Karl,
When we bought our house it was a "fixer upper". Actually the only thing I remember saying that I liked about the house were the cabinets in the kitchen. For the kitchen, I knocked out a useless section of countertop that was probably used as a breakfast bar once upon a time. All it did was close the kitchen off from the dining area. There were no appliances in the kitchen when we bought the house. We had to buy all those anyway so we got to pick what we wanted. I redid the countertops and sink. Then did a tile backsplash up to the cabinets. All the flooring was redone in the entire house. I went with 16" porcelain tile.
For the bathroom I'm considering doing a pergo (sp?) and beadboard on the walls. I have a lot of prep work to do so my wife and I have some time to decide on the design. I hated gutting it but it was a very very old bathroom. The house was built in the mid-50s. It's been a lot of work but I got a killer deal when I bought the house and it is the only way I could afford to buy a house this size in this area. It has been fun fixing it up. This is my last project before I start working on the yard.
BTW... That desk is absolutely beautiful.