The number one place to start is your budget. Unless you have a lot of savings built up, you most likely will not be able to do all of what you want out of pocket. Home improvement loans are very difficult to come by, so something is going to have to give. Just the work on the original home, with all new windows, insulation, plumbing and electrical along with the bath redos is likely to be close to 100K. A kitchen addition will be at least another 100K. And even more if you are in a high cost of living location.

Prioritize your list, with the systems updates put first. Ugly baths can be lived with if your house is safer and warmer. The electrical and plumbing will need to be done if you ever do the addition, so doing it now makes good sense.

Also look over the home's layout and see if you can't get most of what you need by tweaking the existing space. That will make the most economic sense long term.

If I were in your shoes I'd live in the house for about a year & start collecting ideas of what you want & thing you really dislike. After a year of living there you'll have a better idea of what to focus on & how much extra room your budget has.

One thing you can do almost immediately is start measuring the space & generating an accurate, to scale, floor plan. Note important features like load bearing walls, plumbing & HVAC locations, windows, doors. The fewer of those you move the less expensive your remodel is (generally speaking).

Do you live near a nicer town that has similar style homes to yours? Drive through some neighborhoods on weekends (take the long way home from the grocery store while it's cold out & the milk won't spoil), start snapping pics of houses you really like the looks of. In the dark hours of December & January check out Houzz for inspiration of what you like for interiors. Keep an idea book.

We knew when we bought this house that we'd want to make changes but I didn't realize what I'd want to change the most until we lived here awhile. For instance,I knew we'd add a dormer but until I saw how much foot traffic we get, I didn't think we'd do a porch. Then I found an inspiration photo & realized our street is perfect for a porch - so one is in the plan.

Thanks for the suggestions. I guess we've lived here since April so we have a pretty good idea of what does and doesn't work with the house. And we've lived in the subdivision for several years, leaving a perfectly maintained and updated (and newly kitchened) slightly smaller version of this house behind. We moved 3 blocks into a fixer upper knowing it needed these things and planning to do them so we've already budgeted for them (the old house didn't have a large enough yard for a sensible addition). We did replace the roof ASAP--that seemed sort of important. :)

We'll definitely treat the bathrooms as separate projects if we can. They are usable and I would actually like to keep them. I just have a feeling there may be some issues. What's not to love?

Seriously now, I have no problem with this and hope the floor under the toilet isn't rotted out...it should be a DIY facelift (but I'll have to hire someone to redo the grout. Too hard.) The master bath alas should be gutted.

We won't need to move windows and doors except where the addition goes on--it's basically a good house. The current kitchen and living areas were merged (badly) in the 80s to create a sort of open concept thing and that needs to be undone.

So, if I posted some floorplans is this a place to get some feedback? I do plan on getting an architect but I've noticed professionals do a better job when I can tell them exactly what I want. :P Does this forum do that sort of thing? (I know the kitchen forum would never let me down.)

Why don't you have some contractors come in, explain to them what you want to do with the house, then let them give you some estimates and also explain the procedure to you. That is where I would start. I would want to know approximately how much it will all cost.

This is a good place to get feedback. Some of it may be biased toward how each poster prefers to live in a house, as opposed to what will work for your family, but you will get opinions and suggestions.

I would start by listing your requirements, preferences, and things you want to avoid. Then the plans. Knowing what the end goals are can be incorporated into the feedback you get.

Love the bathroom - reminds me of the ones on the Retro Renovation website :)

I have been planning a major kitchen remodel for 2 years now. I had developed a list of other projects in the house "to be done at the same time". Even though I have not started on the remodel, I have been able to knock off some of the projects on this list when the right offer or opportunity comes along. For example, I have had several rooms and all the hallway space painted, additional electrical outlets , new recessed lights added, board and batten in our back hallway with coat hooks (functionally the best thing I have ever added), and updated the powder room with board and batten , new mirror, and painting of the cabinet. The attic got additional blown in insulation. All the faucets in the house were replaced. Outside the house, we had some painting done, landscape work, and concrete repair. The house is feeling a lot nicer and brighter. One tradesman asked if we were either just moved in or getting ready to sell since everything was looking updated. One of these days the kitchen remodel will progress without having to worry about those other things. You can do the same while thinking about your addition.

Thanks all. I'm getting a bad feeling about my pink bathroom--you shouldn't be getting ants coming through where the soapdish in the shower is, right? Hope it's not too far gone.

We moved into our last house and it needed remodeling from top to bottom and side to side. Kitchen and baths needed total redoing.

Because I like to cook and my husband likes to eat, we chose to start with the kitchen remodel. Then we completed the baths. Then the great room, which also needed major floor raising, etc. It took us 10 years to complete the entire house, but as long as I had a nice kitchen and bath the rest didn't matter. We painted the walls long before we could replace all the flooring, baseboards, etc. I put up nice curtains, blinds, etc. I made the house livable while remodeling so I wasn't living in a complete disaster throughout the entire house. I couldn't have handled that.

We made some cosmetic improvements initially and knew the kitchen would need done but didn't have the money (this was in the 80's). About 5 years and 1 kid later, we knew we needed to add on. (We had done the kitchen by this time)After finishing the addition, it was nice to be able to take a little break from all the mess. Don't discount the emotional toll the remodeling will take on you and your family. Life will need to go on.

My husband and I are four months into a kitchen remodel/master suite+laundry room addition. We are living in the house and it has been so incredibly hard. If you can break up the project or at least not live in the space, do so. Everyone tells you it will be hard and you "listen" to them. But it is REALLY hard to live in a torn up house for long periods of time.