First Post!

Hi everyone! If you think I should invite anyone else to view this blog or if you forward the link to someone in the family, let me know so I can open it up. It's set so that only people I choose can see it.

First off, here is a link to the listing. It will probably disappear soon since we are closing on Friday 9/28 (yay!) so I'll post the particulars here:

Square footage - 4713
Bedrooms - 5
Bathrooms - 4 full, 2 half
Built in 1993, one owner
Other features - formal living area, formal dining area, master down, 4 br up, master has loft connected by private stairs in suite, pool, spa, waterfall feature in backyard, terraced tree-line with path, deck by pool, stairs from 2nd level to pool, upscale subdivision with houses from 350K-1mil+, 1/2 mile from Keller Pointe.

If you pay attention at all to current trends, you'll notice that this house looks a bit dated with the green marble entry, carpet throughout the living areas, and the candy stripe wallpaper in the master suite. We're planning to live here for 2-3 years while we build our dream-home nearby so all the upgrades we plan on doing need to have a really good ROI (Return On Investment) so that we can recoup the cost. My in-laws will be living with us as well until we build the dream-home that will have a separate in-laws quarters. My father-in-law is very handy so it will help keep the misc upgrade costs down. My mother-in-law has a great design eye and she will help us color everything with the help of an interior designer we hired.

Here's a laundry-list of everything we're having done in the next 3 weeks:

+ Replace green marble entry with travertine tile. We're going with large 12x12 tiles and a neutral grout to try and make the entry as seamless as possible. There is a beautiful winding staircase that will pop out with the neutral-colored travertine tile entry.

+ Remove the carpet and existing hardwood floor and replace with handscraped oak hardwood flooring. The handscraped look is very popular and will also hide the inevitable marring and damage that the kids will do to the floor in the time we live here. The darker oak will warm up the feel of the home and will match the existing kitchen cabinetry.

+ Remove the existing laminate countertops and install granite countertops. We went with a lighter base color with darker flecks and veining along with interesting gold and quartz features throughout the slab. The color is called "Juparana St. Cecilia" and it's the cheaper version of the color we really wanted. The JSC is also 2/3 cheaper than the other stuff so it makes it more palatable as well. This color also really highlights the kitchen cabinets and complements the new hardwood floors nicely. Along with the granite countertop goes in a stainless steel 60/40 split sink.

+ Install travertine tile backsplash in kitchen. This is a necessary upgrade to complement the granite countertops. The color is "vanilla cream" and is pretty close to the linked pic.

+ Install stainless steel appliances: convection double-oven, gas cooktop, dishwasher, over-the-range microwave, refrigerator w/french doors, and bar refrigerator or "refreshment center" to replace the outdated trash compactor. We went with KitchenAid for everything but the fridge (GE Profile) and refreshment center (Scotsman).

+ Install new kitchen faucet (Price-Pfister Ashfield) and Insinkerator under-counter hot water dispenser with the spigot at the sink.

+ Retile downstairs fireplace with travertine to match entry.

+ Convert downstairs formal living room into a study/home office with pocket French doors that slide into the wall instead of opening out into the entry. This gives the room more flexibility in the future in case a future buyer wants to convert the room back into a formal living area. All they'd have to do is remove the doors and they'd have an open space into the entry. We're thinking that we're going to go with darker wood office furniture and replace the Ikea Beechwood Galant stuff I have now. The decor of the office will be WW2 Aircraft themed and I plan on getting a couple of nice framed prints by Robert Taylor or similar.

That's it for now. I'll post more later on what we've got coming up as well as why we need to move into the house a bit sooner than expected. ;)