We had College Pro painters do our exterior trim in late summer of 2004. I think the quality of the outcome depends on the painters - usually other college kids - they hire and just how "together" the franchisee is. (Note that the "owner" is a college kid who buys a franchise for a season and may have absolutely NO paint experience whatsoever. Says right on their recruiting materials that you don't have to know anything about either painting OR running a business!) We had a pretty poor outcome and the bid was extremely misleading, and since my means-well-but-rather-clueless DH made the arrangements as a surprise for me he didn't know what he should be asking for or comparing between bids. I didn't find out until it was too late to back out that their "standard job" included very little prep (pretty much some caulk and scraping off loose paint - they didn't even pry out the staples where some previous owner had stapled plastic to the windows for the winter, for pity's sake), spot priming, and only one coat of paint. Who the heck does only one coat on spot-primed bare wood (many areas had been scoured down to bare wood by the POs' neglect and the foul weather here) for exterior trim in coastal New England?! I had to pitch a fit for a second coat, since it would take them longer and they were already overbooked, and it doubled the price. They also promised one grade of paint and showed up with another claiming "it's just as good, the same thing under another name", in not quite the right color "but it's really close" (they were supposed to match my gutters), did a generally sloppy job including spilling paint on the concrete foundation and the gravel in the dog run, and never finished up with details like scraping paint off the window glass. The "owner" vanished into thin air when fall came and school started. The trim is already looking rather tatty - if we were staying here instead of selling, we would definitely have to repaint next spring, and if I had a spare $3500 we'd be repainting it as soon as the weather cooperates so it'd show better. FWIW, we are having 5 rooms of our 1900sf house completely repainted (ceilings, trim, walls), and trim and ceilings only in two more rooms. (2 rooms get left alone.) The price is $4k plus paint, although we have enough paint on hand for almost all the walls and most of the ceilings so we just have to pay for trim paint (using the painter's discount). Price includes all prep, some wall repairs, prime, and two coats on everything, basic white trim everywhere and light-midtone walls. As I said, I live in coastal New England, a pretty pricy area. I know we're getting a pretty serious discount (very long story), it should be quite a bit more.

If you are going to do a lot of the work yourself, and only hire out the work for some specific licensed trades and work that specialty equipment or tools or skill are needed, you sound similar to what my husband and I have done on approx 5 houses in the last 10 years, all similar in age and character and condition to the one you are looking at. I know prices vary by region, and I'm probably opening myself up to a bunch of critical comments from people saying either we spent too much and wasted money in one area, or too cheap in another... But I want to try to offer some help in a possible pricing to help you decide if you want to go down this path or not... P - hire a plumber: varies with the house and whether you add a bathroom, but plan for $5k, assumes they take care of big stuff, roughin the shower, code, venting, but you DIY fixture installations - Hire an electrician: similar to plumbing, varies with the house, but assume $3k for them to do layout changes, code corrections, but you DIY fixture installations - if a roof is needed and/ or painting touchups, fascia repairs, etc: big variable but for this assume $8k minimum - assumes siding is in good condtition, $0k or add more - assumes heat / air conditioning / hot water heater are all in good condition, or add more - assumes water in the basement isn't a problem, or add more for dealing with mold, draintile, grade corrections outside, etc. - Hire a hardwood floor refinisher: $2k - assumes hardwood everywhere except kitchen and bathrooms, otherwise add more for carpet/ new floor in other rooms - windows: Varies a lot if you repair or replace, and if replace what quality, but for this rough estimate figure $200 per window x probably around 20 windows would either pay for repair supplies and hardware, or a cheap vinyl replacement, DIY install. $4k - Kitchen materials: ikea cabinets $4k with butcher block countertops, or add $3-4k for granite, $3k cheap ss appliances, $1k tile and paint, you DIY all installation - Bathroom materials: $2k ( tub/shower, vanity, faucets, ligt fixtures, tile), You DIY all installation, Looks like times two in this house plus $1k powder room= $5k., all DIY installation except for the roughin plumbing notes above - light and door fixtures : $1k, all DIY install - basic supplies: Paint, sheetrock, spackle, sanding pads, hinges, eurythane : $3k, all DIY install - holding costs: depends on tax rates, if you need to heat/cool, etc but if you figure $400/ month for 3-4 months (this would have you and your husband there probably 20-30/hrs a week if you are moderately competent but not streamlined professionals at this), adds a bit more than $1k, more if you have a loan with interest accruing. Soooo.... If I add all of this up, I get at least $40k of fixup costs which is you doing almost all of the work. And I should note these are economical material and finishing choices. And assumes you already own all the tools needed to do the work. If you pay $25 k plus $1k in closing costs (no mortgage fees) you'd have at least $66k in to it. If you later sell for $125k, after real estate commissions and another 3 months of holding costs, you may get $110k. So- best case scenario i think you might potentially take home a little over $40k for 3+ months of work. Or, it could be a lot less profit if you hire out more of the work, if you add a 10% error budget ($4k), need new HVAC ($6k), mold/water issues ($?), extensive plumbing (+$6k), exterior repairs ($3-$15k), if opening up walls triggers other code improvements like insulation and vapor barrier ($2k or more), if you add landscaping curb appeal ($1-3k)..... Hopefully you find this helpful, and can adjust this to fit the house you are looking at, your local requirements and rates, etc. It can be fun to bring these houses back to beautiful, and there can be some money to be made doing it. But it's important to run the numbers upfront so you know what you are getting in to. It also makes the work a lot more fun when you feel like you are doing it "on budget"- noone has fun when things are going wrong or you are stuck midway knowing you are loosing money on it. Another thing that my husband and I do, is we each get a $1k "allowance" to spent on "frivolous" things for the house. Well maybe "frivolous" is too spendy of a word, but for certain as you are going through the project you and you husband will have differences of opinion on what to put in the house: Maybe he likes a $2.99/sqft tile and you don't want to waste money and are ok with a $0.99 tile. If he really likes the more expensive tile, that extra $2/ sqft can come out of his "frivolous allowance". It allows both of you to have input and fun with some minor upgrades, but keeps a cap on them. Good luck if you decide to do this - either on this house or a different one! :-)

In one of the other posts where you asked the same question, you indicated that you were getting rid of the door to the outside. That's a good idea, unless there's some reason you wanted people entering your house through a bathroom. "Wondering if there are any builders or designers out there who might give a guess as to what this entails." I don't understand why you are not directing these questions to the GC and the architect. There are too many cooks in this kitchen, and this kind of dilemma/ mangled design is the result. You want something very specialized (dare I say idiosyncratic,) and you're not going to find it at Lowes or Ikea. If you don't like your architect, find a designer who can work with you locally. Or you can keep asking the same question over and over, and a bunch of random people will throw a bunch of random ideas out at you. There's such a thing as too much information. Ideally, owner, designer, and builder work together so that these types of things don't come up when you're staring at stud walls. Dozens of people have given you good ideas here. Hire someone local to turn the best ones into reality, or your'e going to be staring a stud walls (or a terrible design) for a long, long time.

@Victor Wilson it took me a month to figure out the ring sizes, proving my math teacher right when I asked him, “when will I ever need this in my life?”. . I used the poly 1/4 ring pieces that come in so many styles, widths, lengths and projections. Not many contractors have experience with these elaborate ceilings. The company I bought them from was no help either, even after sending them ceiling measurements and inspiration pic. After it was finished I found a company that makes prefabricated large scale ceiling trellises which would be a lot easier.