Many people who buy older homes and embark on massive renovation projects do so as an investment. We call ours a long term flip, a five year plan. We are on year four. Five years seems almost laughable now. On bad days I think we may die here.

What projects improve resale value? For us it was easy. Every single room needed a gutting. The electrical system needed to be updated. All the bathrooms needed new plumbing.

Tops on the list of projects to increase the value of your home is to have an updated kitchen. I can't wait for mine.

When we first looked at our house we asked our realtor why no one had bought the house. It was priced well below market value. And he said, "People are really turned off by the kitchen."

At the time it made us laugh, because the kitchen, while ugly, wasn't that bad. It certainly was not the quality of kitchen that belonged in this particular house in this particular neighborhood, but I was much more turned off by the lack of laundry room, the ugly wallpapers in every room, and the hideous wall-to-wall carpeting. Oh, and the multitude of bathrooms that needed extensive renovations was high on the list of turn-offs. But the bones of the house and the light? Those drew me in. I could see it was a house that wanted to be pretty.

After we were in the house for a few months we realized:

a) The kitchen cabinets were made of cheap plywood. We promptly broke several by doing nothing more than shutting them. Oh, I may have kicked one in a fit of anger one day, but shhhhhh, no need to go there.

b) While spacious, the kitchen was seriously lacking in usable counter space and had the least functional floor plan possible. It was almost as if they had thought about how to make the kitchen as user UNfriendly as possible.

c) And why was the refrigerator all the way inside of the pantry and not in the main kitchen?

d) We now owned the world's smallest wall ovens and their cousin the world's smallest refrigerator, a refrigerator, it should be noted, whose doors could not open all the way because they hit the walls of the pantry.

e) New kitchens are expensive. Shocking, mind blowing, painfully expensive. This one was the toughest realization.

Now, in Year Four, we will finally be finishing our kitchen.

I read through the lists of projects that the so-called experts say improve the value of your home. And I had to take issue with several points. I know beyond a shadow of doubt that vinyl siding and replacement vinyl windows are not considered improvements in an historic neighborhood.

I think the best thing that you can do before remodeling your home is to find out what comparable houses in your market have inside of them. What improvements have been made? Do all the houses in your neighborhood have granite counters and professional grade appliances? If so, you will be doing your home a disservice if you put in laminate counters and bottom of the line white appliances.

Similarly the opposite is true. Do not over improve your house. If your house is in a neighborhood of houses that sell for $100,000 don't throw $60,000 into a new kitchen thinking that your house will now be worth $160,000. It won't be. You won't get the money back.

Windsor Terrace Renovation:

It seems whenever I see an older kitchen that looks a little more timeless (as much as can be expected in an ever changing room like the kitchen), it seems to have white cabinets. And since we don't plan on remodeling this kitchen ever again, Im trying to go with something as timeless as possible. I've been collecting photos of kitchens Ive admired for a while. You'll probably notice all of these kitchens are at least twice the size, 5x the budget and inhabited by much more fabulous people than we'll ever hope to be.

The folks at Windsor Terrace have decided to incorporate elements of the higher end kitchens that they love. Which is a great compromise to get the look you want while staying within the confines of a budget. And let's face it, most of us do not have fists full of cash to throw at projects.

Here is the House has a kitchen that is 99% completed, or at least it seems that way by looking at the photos. I love seeing the before and after photos. And hearing what people have to say about their renovation, their regrets, the things they love, the things that changed mid-renovation.

The biggest consideration in our kitchen design was space. Since our house is only 20 feet wide and 40 feet long, we often found ourselves trying to design in tight places. Two of our biggest challenges in the kitchen came with working around the duct work for the central air conditioning and working around the newly installed steel framing.

And I would be remiss if I did not mention the 10K Kitchen Remodel Blog. Their goal was to keep to a budget of 10K for their entire kitchen renovation. If you have not ever done a kitchen remodel you might not realize that many people will spend that amount only on appliances and most will spend more than that only on cabinets. To redo an entire kitchen for that amount requires quite a bit of shopping around and creativity.

My goal is to complete a major kitchen remodel for $10K or less.

$10K is a tight number, but a good goal to track to. Taking a look at the on-line info, this would cost $50K plus. I will keep a running total with the material costs and supplier links.

They extensively blogged the remodel and how much each thing they bought cost. They are finishing up the final details and it looks as though they will be coming in under 12K. Their sidebar has a running total, with links to the posts that detail that particular aspect of the project.

My husband probably wishes I would take some inspiration from their blog.

When she isn't blogging at Notes From the Trenches, Chris is busy saving her historic house from a century of neglect and bad taste.