A concrete pad would cost far more than building a nice deck, so I'm not sure what you are comparing that too. Thank you for your suggestion, but it, as I've said, makes no sense for our home and our needs. You buy a fixer upper as you pay less than market value and spend the money you "save" to make the necessary repairs to make it equivalent to those in the neighborhood. The point of putting expensive wood in a fixer upper is this is our home. We hope to live here for at least another 50-60 years and it will look very nice next to the $$$ DIY kitchen we just installed, which will complement the $$$ Marvin windows we are now buying which will some day look very nice with new siding, a second story, completely redone interior and new driveway as we plan to DIE in this house as it is our home. I am not looking to go cheap doing DIY. I am looking to spend the money on quality materials and to be honest, if I could pay someone to put in this deck I would as I don't feel like doing it. We called a few places and got blown off as no one wants a small job. We had the same problem moving duct work and doing other minor things so, we learn to do them ourselves, just like we will the deck. I am not looking at cheap or to flip this house, I am making this house my home and lovingly restoring it, which the support of my neighbors and the original owners family. Even if I flipped the house, I can get what I put into this home back given the area we live in. This isn't about money - this is about the best quality materials in a dark "wood" color. Thank you very much John for your help - you've been really helpful!

Thanks, prairiedawn. My style actually is more of a rustic/modern country style rather than traditional, although I have a mix of everything! I used BM Baby Turtle in the powder room and laundry room, which are adjacent to the foyer, SW Artifact in the great room, which is just beyond the foyer, and SW Believable Buff and Camelback throughout the rest of the house. roseabby, I spoke to the salesman at Macys and he also mentioned a 2'6" runner may be out of scale. The problem is I do NOT want to cover up most of the wood flooring. Would a smaller area rug placed horizontally across the front doors, rather than a larger run placed vertically in the room, look strange? The two doors are 6' wide and the entire wood entry is approx. 10' wide.

It’s a long story cuz the 1st contractor screwed us. We had no clue what we were getting into but instead of buying a house we thought it would be great to add a 2nd floor to his parents house so our kids can be closer to their grandparents... 4 years later & it was living HELL. But 2nd floor is done now and now working on the 1st floor and my in laws are in the basement and my husbands grandmother, sister and brother are living with us up here till this is done.

Hi All! Everything went fine and there were many compliments about the house. I feel I did everything reasonable to provide an attractive home where people can gather comfortably. Lots of chocolate helps!!!! Thanks to everyone who provided comments! I'm definitely in full blown "decorative" mode now with all of your ideas! I do have some more questions about lamps but I'll start a new thread for that.