I envy your wall space, I wish we had more! What has worked really well for us is using empty walls as our "brag" board. Do you have particular interests you love talking about? Putting something up about your family, a favourite subject, pet or holiday could be a great talking point. Our visitors get drawn to our fishing photos, where we caught the fish (Botswana/Amazon) and the type (Tiger fish/Peacock Bass). Although the photo print (size A0) could be printed really cheaply (~$50) at somewhere like Officeworks, I discovered that the frames (~$440 each) were the biggest expense. However, as we know we only needed to print a new A0 sized photo in the future, spending money on good, customised frames is worthwhile. We have also now tried printing our favourite shots on stretched canvas (~$100). The product gets delivered, usually in a week, ready for hanging much quicker than ordering a custom made frame ;) Smaller canvases range from twenty dollars to about a hundred. I found this company very reliable in terms of quality of print and speed of service: http://canvasfactory.refr.cc/HDLHZPH We have displaced our canvas photos from the wall and occasionally display them underneath the kitchen bench as you can see here (desperately covering up white space)!

White-tail spider in my track suit pants WHICH I WAS WEARING! I thought it was a lump of lint from the laundry, drew it out, and promptly flung it across the room once I realised... never to be seen again! How it didn't bite me and sat still to be picked up, I don't know - it must have known I wouldn't do it any harm. We lived in lots of country places, too... We were invaded by small black crickets one year, and lady bugs, another year, in your drawers, in your hair, in your pantry, in your undies... everywhere! And then the blue tongue lizard that would go in and out with our dogs via doggie door, and made itself a nest in our laundry... I gave up and left some old towels for it. Had an echidna get up into the wheel well of our car... wild brumbies in our patio... the list goes on. My husband still says that the most unwelcome visitor was his mother... I like her better than he does!

I think you first need to look at your general area and the size and style of homes there. Attend open homes and check what others have done or not done and the price they sell for. Even look at returns on leasing according to the style and condition of the house - Estate Agents will happily help you with this. Depending on movement in the market around you, this can take time, so be patient it will be worth it in the long run. You can be a little adventurous with any upgrades when people are upgrading and renovating all the time, just don't to too far with what you do or how you do it to avoid overcapitalising or limiting your market. I'm also finding a lot of buyers are resisting ultra modern homes, they like modern but not too OTT so beware of adding features that may not appeal to everyone. Again, studying the type of people in your area will give you clues as to the type of people who will want to buy into the area, the type of lifestyle they have and what they want in a home. The trend to putting ceramic tiles in kitchens and casual living areas is fading and they are much more expensive to take out and replace. Definitely not a good idea if you decide to lease as they can be broken or even pit if not cared for properly. I'm presently looking to buy a new home and I'm seeing too many homes where tiles have been destroyed which is going to be a very expensive exercise to replace. If you are going to lease, keep things simple. I think Oklouise has nailed a very simple plan although I would take the toilet from the laundry, some space from both the kitchen and living area and put a separate powder room beside the laundry so you can make it more attractive for guests. One slide-in door from the hall opening to a lobby with the laundry going off one side and the power room the other, would take care of any odours or noise. The washing machine and dryer will make noise too. I don't think I would attempt to create a master suite downstairs, I know many who agree with me on this, but dividing bedrooms over two levels tends to create "fractured" families. You certainly won't want to be running up and down stairs all night to a restless or sick toddler. It then becomes too easy to have the toddler in your room and that can be a very hard habit to break. Three bedrooms are sufficient for many people so a simple upgrading of the bathroom, wardrobes (if necessary), flooring and window covers should be all that is necessary for the upstairs. The emphasis these days seems to be more in living space and entertaining especially when it includes generous outdoor areas , so I would make that your priority.

The good kind of mad! (Most) old houses ooze character, warmth and heart as much as new ones do chemicals and cheap fittings. I am a housebody, and love being in my house - I spend my money on it, instead of out clubbing and yes, there are always unexpected costs (new hot water service, leaking toilet...), but if you were renting you would have nothing of your own at the end anyway. Three years ago I bought my first house, a fairly original sandstone 98 year old lady in need of some TLC. No builder's reports in this little town, but then she cost me less than a landcruiser... Things I planned to do, but took forever because of rusting nails, old sizing, old quality workmanship include painting the whole thing, top to bottom, pulling up axminster carpet and getting the floors polished, putting fans and air conditioning in. Things I was hoping to avoid for a few more years but can't, include replacing the original roof, swapping the three-cupboard sleepout kitchen with a bedroom, redoing the bathroom, complete with new plumbing and actual drainage to the septic pit (which I had to have fixed a bit), and then I think the best option for the back room and laundry is just to rebuild them....But I don't regret this house, or the journey it's taken me on. Even if it has turned out to be a much more expensive journey than I thought! With time and google, you can do a lot yourself. Before I moved back three years ago I had always been n provided accommodation, so had never used a drill and only changed a couple of light globes, but now... I took a chimney and fireplace down on my own, then re-pointed the stone and put in a ceiling panel to close it up. I have painted, put up shelves, taken down cupboards that were built into walls, patched cracks, filled gaps, pried off skirting boards, and generally turned it into a home. For the more major stuff, like putting a doorway through a foot thick stone wall and rewiring an original bedroom to house a modern kitchen, I am getting the professionals in. good luck!