The Pool--2001
When we bought our house in 1996, we knew it was going to need a little fixing up.  For starters, the pool needed some work.  Ok, so it needed lots of work.  The original owners cut some serious corners when building the pool.  The main problem was a lack of retaining wall on the north side and the freestanding east side of the pool.  In this part of Texas, our land moves and cracks.  It is common knowledge, that it is not a question of whether you have foundation damage, it is when will you have foundation damage.  So, a free standing pool wall is just begging to shift and crack, and the lack of support under the deck was destined to cause problems.  Well, the lack of support on the north side caused the deck to fall.  When the deck fell, it caused the tiles to break and fall.  Additionally, they did not bury the electrical conduit, so when the deck shifted and fell, the electrical wires were pulled and broken.  When we started work on the pool in the summer of 1997, we had a green swamp, with no electricity, and a growing frog population.  After getting several estimates, we went with Pools Etc. to get the pool functional again.  However, getting the pool functional, did not fix the root cause of our problems.  The lack of wall support meant the pool was still shifting and cracking.  In 2001 we had some pretty sever cracks and decided it was time to make a decision--either fix the pool or have it filled in.  We got several estimates on removing the pool and decided it was more beneficial to repair it.  If we removed the pool, it would cost at least 5000.00 plus we would loose around 10,000 when we sold the house.  Furthermore, it would be unfeasible for future owners to install another pool.  So, we decided to repair.  Since Pools Etc. does not handle major remodeling, we used Regal Pools.  We started by adding retaining walls on the north and east sides to keep the north east corner from cracking.  We originally had decking on the north side, but decided not to replace that portion of decking since we opted to remove the slide for safety reasons.  We added brick around the edge of the pool with a silicone barrier to separate the deck from the tile and help protect the tile from easily breaking.  We shortened the deck on the south side to make room for a swing set.  The cracks were chiseled out and filled in with a flexible material to reduce the chance of them reopening.  After repairing the cracks, we had it replastered.  Since then, we've had very few problems related to the pool's structure.  Only two of the cracks have returned.  One is a minor hair line one, the other is our friend in the north east corner.  This summer we plan to have that crack worked on some more with a newer repair method and will hopefully have it permanently fixed.  Below are some pictures taken during the repair process.  We did not intentionally take any before pictures, only these while the work was taking place.  We do not have any good after pictures readily available right now.  We will add those this summer.

Update (June 2007)--Since we still have the leaking crack in the northeast corner of the pool, we decided to do a little bit more repair work.  We were going to do epoxy injections, but it was going to cost about 800.00 and still didn't really fix the problem of the corner continuing to move.  So, for this year's repair, we decided to have the corner reinforced with rhubarb.  Basically, we had a 4'x4'x3' hole dug and Charlie (our pool repair person), drilled into the corner and inserted the rhubarb.  The hope is the extra steel will stabilize the movement in that corner.  We'll find out if that works or not. 

Another change this year is the company we're using to repair our pool.  Up until this year we've used Pools Etc.  When I called them this year to have Charlie do the repairs, I found out he was no longer with the company.  He now has his own company, Charlie's Pool Service.  Even though there were other technicians through the years at Pools Etc., Charlie was the most knowledgeable and did most of the work.  We've always found him to be very honest and up front with us.  If we can do a repair or service on our pool, he's always told us how to do it.  He has very high quality work at a very reasonable price.
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The Kitchen--2004
In May of 2004, we decided to try another major remodeling project.  This time we tackled the kitchen.  Several years earlier, our garbage disposal had a small leak, which we did not catch for some time.  That cabinet was in need of being replaced.  Additionally, the overall appearance had a very 70ish look and several of the cabinets were poorly designed and of little use.  So, we went to work.  We replaced the upper corner cabinet with one which allowed me to better utilize that space.  We installed a lazy Susan style cabinet on the bottom which made that space usable as well.  On the right side of the stove was three small little drawers that were perfectly useless, so we replaced that cabinet with one drawer and two shelves.  We added storage space above the refrigerator and modified the island to have shelves on one side and large drawers on the other.  Over all, what I got was much more usable storage area in virtually the same amount of space.  My stove/oven was drop in style, apartment size, so I replaced it with a full size, free standing, glass radiant style stove/oven.  I love the glass radiant top.  It is incredibly easy to clean and very durable.  I think that will be a must in any future houses.  We did not have a vent for our vent hood, so we removed that completely and wired it for a microwave.  I also did not like the posts on the side of the island.  Their purpose was for the electrical outlet, but I thought they made the room and island feel closed and crowded.  We fixed that portion by chiseling out a crevice in the slab and running the electrical wire from the floor up to the island outlet.  We updated the interior with black counter tops, extended the island so we now have a small bar, and replaced the stainless steel sink with a deep black sink.  I added a faucet with a sprayer hose so I could more easily water the plants by the sink and fill large buckets.  We removed the old blue pinstriped wallpaper and opted to texture and paint instead of adding new wall paper (I am not a wallpaper person).  We added a florescent light above the island which really lights the room up.  Lastly, we replaced the linoleum with a hardwood looking vinyl flooring.  This year, we added insulated curtains over the picture window and sliding glass door to help conserve energy.  I have gotten a lot of compliments on my kitchen table.  I love Amish furniture, but it is not readily available in Texas.  Interestingly, I bought my table over the internet.  Several companies work with local Amish communities and sell their products over the internet.  Mine was hand made, from solid oak, by an Amish man in Ohio.  I am very, very pleased with the quality of its construction.  I absolutely love it.  The contact company was Darling Woodcraft.  However, I am not sure if they are still in business since their website is no longer running.  This link has some contact information, but it may or may not be working.  Anyway, here are the before/during and after pictures.
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The Garage--2006
As our family grew, we began to notice we needed some more space.  Our house was considered to have a two car garage, but in actuality , it was only one and a half.  The previous owner discovered, as we have, it is pretty much impossible to maneuver a car and get it into the garage, so they built a very hand walk-in closet that took up about a quarter of the place where a car would park.  This improvement made it impossible to park more than one car in there.  We found out we were pretty much using the garage for storing junk.  Since we needed to replace our horribly underpowered AC/Heater unit, we decided to see how much extra it would cost to buy a unit that would heat and cool the garage area as well.  It was actual cheaper for us to get the bigger unit.  That finalized our decision to convert our garage to a room.  The room was laid out perfectly for a conversion.  We extended the wall from the walk in closet to make a very nice utility room.  We extended the wall from the AC/Heater to the back of the garage to make a closet.  The original home builder did not build the header over the garage door correctly, so that was corrected.  We added two can lights on dimmer switches in the utility room, four can lights on dimmer switches, and a ceiling fan in the main room.  Since we had no room for electrical expansion, we replaced the old breaker box with a new one.  We added two 20 amp. dedicated lines for our aquarium.  Due to the fish tanks being in that room, we knew we would be frequently rolling 50 gallon cans of water from the kitchen to the garage.  There was a drop of about the inches going from the kitchen to the garage which made it difficult to get those cans to the garage.  We had a ramp built to make the transition very natural.  All in all, we are very happy with the results.  Here are the before and after pictures.  The after pictures were taken right after the work was finished.  I have since done some decorating, but am not completely finished yet.  Once I am done I will add those pictures too.  The breaker box will be completely covered by a large picture of Cathedral Rock.  Once that is finished, it will be hard to tell the room was ever a garage.
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Other
We have made some other repairs since we have purchased this house.  The exterior has been repainted, the mailbox bricked, and the fence replaced.  We added ceiling fans in all the bed rooms and the loft.  With the exception of the bedrooms, the interior has been completely repainted.  We replaced the AC/Heater with a suitable sized one.  We also add a return to the upstairs which has made an amazing difference in stabilizing the temperature upstairs.  We have remodeled both of the bathrooms.  In the upstairs bathroom we replaced the existing tub with a Jacuzzi style tub.  We replaced the cabinets and counters in both bathrooms to bring them out of the '70 glitter look into the current era.  We replaced the shower heads with the removable sprayer heads so we could more easily shampoo the kid's hair and make cleaning overall easier.  We tiled the area over the tub/shower since the ceiling was staying wet.  We raised the shower heads in both showers and added towel racks.  In 2006 we added curtains to reduce the electrical bills which has seemed to help considerably.  All we really have left, is to replace the exterior screens over the windows,  paint the bedrooms, and replace the flooring.  I can not wait to get rid of this horrible, ugly, well used pink carpet.  However, we can not fix that until Dave decides the potty is a viable option to a diaper and the carpet is not an appropriate place to color.  Once we finish those projects, we will post the finished pictures.  Side note--we hired people to do the majority of the work.  While we can paint and nail, we have no expertise in electrical work, general construction, or tiling.  For the most part, we have been very happy with the people we hired.
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