Sorry, millworkman. live_wire_oak- It seems we have no code enforcement here. Inspectors cleared this house before we bought it. We found extension cords plugged in together that were wrapped with duct tape BEHIND sheetrock walls. We found we had to put most of our money on fixing the issues the inspector didn't catch. How can they catch them when the issues are inside the wall and ceilings? Yes, we have 4 picture windows in a bedroom and no operable windows, but we do have one door for egress to the patio. So we have put in 3 beams, rewired the house, 2 new heat & air units, rewired electrical in the pool, gutted the kitchen, sheetrocked walls and ceilings, 18 pine trees cut down before they fell on the house, new dock floats, rewired dock, new walkway to dock. So there is no money left for siding. I agree with you that it should be replaced, but the corp of engineers thought the dock was more important.... $12,000 for that. I just don't understand why no one follows codes around here. (220 on the dock???? Seriously?) Weedyacres, I agree with the wall of windows! We love the views, but we need to be able to open windows. I don't want to lose the view which is why I don't know what to do. Shorter windows with clear view, french doors, or tilt and turn doors. I think keeping the view with large doors would be best. I am trying to find Tilt and Turn doors locally so I don't spend $1000.00 on shipping from Canada. They would open for a breeze and still show the view, don't you think? Annz, I am still learning how to put pics on and all that other stuff. I tried the help section but couldn't figure out how to link. I have only lived with sliding windows once...in the 1970s...hated them. I always had to lift them up to slide them open or closed. I assume they are much better now though. Do yours slide really easily? Do they have better ways to keep people from just popping the door out? Do you remember what brand you bought? Do French doors only open so far, then stop? I just assumed they would open all the way to the wall. SouthernCanuck, There are no structural engineers here. We tried to get architects and structural engineers to come out a year ago, but no one would. We are in the middle of nowhere! Our contractor who put in the beams and tore the stairs out and replaced them (to code) said there was a beam going across the outside wall and there are 6" square posts in 3 places under the beams. (It was an outside porch.) That is where the picture windows are. So we have to keep the windows separate. All of you have given me a lot to think about...and sliders were not even on my radar. We just do not have good quality products here where I live. I will drive a couple of hours next weekend to look at sliders and see how they perform. Thank you to everyone! Peke

I can't offer any advice except suggest visiting the old homes, decorating, and landscape design forums as well. I do think that matching the neighbor's retaining wall timbers would be a nice look. I'd prefer a creeping plant dripping off the side, but I suspect you have weather that will influence what does and doesn't work. It looks like a great house and it'll definitely be worth the effort to bring it back!

It's a beautiful home as is. To add more color, paint the front door. If it's in your budget, changing out the standing seam metal roofs over the garage and lower front window to a darker color could really showcase that part of your home and enhance the visual lines. If you end up replacing the shingle roof, choose a darker color for that, as well. However, this roof looks fairly new. And yes, change out the light fixtures!

I think that it would be difficult to to what you have described in the kitchen alone $50,000...of course some of it depends on the finishes but when you are discussing the type of the labor that is involved I am not sure if cheap finishes would even make sense. The first step is probably to think about what you are really willing to put into this house. Are your neighbors doing this type of upgrades are or they tearing down or are these starter houses where the values is in the fact that it is a very affordable neighborhood? This may not be important to you; your budget may be unlimited and you may want to stay in this house no matter what. We talked to three different contractors and they all needed a different level of detail to prepare a quote (one recommended that we start by going to an architect). They each had their preferred cabinet vendors. They each had different ways of doing things; one was going to send up down to city hall to get our permit and did not think we needed a structural engineer to draw up our beam; we went with the contractor who took care of the permit and we hired a structural engineer. Both of the bids that we did get did include some options...undercabinet lighting; tile backsplash vs 4" granite splash, trex vs pressure treated wood for the new deck. We found finding pricing information difficult, but you will also find that a lot of the things that are discussed regularly on this forum are quite expensive... For our kitchen we decided to use a countertop microwave rather than a microwave drawer because it looked to me like the drawers started at $500... I originally wanted a wood hood, we will be doing a stainless hood with wood cabinets on top (I don't like the currently popular chimney hoods) I wanted a built in oven with a tile backsplash behind, until I started comparison shopping between built ins and freestanding ovens But their are other places we decided to go ahead and splurge...I have 9' ceilings and I am getting the stacked cabinets that I really wanted and we decided on a group D granite. The gardenweb kitchen forum (a separate link here) can be very helpful in thinking about how you want to lay out this new kitchen.