Home remodels

So things like this http://realestate.msn.com/fresh-new-looks-for-a-bathroom I find rather interesting now that I am a home owner. First because we are planning a costly set of renovations ourselves and second because I like the ideas and different styles of stuff. Not an uncommon thing really, I mean who doesn't look at other designs and go "ohh how nice!" or "what were those clowns thinking?".

Part of the fun is to play the, what if we won the lottery and could do anything we wanted game, and let the imagination just run wild. Now I have a lot of imagination and no limit of space in the world. This is a fact. My Bride has the Greek houses that still need work and maintenance, we have the house here that needs upgrades and maintenance. Something always needs worked on to some degree. It is part of life and home ownership. So when reality decides to cut us a break and let 10 minutes of free time become available one can't help but let the mind wander a bit to what can we do to a house somewhere around the world?

This is a fun, completely normal game that everyone plays at some point in their life!! The best and some times worst thing is when life imitates art. The best because you can make a dream come true and improve your surroundings and living arrangements, aka quality of life (as the corporate world likes to say now-a-days). The worst because that sh!t COSTS money!!! Yes in our dream world we would find old but strong timbers from a ruin somewhere and cut and smooth the timbers by hand. Oil the wood and protect them using non toxic liquids, that are environmentally friendly, and cost half the price (in imagination land you have loads of time & money with no distractions to to keep you from your noble task) . Then you design your own wrought iron, Venician style, handrails to replace the old prefabricated ones. The end product is a perfect balcony with added space that will last a life time as it overlooks the small alleyway with the Mediterranean view! That is a subtle but important thing, it has to last a lifetime because it is PERFECT NOW! Perfection requires no more work!! This is actually a side project by the way, how the reality will meet it in the middle we have no idea yet. You see I am not that handy (ask my Bride) and have not near enough the amount to patience required! In fact my patience level is somewhere between a dogs and a house fly's, (I am leaning more toward a persistent dog in my opinion). That makes tasks like this a shade more difficult! But in imagination land I am Heracles and no task is insurmountable!

In our dream world the replacement windows we are getting would be 1/10th the price, and two to three times the energy savings! In imagination land the bathroom remodel would be 1/2 the price, and have all the bells and whistles we would LOVE in a modern European home and still match the decor and style of the house! Ahh imagination land...second star to the right and straight on until morning!

Unfortunately we are in the real world, even if it does feel like Bizarro World world sometimes (comic book reference there and extra credit if you get it!). So in the end we will pay more than we want to and get half of what we would like. However we are hitting some important wickets, to us anyway. The windows are made here in Washington State right across the Puget Sound. A little old fashioned of a concept? Buy local made products instead of something a Chinese factory could churn them out for a little cheaper ? Yeap that's us old fashioned! What we found out was the windows we are getting were the LEAST expensive of every other reputable option available and they have an comparable rating to higher priced windows. Now we just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope that  the end product meets our expectations, just like every other big buy in life I guess.

Meanwhile we discovered a little while back that the bathroom tub has had a leak for a while and that the bathroom need to be renovated, repaired and hopefully NOT gutted like a fish! So we have that to look forward to in the next month! Once again we are looking at local tradesmen for the job and the best bang for the buck we can get. Man I should have taken wood shop in High School!

Well no matter how rough it goes I do know one thing. When all this stuff gets "done" it will be worth it. Sure it will  be a royal pain in the a$$ at the time. Yeap there are going to be tense days but it is getting done, it is getting paid for, even if I have to go without eating a steak for a year or two! My Baby and the kids need to be warm and I need a roof that won't fall in if people come to visit from parts unknown.