and to paint new drywall, well, that's a task. At the same time, $10,000 is no mean savings.

@Beverly @WestCoast Hopeful Oh my goodness, I love this porch idea SO much. It takes the porch and yard from two separate spaces to one big, friendly space. Our builder will 100% NOT do this for us, so we'd have to do it afterwards on our dime, but I love this transformative idea! We probably wouldn't lay concrete across the whole back, but maybe a smaller area with a gazebo or something. I stopped by the house this afternoon and walked around at ground level behind the house. (I haven't done this too much because we've had a lot of rain the last few months and it's super muddy.) When I was down there, I learned a few interesting things: First, the area that I thought was most usable -- directly below the porch -- is actually not the most usable. It has more of a slope than I thought. You can see it better here: It's still going to be useful, but the largest level part of the yard is in the corner where I was standing when I took this photo. Conveniently, this is also the area where the level part goes deepest towards the back of the lot, so it gives us the biggest usable level space. This slope right below the porch means that the big wide centered steps that @Beverly suggested would have to go out significantly further to actually reach the ground. It would probably consume most of the usable space below the porch. But that's more acceptable now that I know that the corner is the prime real estate in the yard. Here's another photo that might show the slope better: The other thing I learned is that the left side of the porch is actually not as high as it looked from above. Standing on the ground, the porch is slightly above my eye level, or about 5.5' up. And since the land keeps rising to the left, stairs going along the house would only have to cover about 5' vertically. We looked at the other stairs from our same builder and estimated that they're about 40 degrees from the horizontal. So one trig calculator later, and it looks like the stairs probably won't even come to the guest room window! So I think we'll go with the left stairs for now and then look into a set of fancy wide porch steps down the line. Thanks, everybody, for all your thoughts and suggestions! I'm really happy with the left stairs for now and the awesome stairs later.