Ballooning the Budget

I watched a lot of HGTV this weekend. One particular show "Sweat Equity" made me. . .um, sweat. The homeowners were renovating rooms in there house and EVERYONE went over their budget. Some people doubled their budget. Then they had a realtor come by to give them a price on their home before and after the renovation to see if they gained equity in the home. Most people made out in the end, but some did not. Those that did not did things like: installing a 50k home theater room in a 300k house or adding a 70k master bedroom/bathroom to a 250k house. I mean, obvious over-improvements for their house and neighborhoods. This all makes me feel better knowing we will go over our backyard budget by 10%, this includes a lot of hard labor on our part. Most of the labor we will be doing will involve demolition - and I love to do that!

Our fireplace should have made some progress today! I hope to post some pictures soon!

Also, we have moved most of our stuff out of the second bathroom. This had made us realize. .. we have too much stuff. Hopefully we will have a yard sale at the end of the summer to clear out all our crap we no longer need. In the same token, we should be receiving our bedroom furniture in the next two weeks! Regarding the quest for an entertainment center. . . I think I have found a new idea. Here are my problems: I need storage for all our DVDs etc, I don't want something huge, I want the TV to be up high, and I want something we can use later so that I don't have to get a new entertainment center when we move out of this house. Behold, this is what I have discovered:

Since are already getting two of these:

This way, we can use it in a bedroom later on! I am going to wait until we get the floors, walls, and wiring done in the living room before we embark on this - but I like to have a detailed plan for how everything will happen. I am better at the planning than the doing. ..