I bought my house last year.

Sept 23, 2009 was the day the papers were signed and I received the keys from the prior owner, the elderly Ms. Owens. "Today is my birthday!", I declared. What a nice present to myself.


Built in 1910. Cottage / center colonial type of building.  1750 sq, small urban city / university area.

That fall I had insulation blown in the attic floor / bedroom ceilings and porch overhangs. (Rsi - John Curran) There is no insulation in the walls yet, but what I have done seems to have helped immensely. Great experience with the general contractor.
I also had chimney work done last fall. (ZZZ Chimney) Another great experience with contractor (John Zorro).
The wiring in my house is a problem. Many three prong covers over top of old wiring / non-grounded wiring. Instead of rewiring the whole house at once I am doing a few plugs at a time (thanks to my hand BIL Gary) or in the case of my bathroom, which was completely renovated, the electrical was entirely updated. I also have to gut and renovate the kitchen so the wiring for the kitchen will get done at that time.
My bathroom has been gutted and fixed. ITs a tiny bathroom and besides wanting to move it next door to a bigger room, I just had to switch the position of toilet and sink and update the walls. Initially I hired a handyman person (Dec 09, over the christmas break, while we were away) that I knew, but we were not on the same page. 7 months later I found a bathroom reno company (The Punctual Plumber and Benjamin Franklin bathroom renovators) to finish it off.
I didn't relocate the bathroom as that was beyond my scope and $$$; I do not have revamping intentions for this house. A good learning experience of wants, guilty pleasures and needs.  I designed the bathroom after looking through a gazzillion magazines and online sites. Bought the material: Subway tiles for the walls (Modern Dimension), octagon tiling for the floor (Daltile); lighting (Rejuvenation), toilet (TOTO dual flush), sink (Kohler) etc. I exchanged two sinks in the process!
I still need to paint it and hang the mirror and shelf. But I love it!
Bathroom reno:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9536696...7623419249792/

I am also working on a small room where I tore out an old dirty orange rug, had a friend of a friend sand the hardwood floor and I stained it and varnished it. The person who sanded wasn't very experience I suppose,  as there are lots of ruts in the corners. But its a give and take ... getting certain things done at a certain price.
This fall (2010) I need to complete the small room ... paint the walls (peacock blue) and another coat of varnish on the floor. Complete the bathroom - paint the walls (maybe Benjamin Moore Cloud White), hang mirror and shelf. 
I have a acquaintance-friend contractor (Contract-HER) doing three windows for me; the large broken glass window in the living room and the two attic windows which are barely functional.

Me, not so handy, but I really enjoyed staining the floors. Do not like painting. BLAH. Too bad as a lot could be improved by painting. Just had a baby too, 8 month old Lucy and my gorgeous 8 year old boy Chaz ... (a segway introducing my sweet kids)