So… for the last few years, the only efforts we’ve really made in terms of home improvement have been the front yard, and getting the #($@(T*&#$&*@*!!!!ing leak fixed. Now that that’s done, and we’ve had some time to recover from the hell on Earth that was the last batch of major renovations, and now that Colin’s moved out, freeing up actual space (for the first time ever) to do the renovations in, it’s time to start looking at how to approach it.

We talked to an architect last week, and it was really educational – we realized that the *bulk* of what we want to do isn’t necessarily the domain of an architect – *most* of what we’re looking to do is to make our living space aesthetically coherent, which is something that just requires money on our part, and some research, in terms of window trim and the like, which was done with no consideration for aesthetics the first time we did it.

There is one major part we do need an architect for, however, and that’s the “doorway to nowhere” that leads from the kitchen into what was once the hall, and is now a gaping void above the stairs, as well as the inaccessible closet that’s next to that door. Thing is, we know what we want to do with that space, we just don’t know *how* to do it – that’s where the architect would come in.

The last two things we’d really like to do would involve the kitchen, and the upstairs bathroom. The bathroom can wait, frankly, and the kitchen is secondary to the living/dining rooms, but it’d be good to have a plan as to how to approach it.

But basically, I think the goal is to fix the things that aren’t done (door hole, closet, and the bannister that separates the living room from the stairwell – turning that into a half-wall) with an architect, and then talking to either an architect or the kitchen planners at Home Depot, or IKEA or something to try to get that space laid out in a pleasing manner.

Fun.