My Kitchen Dreams if I Ever Won $50,000

As a food blogger I get a lot of perks because of my blog.  These include free products, gift cards, recipe books, higher value coupons and of course, monetary compensation through allowing affiliate advertising on my blog.  I don't write paid posts so any opinion I express on this blog are my own.  I have been affiliated with Mom Central Canada for a little over three years now.  They treat me very good!  I was offered a chance to be one of 40 Canadian bloggers to participate in the Royale Golden Kittens Blog Tour.  I like Royale products.  The potential to win $50,000 in the Royale Golden Kitten Contest.  Each golden ticket you find gives you an opportunity to win the grand prize along with instant prizes.  Golden tickets are available on specially marked packages and through the Royal Kittens Facebook Page.

I received a gift box of Royale products that included a package each 3 ply Royal Ultra Signature Bathroom tissues, 3 ply facial tissue, travel pack facial tissue, 3 dinner napkins and 1 ply serviette napkins.  Let me tell you our postal  worker who delivered the parcel got quite a chuckle that we had toilet tissue delivered!

The big question is, "If I win the $50,000 what would I do?".  I'm a very frugal person so the temptation would be to share with our kids, invest some and pay down our mortgage.  However, I dared to dream what I would do with all that money!

We bought this house with a closing date of September 15, 2011 although we arranged to take possession on September 1.  The house was built in the 1990's.  It is a large, spacious home (five bedrooms) with a lot of nice upgrades, and ample room.  We are currently working on doing more upgrades.

The kitchen is small but has marble floor, ceramic tile counter top and back splash.  It was originally painted taupe so we brightened it up with a deep red, closed in the bulkhead, added custom trim, new dishwasher and natural gas range, and the custom shelf over the sink.  I blogged earlier about a few kitchen upgrades in our new home purchased in 2011.  We still need to replace the microwave, fume hood, faucet and sink.  But I have big dreams!

The patio doors lead to a nice sized deck with two dining areas and the outdoor dual fuel grill.  It over looks the pool and smaller detached deck.  Last summer was our first summer there and we quickly discovered the kitchen deck gets too hot, so my husband erected a very nice, but temporary covered gazebo.   What we want to do is expand that deck over by 3 feet, create a new entrance to the downside entrance, move the garage door to the side of the garage, then tie into the pool decking so basically 80% of our back yard would be under deck (aka maintenance free).  It would involve replacing the fence and building a pool change room.  We want to put the kitchen deck entirely enclosed for year round use, basically an expansion of the kitchen.

We are very blessed in that we are avid DIYers who more than capable of doing fencing, decking, roofing and siding thanks to over eleven years renovating a turn of the century home.  We have friends who knows how to tie the addition into the house as it would involve cutting into the roof and side of the house.  The biggest expense for all these plans come from materials but while I am dreaming I would like my husband to work in an outdoor cooking area complete with counter.  I would also be elated if he could work in a wood fired oven!  With all these great plans, I really hope I do win that $50,000 :)

What would you do if you won $50,000?  Be sure to enter the Royal Golden Kitten Contest for your chance to win!