I never post here either, just stumbled by to ask a question. I agree with lee, I see cottage gardening all over the yard. Winding around the corners of the house as well as a flowing bed, not straight, under the windows, window boxes, wood or iron would be nice. You can decide the flowers depending on the colors you like as well as the plants. You will find a lot of inspiration just by peeking into these forums. If it were my house, I would plant with a lot of mass and color like reds, yellows and dark blues. I would put in a path of flag stone or bricks, I would do a white picket fence with an arch at the gate for a climbing climatis or rose, I love old benches so I would have one under the tree with a pot of flowers on it and bring in more garden art like old gates for trellis, old pails instead of flower pots. Like I said I see cottage all over the yard. You have good bones just depends on what YOU want to achieve.

My advice is drop the "ROI" requirement. It is essentially useless. Historically, anything with a payback period greater than 9 years has a negative financial impact. Currently, anything with a pay back period greater than 4 years has a negative financial impact, but I wouldn't use the 4 years to make a financial decision, additionally, mortgage money is essentially free right now. The unfortunate problem with any "efficiency" is that rarely do they make financial sense. Even spray foam insulation has a bad ROI. I am not saying, don't do these things. I am saying take a different look at these things. Do away with the whole "ROI" requirement and just look at the price for items that are going to make you more comfortable. If the price seems too high for the enjoyment and benefit you are going to get from it then scrap it. Now some finance stuff that is probably too much like being back in school and way above what you asked so you might want to just stop here. ROI = (gain from an investment - cost of investment)/cost of investment. This will always return a percentage. The percentage is then compared against other investments. What you have been talking about is not an ROI but a payback period. Which is not a big deal but understand that companies don't use payback period to make financial decisions because it doesn't consider the time value of money. Put simply a dollar today is worth more than a dollar in 10 years. The reasoning is that you could put the dollar in the bank and grow it. The tool most often used by sophisticated companies to make investment decisions is Net Present Value. You can jump on Youtube and look it up if you want but an easier way to think about it is just to use a Present Value of an Annuity Calculator, the one here at Investopedia is easy to use. In the top box (interest per time period) enter 5 if you are very conservative and 9.84 if you are fairly aggressive, or anything in between (5% is historical T-bond and is essentially risk free and 9.84% is Stock market since the crash.) In the second box enter the amount of time you plan on having these savings, and in the third enter the amount you expect to save annually. If that amount is more than you are paying today it is a good investment. If it is less then it is not a good investment. This is still a rough calculation to get a good calculation you will have to use a Net Present Value calculator. Sorry it is so long, I hope it helps.

"as of next week our entire savings is going into the lot" Based solely on your statement above, IMO, building is not right for you or your family at this time. Just because the lot you found is a "rare and lucky find", doesn't mean you have to buy it. Don't buy a good deal just because it's a good deal. This may be why your wife just doesn't "get it". Several statements you made make it seem as if you don't get it either. For instance: "The bank is giving me the money, why can't I just go to Home Depot....." Well, you can go to Home Depot, but the bank isn't going to give you that money BEFORE you go. Instead, YOU pay for your items at Home Depot yourself, then submit a draw request to the Bank to reimburse yourself. Seeing as you have no savings, can you pay cash for these items and wait for your next draw to be reimbursed? That's where these builders come into play. They foot the bill for the items, and wait for reimbursement. They assume the risk, which you pay "interest" for, so to speak. If you want affirmations, yet you've already said that "unless they can build the home I want for $72K less than they quoted me we've both wasted enough time" - why does it matter if you think it's a scam or not? If you can't get them to this price point, you said you won't consider a contract with them anyways. My advice, walk away from this lot, consider your wife's desires for a home and find a compromise. Renting may be your best option. Or maybe you can buy the home your wife loves, build equity for the next 20 years, sell and build your dream retirement home? Good luck, I think your marriage depends on the decisions you make...

"I'm not too concerned with any profit really. I just want someone to have, and enjoy, especially things like the china. I'd rather keep it than take it to goodwill or a thrift store." Some truths you may not want to hear: You can spend a thousand hours trying to get rid of the fancy left overs of a bygone time. It doesn't MATTER who gets it in the end. The dollar value of this stuff is so low, the time alone becomes a burdensome aspect. So does safe packing and wrapping. We are in a different time. Kids of today live together, don't even register fine china and gift items. They don't care about silver tea sets. Floral plates and demitasse cups. Despite whatt you hear on tv "Ancestry" commercials? They don't care about old photos. of people they don't know. All these things had a value to you. But you can not make them important to someone else. Not even your own kids. It's hard. I've been helping an elderly/spry/vivacious lady of 90, AND her family deal with the accumulation of three generations and a large house. Even DONATION has become difficult. Nobody wants the old brown furniture, any more than they want the fancy schmancy table settings and bar ware. They don't want the flowery and stiff sofa. We live in a casual and disposable society. Young people want oversized white dinnerware, reclaimed casual finish wood..........and in most cases would rather have what you would call JUNK versus what you may try to sell. Or even give away. That is the brutal truth. The second brutal truth is we go out empty handed just as we came into this world. Take NOTHING to a new and smaller place that you don't cherish looking at , or need. Most people end up needing a dumpster. You'll either exhaust yourself in time, or in chasing money. Price the house to sell, clear it ruthlessly of clutter, donate what you do not want or need..........as best you can. But be ready for an awful lot to be curbside free,, or trash,