Well, I finally did it. I bought a home in Florida and it definitely needs a makeover. Any help, ideas, and thoughts would definitely be helpful. My expenses are limited and I would like to keep the Reno costs at $30,000. To do all the changes I want, I know I would need more...so I'm going to have to prioritize my wants. I've never done anything like this before but overall myself and my husband are pretty handy so we can do some of the work ourselves. My thoughts were to take down the wall in the kitchen to open up the area and put in a large island . I would eliminate a table in the kitchen and include seating at the island. It's a villa so there are no windows on one side of the house. This would also eliminate all the top cupboards. Hm? Another idea was to keep part of the wall ( near the entrance) and make that 30" area into a pantry. Not sure how that would look. I think my stove must be included in the island too. The entire floor area needs to be tiled. (Kitchen, living & dining room) I like hardwood but not sure if that's a good idea in Florida. Considering tile that looks like hardwood in a driftwood shade. I was thinking that whole area should be the same material. It has ceilings that are at least 9' tall which need pot lights. I will need cupboards, was thinking of white or a linen color. Should island be same? I was also going to see if the bottom cupboards can be refaced. Is this a good idea, does it save money? I'm attaching a floor plan and some pictures of what it looks like now.