Day 23 - Home Improvements: What to do?

Mike and I have been living in our town house for two years.  We were lucky because, for the most part, the home was move-in ready.  Sure there were rooms that needed painting, and there were some other changes we wanted to make to the place, but nothing so significant that we couldn't do it at our own pace (and by own pace, I mean my pace, because we all know that it's the only pace that matters).  We replaced the carpet on the first floor with hardwood.  It makes the space flow so much nicer.  Then we painted to the downstairs and the upstairs just to give everything a fresh start. 

We always have a debate on what is going to give us the biggest bang for our buck!  Obviously we don't want to spend too much money on making unnecessary improvements to our first home.  We plan on staying for a while, but not forever, so we want to do enough - but not everything.  The latest debate has been in our powder room on the first floor.  There is a pedestal sink in there, which I don't like too much, as it serves very little function.  I wanted to remove the pedestal and replace it with a new cabinet and granite sink.  I was vetoed.  Mike was convinced that doing that much work to that little space just wasn't worth it.  He came up with a great compromise.

For me, it was all about function and form.  I wanted a place to hide extra toilet paper, and some hand towels.  He found this adorable cabinet that we were able to hang in the bathroom instead of replacing the entire sink.  We also found this fabulous mirror with an antique-looking frame to replace the standard mirror that came with the house originally.  Just those two little tweaks that we were able to do ourselves, changed the whole look of the bathroom.  I wanted to hire a plumber and replace everything, but Mike's rational thinking stepped in and we inevitably made the right choice.  The next time you are thinking about making an improvement to your home, be sure and weigh out all of the options, and that you choose the most econmical and least disruptive to your life.