If you have done major house refurbishment - what worked well, and what do you wish you hadn't bothered to do?

[TheEternalOptimist]

We have bought a small terraced house in Scotland. It is in pretty good condition but does need a fair bit of work.

1. New windows - anyone got a recommendation?

1. New boiler - currently electric storage heaters. Possibly interested in wood burning stove in living room, and gas central heating

1. New flooring - real wood for living room and hall. Tiles for kitchen. Again looking for recommendations.

1. Bathroom and kitchen - any recommendations?

1. Remove wall between dining and living room, make one double door instead of 2 individual doors.

1. Garden - needs completely redone. I would like dry stone walls, but not sure if they are going to be really expensive.

One thing we were wondering about, is whether there are any kind of grants available when installing new windows/gas heating etc (energy saving).

We are hoping to do most of the work next year and then re-mortgage at some point to spread the costs.

If you have already done major work on your house - what do you regret? What works really well, and what was a waste of money?

Feel free to share bright ideas :o

Anyone know about re-mortgaging?

We have signed a 2 year deal. If we do all the work next year, will we be able to remortgage at a higher value (cause the value of the house will definitely be higher than the mortgage) before then?

My best tip is get a QS to manage job!

Thanks, but I am presuming that a QS will want money for his services and we are a bit short on that :)