Congratulations on your home, new to you. A well cared for residence as a first-time purchase is going to be "gold" because you will be finding that everything costs more than you can imagine, takes longer than you expect and there are more things on your growing "to-do" list. You don't mention the room size but hopefully it is sufficiently sized to accommodate side-by-side washer/dryer, a soaking basin and a folding table. What you want, I believe, is a clean and well lit laundry room. Without seeing anything, here are some thoughts that will stretch your initial budget without preventing future upgrades. The appliances - Purchase the risers for front-loading ones. They really save strain on the back! The basin - is it one of the square/rectangle, 1 or 2 basin concrete ones? Does it leak? If yes to concrete and no to leaking I would leave it. Clean it, paint the exterior and use plastic dishpans inside for soaking. Removal and disposal of those old ones is alot of work. In the future, you can install a base cabinet with a laundry tub. The walls - Purchase some concrete paint and paint them. The lights - Purchase a couple fluorescent "box" lights. In the future you can install a drop ceiling with cannister lights for a more finished space. Folding Table - Purchase a "Monroe" type table with folding legs. You'll find plenty of other uses for this table at holiday dinners, garage sales, gift wrapping, etc. Storage cabinets - I'm confident you can locate some totally functional wall cabinets someone is disgarding for a kitchen remodel. Paint them. Floor - Personally, I don't like painted basement floors. They always chip. Buy some vinyl tile squares or a section of sheet goods that you can cut to fit the room. $2 a square foot tops. You can always upgrade to beadboard and the like later but some simple, relatively inexpensive, changes can get you started until you have "lived" in the space long enough to really know what you want. Just suggestions from one who has restored several old homes. Good luck.

The ceiling needs to be sloped so that condensate slides down rather than plopping in big drops on your head. I will make sure the guys doing the shower get the correct slope. I think we originally had wider closet doors. We definitely had them "cheated" toward one wall so that they could just open to either the window (in my closet) or shelving for excess linens (his closet). Somewhere along the line they became 2' doors that are centered. But, no reason not to add 4" and position them as originally intended. It may not work for everyone, but, for us, the width of the WC room is OK. Our current WC room is 2'8" x 5'2" and we are just fine with it. I've even been on crutches & used it w/o any help. The new one is slightly wider, so I truly think, for us, it will work. DH had already done this months ago, but last night, we went into our WC room and measured how the door would swing. With the change of the pivot point, it is actually better. We will think about opening the WC door out. I'm not as concerned about whacking someone when it opens out as much as being able to reach the door to let in a dog that just wants to "visit" with me while I'm on the "throne". Yes, the deep dark secret is that I actually don't completely shut the door that often because I'm just some kind of free spirit who doesn't care if her husband sees her or the dogs want to join the party & rest on the tile. ;^) (I think that last sentence could be categorized as TMI.) Isn't that the point of a custom home, especially one that they will take me out of feet first, that its built for the way the owners live? Yes, we do think about resale, to some extent, since we may not be well enough to stay in it for our whole lives or DD will have to sell it when we pass on. As a matter of fact, the way the bath fits with the bedroom is such that the access to my closet can be changed to be from the bedroom and a bathtub could be put underneath the window in my closet by a future owner. I did try to talk DH into making the closets 7' wide since it wouldn't affect the roof plan. We mocked it up, & saw that it didn't improve things enough to warrant the additional 37 sq. ft. It finally comes to the point that we are ~2600 sq.ft. on the main floor, ~500 sq.ft. on the lower level, for now, & the whole house will be close to 4500 sq.ft. when all of the lower level is complete. That is more than enough for two people and when DD's future family visits, so we called a moratorium on additional square footage unless needed to fix a true "broke". I will look into what we need to do to make the entire wall of the shower glass. That is how we originally envisioned it. I still have to cogitate on the bench. I looked at dimensions for teak shower benches so it should be somewhere between 15" - 18" deep. Thanks - Jo Ann

bahacca, When I started thinking about remodeling our kitchen, I swore I wouldn't get stainless appliances. I was afraid the fingerprints, water marks, and whatever else I saw on all the display models would drive me crazy. But whenever I pictured my dream kitchen with warm cherry cabinets and a clean more up to date feel, I couldn't seem to see any other choice to give me the look I wanted. Through some research, I found that Frigidaire Professional line looked nice and has a special coating on the stainless that doesn't show fingerprints and marks nearly as much. I ordered them for our new kitchen from Lowe's because I could return them in 30 days for a refund if I didn't like them, and they price matched on online vendor. We have had them (gas stove, fridge, and dishwasher) for about a month now. I have to say I love the finish. It really shows marks less than the black appliances and looks really clean in the kitchen. You might want to check them out. Here is a link that might be useful: appliances...just a thought

Your husband is a very wise man, and has good taste. I also appreciate the taste and style of the former owners; and I appreciate how they honored the house. Nothing wrong with green. Your house is a unique house. There are TONS of cookie cutter houses out there, and more being created, 24/7 - with new builds and also with ”renovations”... Personally, I will never understand the, “Let’s just paint or whitewash/lime wash all the brick!” mentality. But I come from a place where features such as brick have value, and these type of alterations are just not generally done as a matter of course. For example: Where I am from, when considering the building facade, alone - the brick house in above pic would have so much more value than the white house pictured to the right of it. No contest. Also note the arch detail on the above house; i.e. the arches on ground level, and on second story windows. And, btw, there is zero wrong with the existing arches on your house. They are part and parcel of the uniqueness and style of your house. It would sort of be akin to acquiring the brick house shown above or this house pictured below - and then showing up here to say, ”I like the house - but the arch(es) are not ‘modern‘ enough.” Or, ”There would be more symmetry without the arch(es)” etc. I mean ??? Your house is another house. Your house also features more arches than these houses; but that is really the charm of your house!