If you aren't changing the footprint, are you sure it won't cost less than 40k? To me, it depends on whether you, you know, have the 40K (or whatever it is) lying around. Sounds like an obvious point, but felt like it needed to be made!

Remodel the kitchen. You spend so much time there with little kids.

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Opinion seems divided. Budget considerations seem to favor waiting, now that I've gotten a couple quotes. Now thinking about renovating a bath...

One other option to consider is waiting and working with an interior designer when you are ready. I found trying to find time to go to stores to see tiles, countertops, etc with two young kids was tough. My last few projects were with an interior designer and I wish I had used him all along. You can use the time to figure out how you live in the space and what are the issues and save for the project. The gardenweb forum is a good place to get ideas of colors and design styles that appeal to you. Then when you are ready, you can get a designer to come to you and measure, show you different samples and pictures and come up with creative ways to solve the issues you mention. In our case the designer had a cabinet person and a contractor he recommended using and it worked out for us.

Good luck.

We just bought our first home last April. We painted 3/4s of the house (everything but kitchen and family room) before we moved in as we figured that would be hardest to do with the furniture in and our two toddlers running around.

We are remodeling the kitchen, which was the original from 1987, same footprint, new cabinets, floors and appliances, DH is doing all the work evenings and weekends, so it's slooowwww going, and it has not been too bad (except for the lack of dishwasher!).