yes joel, quiet a shift you pretty much have it one mate, yes a shift in lifestyle to a degree definately a shift in location, but not a shift in the philosophies i aspire. yes i will in all aspects adhere to what i suggest recommend to others, no i can't change the mcmansion manicured lawn set, yes the lawn on our place won't look that manicured it won't get any watering from us nor will it get any other man made or chemical application. as we are on a corner block the footpath represents app' the same area of available lawn space, so we will be planting the footpath with habitat trees as mauch as we can, that will minimise that grass area to a small degree, however there will not be much lawn in the yard, the yard will be utilised for those supplementry type activities (i find terms like sustainability and self-sufficiency don't carry any attributes to attract the masses it is like "tooth fairy" stuff isn't it, and sad to say with the undercurrent of making dollars in the permy' sector that word to is now being rejected by the lack of following building in the simple terms of it). so we need vege' gardens and as much room as possible for food trees as well as some of the more exotic natives especially to create atmosphere around the pool/patio area, where we will pretty much live in the summer time. at present (this could be modified) we are wanting to put in two 5,400 (24,500 ltr) imp' gallon water tanks, they will take up app' 14.2 sq/mtrs of space. the tank size could yet be settled back to the 3,200 imp' gal' (14,300 ltr) size, city administrators think that a tank in a garden looks uglier than most garden sheds but you can put as large a free standing garden shed as you like where you like, not so when it comes to water conservation, silly hey?? but yes i am still very much critical of what we humans are doing in the name of providing accomodation, in these new suburbs now the ruling bird is the crow (in my opinion not native but so out of control the officials don't want to deal with it) and the indian myna(h) ferel. so we have new generations of children who if they don't get to go to an expensive tourist attracting nature park/zoo/circus will never know that we have more birds than the 2 afore mentioned species winging our skies. where we are is close to some nature reserve so at least i can attract some of a small variety of resident good birds. there are no frogs but we can change that. still after spending many months living in a newer sub-division than that where we currently are there is no likleyhood that i can see of this mythical but wonderful shed-culture that existed in the 'burb's way back in the 40's & 50's and in rural up to about the 80's, but i would welcome it with open arms. and as our 2 car garage will be converted to a games room for the pool table and an area for tall tales and fishing stories we may well attract some of the neigbourhood hey? of course in today's world of litigation they will have to sign a waver won't they?? one neighbour has come over and introduced himself as i will when i catch site of other neighbours in their gardens, certainly want to be friendly at least. and our quicky vege' garden has already been a trail blazer though it hasn't attracted any looks from neighbours so far. and where the yuppy standard for water conservation is a tank of less than 1,000 litre capacity (no enough to brush your teeth with hey chuckle) our tank(s) will reset the goal posts. please excuse the typo's len

Hi Carson- yes, we oldtimers can't wait to get a peek at your beautiful house. I want to add, knowing what the weather has been like around here as of late, if that doesn't contribute to the sagging energy you've experienced. It is so soggy out here just a little east of you that I ruin every pair of shoes I wear out into the "yard". I vaguely remember that a bright yellow ball is supposed to be in the sky for most of the day in May... but, today we were still under a flash flood warning. Those of us who have been in for awhile know that part of the letdown is fighting through the stuff that got done wrong or that's not perfect- but not worth the hassle to get corrected. And there's going to be a lot of those things. A nick in an otherwise perfect floor. A misplaced coaxial plug. Lighting mistakes like the one we made in a front bedroom. The realization that after all the hard work of supervising your crews and researching your choices, the house still is a work in progress even after you move in- is a little deflating. BUT, we have had moments of pure, unadulterated bliss too. And I fully expect your house to be looking like Biltmore by Christmas:) As we've addressed and continue to address the finishing touches on our house, I remind myself of the question I ask myself each time I feel overwhelmed- How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time:)

I suspect that this question really can't be answered in any meaningful way without very specific information. In general, buying an existing home is cheaper than building a home, however, renovating is much more expensive than building. So the question becomes at what point are the costs of remodeling greater than the savings from buying existing, and the answer is simply not that concrete. For starters, some homes lend themselves to additions much better than other homes. Siding vs. brick, crawlspace vs. slab, etc. Additionally, there is the location problem. While it might be cheaper to build a house on an available lot, the total cost of ownership for a more suitably placed home might be lower. Parks, schools, groceries, etc. within walking distance will often make a house more suitable and lower commuter costs sufficiently to make up for the marginal costs of remodeling. Not to mention general quality of life issues when the location of a home enhances the way you live. Finally, depending on location, lot development can be a pretty important consideration. I have personally paused my home design as I labor over an extraordinary piece of property. It is absolutely everything I want, however, it is going to cost me seven figures just to develop the property into something I can build a house on, so those costs can be significant if no satisfactory lots are available. ---------------- As others have said, assuming there is a satisfactory larger home available, it will always be cheaper to find a way to acquire that rather than remodeling, however, if nothing works, you might not have many options. At some point a tear down starts making a lot of sense. I suspect your friends are actually naive about the costs of remodeling and are overvaluing the infrastructure available. However, we should allow that, that might not be the case.

Light neutral tan or cream colored carpet, but if you have kids or dogs, go as dark as you need. Wood floors would look best but you didn't mention that as an option. I'm not big on window treatments, I would do simple 2" faux wood blinds from selectblinds. If you get a wood floor, get the wood look blinds in the same color. Likewise if you do carpet, find whatever blinds look best with the carpet color (there's lots of shades of whites and creams in the blinds selections). I'm excited for you, you'll need to show us how it turns out!