Ten Things You'd Fix in Your Home (if you had the time and money)
(And I think "fix" can also mean "upgrade"/"add"/etc. Oh, and I'm extending "home" to mean all our property. I'm being pretty extravagant in some of them, too, by the way.)
Oh, this'll be easy! ;o)
These are in no particular order. I'm just writing things as I think of them. . .
- I'd hire someone to do all the landscaping that I don't want to do. They'd definitely be doing all the mowing, "insecticiding", and weeding. I'd probably "let" them get everything in order, just the way I want it, then maybe just dabble a bit now and then. (g) I don't mind planting things, usually. It's the upkeep that irks me. I'd love to have a beautifully and extravagantly landscaped yard, but honestly, I think I may be too lazy to do it on my own. I'm going to have to cut back and keep things simple, I guess. (shrug) (Hee hee. I almost typed "shrub" instead of "shrug". Appropriate typo, given the topic.)
- I'd upgrade the flooring throughout the house. We'd have to really think about what we'd want, but it'd probably be a combination of tile, hardwood and/or laminates. (My main hesitation over hardwood is that I've heard it stains pretty badly with dog urine, and I have a feeling there will be the occasional puppy mistake now and then over the next however many years.)
- I'd have a garage built. We're going to get around to this one of these days. . .
- I'd add some type of decking/arbor/open gazebo somewhere in the yard/adjacent to the house. I'm not sure what I'd want, exactly, but I'd want at least part of it to be covered, so we'd have a shady spot to sit. Right now, most of our shade is in parts of the yard we don't really want to sit. (g) I've planted trees (and will be planting more), but obviously trees take time to grow.
- I'd put in some sort of small storm shelter. Again, not sure what kind, exactly-- just a little place to run to when the weather turns really scary.
- I'd buy those new fabric hurricane/high wind window protector-things. (Whatever they're called.) I'd have them all ready to cover all our windows for the next bad storm. I think they're fairly expensive, now, but maybe they'll eventually come down in price.
- I'd pour millions into R&D until someone finally came up with a snake-proof fence, then I'd have it installed around the perimeter of our property. ;o) (Next, I'd sell it, making billions of dollars in the process. (g)) It would be so nice to not have to worry about one of us or our pets coming upon a poisonous snake in our own yard! Or if that one's just too far-fetched for you, try this one: I'd hire a professional pest-control person to come on a regular basis and rid the yard (and house, if necessary) of unpleasant creatures. (The downside of hiring all these people to do the dirty work for me-- I'd have to deal with them so often! I don't really enjoy waiting for people, talking to them, etc. No offense to them; I'm just more comfortable without strangers in my house or yard. I wouldn't really like having to deal with that even more often.)
- I'd have a small pool put in somewhere and hire a pool service to keep it nice and clean for us. Unless I'd already learned to swim, the pool wouldn't have a "deep end"-- but I'd love for it to be one of those very fancy types with a waterfall and ledge seating. :o)
- I'd change the light fixture in our kitchen. It works, but I don't really love it. It's a fluorescent fixture that looks like something you'd see in an office building, I think.
- I'd buy some new appliances for the kitchen. Mainly a new stove (electric, probably stainless, definitely glass/ceramic topped) and a new (quiet) dishwasher. These are definitely "do-able", but there's no immediate rush.
I kind of went overboard on a few of those. (g) I'm not sure I'd really do some of them, even if the cost wasn't an issue. But it's fun to think about it, at least. :o)
