Planning stages

Wow, there is a lot to plan when you intend to change almost your entire house. We are in the throes of the planning stages in which we mangle our minds with the numerous different paths this remodel could take. We could decide to just do the kitchen addition or just the new bedrooms, or, or, or.... But I think we're going to stick with the original plan and do the entire project.

Which means the remaining questions are only
(1) Do we bother to get quotes from local builders in case they have awesome prices because of the recession?
(2) Do we make a schedule via which we plow through the remodel as quickly as possible or leave gaps in the work to recollect our thoughts and brush off some of the dust?
(3) How do we finagle the messiest parts of the project around Padraic's upcoming career as a kindergartner and the fact that we'd have to pay full price for day care even if the boys didn't attend for one millisecond in a given week?
(4) And what exact materials do we want to use for every single bit of this job?

Ah, yes, so you can see we've got a long road ahead of us. One involving a lot of trips to Home Depot, Lowes, 84 Lumber, and online stores to see what they've got out there in the world of 2 x 4s, roof trusses, countertops, kitchen cabinets, etc. And we need to put together at least a tentative spreadsheet of our wants and needs to make sure the budget we're considering will be as accurate as possible. (Yes, we're building in that extra 20%. Murphy's Law likes us better than it likes you, remember? The first half of its name is on our mailbox.)

If you have a product that you've used in your own home that you'd like to recommend, please leave a note in the comments. Our mission statement is this: To expand and improve upon our home, all the while with an eye toward making it practical in its livability. Meaning nothing that we would want to kill the boys for destroying will be allowed. Those kinds of upgrades can happen in approximately 2025 when, if we're lucky, they'll both be out of the house.