Want versus need and the new house

At the closing, we had to part with about a thousand dollars more than I had planned to part with - making our allowance to spend on the house and the move only about $4000. The moving trucks will cost us about $2000 - so the remainder is for things that need to be fixed.

I started with paint and light fixtures and a sander - $350 down pretty quickly. Rooms needed to be painted - more to make the house really ours than because the paint was bad. Now there are bright colors - a royal blue in the boys room, fuschia in my daughter's room, khaki green in the master bedroom, and butter yellow to go in the kitchen which faces south and gets monumental amounts of sunlight everyday. The floors will shine with a new coat of polyurethane, further accenting the light in this house.

I know I will need another hundred to finish all the floors and re-stain the doors, and that I need to buy carpet for the master bedroom - unless I decide to love particle board flooring. Need to estimate how much the carpet will run - and more importantly, if I can find someone to install it for me without breaking the bank.

I agreed to stick with essentials until we get a tax check back - but what is essential to fix before we move furniture and what can wait is preventing quite a dilemma for me. I am trying to estimate what it will run us to install a gas stove - the next essential on my list. Then on to the kitchen addition, which I think will be more costly because it entails tile counters and a new section of cabinets to house the dishwasher. I think that is going to eat up a lot of money - is a dishwasher a need or a want for a woman with three kids, a new husband and a full-time job? Guess it depends on how much this is going to run. Usually I am pretty good at doing my own renovations, but the cabinets and the dishwasher will probably require professional installation - this is out of my league. Are slate tiles a want or a need? Part of the floor has simulated wood tiles, part has slate - I want them to match, but I guess the house would still remain standing if they didn't. I made the executive decision that a zipline was an essential - mostly because I promised the boys we would put one up - and I ordered it today on Amazon.

Any hints out there - any good sites to help estimate costs or plan a renovation? I don't feel right about asking for a professional estimate for work that I will do myself - but I sure don't want to get in over my head repairing things and then run out of money either!

My list is this:
Paint
Stain and polyurethane for hardwood floors
new light fixtures for bathroom
Carpet for master bedroom ( plus labor)
Gas line and gas stove ( mostly labor)
Cabinet and dishwasher ( plus labor)
Tile countertops and backsplash
Slate tiles for basement
Mirrors to replace the ones in bathrooms