Oooohhh, that sounds beautiful! It kind-of motivates me, as well. But we've had so many projects in our house since we bought it a little over five years ago, that painting the bedrooms is still way down the list. They do need it, and recarpeting as well, but I think that's going to have to come in after a kitchen remodel. When we bought the house, there were enough positives (amazing view of the Bay and Mt. Diablo, and a wine cellar) that we were willing to overlook the things that need updating, which are many. Since I'm a teacher, I really only have summers that I have any excess bandwidth to do any improvements. The first couple of summers, we mostly focused on outside stuff, like replacing the front decking that was falling in, replacing the (whole f***ing) driveway and infrastructure, since it's actually a bridge over a spider-infested dry-rot factory. We really do live on a steep hill, hence the view. We've also had to do extensive terracing to keep the hillside from slowly, slowly working its way toward flat land. Entropy's a b*tch. I won't go into all the rest, but I love the feeling of a home improvement job done. Last year, we got new lighting (and a ceiling fan, although I didn't repaint the spackle holes until this summer, and it turns out the paint doesn't actually match) and a new bed. That bed is so comfy, I slept right
through the first earthquake we had after we got it. Funny thing is, we had house guests that weekend, and they did not. I woke up the next morning and was like, "What? What happened?" I can hardly wait until I get to pick out paint and carpeting colors for the bedrooms! I'm thinking
three years, max...
@EleanorR , enjoy it! Home improvements are the best!!!
Typical bachelor! Good thing he's acquired some good taste from you. 
