First-time house renovation

KT1985

Hello everyone,

It has been a while again...

We are slowly pushing on with it all- I have been up since some totally alien hour, and am just about to start some painting.

We are moving in ON SATURDAY!!! so need to be kind of finished, but if its not then...meh.

We didn't buy in order to make money- we are also here for keeps, but it helps that ours is a larger house in an area that I love, that has been refurbed by us, for us.

TomsMom

KT1985 wrote: »

We are moving in ON SATURDAY!!! so need to be kind of finished, but if its not then...meh.

Oh wow KT! Exciting or what? Come on - get that paint brush moving :rotfl: .

latecomer

KT1985 wrote: »

We are moving in ON SATURDAY!!! so need to be kind of finished, but if its not then...meh.

Good luck with the move! Its a great feeling to be in your own new home regardless of its state

I managed to source some wood to fix round the window frame in the bathroom. The frame needs to be extended out from the window to cover the edge of the new tiling. So I took a bit of it and went to the timber yard I've been using. they immediately identified it and off we went to see what sizes they had. Found something that looked perfect apart from being 2.5m long and I only had the small car. But as it more than double the length of the wood I'd brought I could just cut it in half.........provided I'd brought the bit of wood I was actually trying to replace and not one about 3 inches shorter. It was also wider than the bit I need and hence I've now got 2 bits of useless wood :rolleyes:

So I'm going to measure up properly today and head back to see if I can get something that will do the job and I'm taking the big car this time so I dont need to do any cutting

As for our house, its primarily a home for the next few years but the intention was always to try and make something by doing it up. Obviously given that we bought right at the top of the market its going to be a long time before the actual sale price yields a profit but as long as the house improves in value relative to others then its good enough for me

KT1985

TomsMom wrote: »

Oh wow KT! Exciting or what? Come on - get that paint brush moving :rotfl: .

I would... but I am currently being lazy looking around at the different MSE forums in a canny painting avoidance move :rotfl:

TomsMom

KT1985 wrote: »

I would... but I am currently being lazy looking around at the different MSE forums in a canny painting avoidance move :rotfl:

:rotfl: Now that's the sort of thing I'd do!

andrew-b

We bought our bungalow looking towards the forseeable future rather than resale..just as well as the way the market has gone since august 2006 when we moved in we wouldnt have made much... unless we'd sold at the peak of the market in 2007.

However my interpretion of "forseeable future" has probably changed somewhat and might differ from how others interpret it. We would "upgrade" today given the chance. If we could afford to move to a bigger 3 or 4 bedroom detached (rather than semi-detached) bungalow with a garage (to keep all my clobber) in a nicer area we would straight away...but right now we couldn't afford the moving costs.

As it's only a 2-bedroom property if we have children circumstances might dictate moving (i'd rather move than extend into the loft) plus as i get older wheelchair access is likely to be a serious consideration which again might make moving much more favourable.

In a dream world i'd buy a plot of land and build a detached bungalow to my specification.

If buying for refurb we wouldn't have spent anywhere near as much and wouldn't have got so hung-up on choosing decor etc - white or magnolia, white tiles, cheaper paint etc! But property refurb for profit would take my fancy if i had the money to invest - though i'd be employing others to do the hard work for me and put on my project manager shoes!

Still although the housing market has gone a bit pear-shaped it's all relative for us being mortgage-free...we might sell our bungalow at an overall loss...but the proceeds from the sale would (hopefully!) buy another property which would increase in value as the market improves.

Andy

latecomer

I had a conversation last week with one of my soon to be ex-colleagues abuot my new job and he said:

"you get the best of both worlds, new job and a redundancy payment so you can pay off about half the mortgage"

I just about fell over laughing. While the payment isn't bad at all, its only a fraction of our total mortgage. I'd love to be mortgage free but then I'm sure most people would too

andrew-b

KT1985 wrote: »

I would... but I am currently being lazy looking around at the different MSE forums in a canny painting avoidance move :rotfl:

I'd probably be the same.. but then again you might need a bit of rest before the storm! I think i could have slept for a week after our "DIY" move - and i was doing the supervising rather than the carrying! Good luck with it though!

Andy

Shimmyhill

Good progress on all the recent updates !

We are actually doing the third bedroom now Wife set down a challenge, dad and i laughed it off but determined wife is driving us along and the progress is nothing short of stunning - amazing what can be done when motivated !!

We do have a new dilemma, the third bedroom has the hot water cylinder in it - when we bought we figured the boiler was ancient and would be replaced with a combi. However when we looked into it and had gas man out it turns out to be a mere 4 years old !! We removed the awful airing cupboard and have opened the room up - now of course we dont want the tank in the bedroom. Do we scrap a 4 year old boiler and get a combi or put a new cupboard around the tank and live with it for a few years ??!!!!

In other news have got stuck into front and rear gardens - had the incinerator going for 2 days (amazing how much heat they retain - was burning all night) Have also been weeding the drive stones - amazing difference !

Regarding house prices, we bought in November so potentially near the bottom, we also got it for well under market value. Interestingly a friend of the wife has put an offer in for 15k more than ours on a smaller semi bungalow. Stranger still my sister is buying next door !!!! 5k less than ours but again smaller property and under market value (have done a deal with people selling outside of EA being involved) We have bought to live in and only worry with value is for mortgage and not profit !!

helping_hubby

Hi everyone,

Good to see all the progress, and a few ups and downs too

We've been doing to hallway this week. We're nearly ready for carpet now. It'll be a year on 30th June since we moved in! Hasn't it gone quick?

Hope to move onto the kitchen and start tidying it up on a strict £500 budget. I might have a go at skimming the walls. They'll have to be done when we do eventually have money for the kitchen, so even if I mess it up, it can't look worse than it does now.

May I be nosey and ask what your kitchens have cost? I'm aiming to save £10k, but don't know if I'm being extravagant.

Jobs needed:
* Block in door way (door leading to garden - we've got the fridge in front of it at the mo, and are more than happy to lose it - it means we can fit dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer in then.)
* would like to change the window to be wider (it's 2 windows long, would like 3 to get more light in).
* It'll need electrics done, there simply aren't enough sockets and they are all in the wrong place.
* Ideally would like to replace the floor tiles, which will have to extend into the hallway.
* The kitchen/hallway wall is knackered and needs a bit of work
* Will need plastering, and tiling (up to top cupboards).
* Need a complete new kitchen and built in appliances

Kitchen is about 10 foot square I think, with 1 wall open into dining room, and a door to the hallway. It's also the through route to get from hall to dining/living room.

I'm considering a small island, but thinking of getting a moveable one for now to try out.

Any opinions welcome