our two big home improvement projects & future projects

We've decided to move forward with two important home improvement projects:

1. improve storage / utility of the home

We've hired a carpenter who will:

1. put a counter top in our laundry room
2. put up several shelves in the laundry room
3. put a built in bookcase (floor to ceiling) in a second floor alcove that otherwise is unused. I'm hoping to get about 10 shelves roughly 42" wide, maybe 48" wide. That will hold quite a few books. He's using plywood instead of MDF and solid wood trim to over everything up. Should look good.
4. replace cabinet shelves in our play room with sliding drawers that extend fully. This is not cheap, but will allow us to place 100s of CDs and DVDs with their label facing up in each drawer. Will dramatically reduce storage requirements elsewhere in the house.

I'm expecting the carpentry costs to be about $500 - $800. I think we'll be very pleased with the results, which will be functional enhancements for the house. I'm not sure if we'll get much back on the expense, perhaps for the laundry room work? What do you think?

2. landscaping

We will add a small tree and about a dozen bushes to the property. Our builder placed a minimal amount of plants, which look far too sparse and unnatural. We'll put a row of bushes along the back border of our house and a several to serve as a blind running across a work shed.

I have no idea how much we might get out of the landscaping on a sale. I hope at least 50%. I expect it to cost about $600 - $700.

3. future projects

Our next landscaping project is to add about four to eight trees to the house. 15' tall trees cost $200 (approx.), $300 for installation equipment and $80-$100/hr for installation services (multiple men rolled into a single rate). Unfortunately, we have trouble moving forward with it as the nursary won't let us see the trees in advance. They would prefer to deliver the trees and let us refuse them. If we did that, who would pay for the waiting men and installation equipment? We're talking with another gardner to see if they could be more customer friendly.

Have a wonderful day,

makingourway