Stuck in my first home

Jennifer_Jane

Oh and just to say that my financial situation is sort of OK, I did redecorate my sitting room and got - wait for it - silk, interlined curtains. I actually found them in a curtain material shop. They'd been made up for a client who hadn't liked them, so I bought them quite cheaply (yes, the whole thing did cost a few hundred and I understand you don't have this, but they are big windows!) and had another pair made up for the other window in this room.

They are stunning, stunning, stunning - absolutely rich and gorgeous. Oh and a pretty light fitting too.

I realise that what was right for me won't be right for you, but you'll find something.

And just thinking of the criticism you got early on - of course there are people worse off than you, but there are loads who are better off - you deserve to get what will suit you. Go for it when you can/plan for it now!

Best
Jen
x

elona

Pastures New

Try oil of orange solution on the tiles.

PasturesNew

elona wrote: »

Pastures New

Try oil of orange solution on the tiles.

Thanks. I sold the house
Seemed best ... I could never get good people to work on it and couldn't afford the work it constantly needed doing.

We_Are_The_Mods

I know where the OP is coming from, I hate my house as well.

Bought it 5 years ago as my first house after leaving home, wish I'd never clapped eyes on the bloody place- I should have rented a flat instead.

minnie123

I am in the same situation bought my house 5 years ago loved it then but my life has changed now got a dog and a baby and need a bigger garden and more room. The plan was to sell and move this year - but then we all know what happened and my equity in the house is down from 25 to 5 grand so that will only cover estate agent and solicitors fees and as you know need a 10% deposit minimum I need to save approx 17k to get a house I want. Oh yeah plus the 10k I need to save to pay my credit card off. Sorry if I sound moany but it does get me down.

My house is always dark too even in the middle of the day you need lights on - when you look at houses for your first buy it's hard to know what to think about or look for with forsight I would have bought a bigger better house in a not so "posh" area but I was a snob and went for a poxy little house in a good area.

anoneemouse

PasturesNew - I know exactly what you mean about workmen messing things up. It is very frustrating - when you put a lot of effort/saving into getting a bit of money together to do some work on the house and look forward to seeing it looking a bit better - but then you get a bodger making a bit of a mess of it and you were expecting to sit there feeling pleased "At least I've got this now/done that now - and that will help it look a lot better" - but, thanks to Bodger & Co that hasnt happened.

The trouble is there are just so MANY of them - by now I've come across Bodger & Co Mark 1, Bodger & Co Mark 2, etc, etc. There is a low standard prevailing - and it is very difficult to find a good firm - thats one of the things that is so disheartening. I dream of a nice new house to my specifications - that someone else (of a conscientious/houseproud nature) has lived in for maybe 2/3 years first - so they've "ironed out" any "bugs" made by Bodger & Co Mark 13 - and I could just move in and relax and look out the windows at the nice scenery around and heave a sigh of relief.

I think that it is even more important than usual these days for your home to not create any problems of its own for you (whether the house itself or the area its in) now that things are getting worse in many other ways.

So - I'm thinking that something along the lines of an item I can get myself - curtains/picture/etc - that I can see the exact quality of before I buy it - and its not possible for a Bodger to ruin! might be a help. Maybe a nice light or two.

anoneemouse

Minnie

You are exactly right about its hard to know what to look for when you first buy a house.

Until you've actually lived in a house of your own in the first place - you dont know what things are more or less essential in the neighbourhood and exactly what way you will plan to live in the house. People change as they get older too and their needs change - so maybe even somewhere that was okay for you at the time you bought it no longer is.

I didnt realise how important it is to me to live in a reasonably tranquil neighbourhood - now I think there is a lot to be said for a house in the suburbs. I knew that I like cooking and hadnt realised that I had a lot of unthought-out expectations of having dinnerparties sometimes just waiting to surface when I got my first own home (only to be stymied by an inadequate kitchen). I had just accepted doing bedsit-style cooking previously - and didnt realise that Mrs Proud Cook and Hostess would "wake up" and expect a proper kitchen as soon as I got a house:rolleyes:

I didnt realise that I had taken it for granted - again without thinking it out - that I would take up gardening later in life.

I just assumed I suppose that, by the time I was wanting to stage these dinnerparties and cultivate my garden that I would have moved on to a house that would be suitable for that. I didnt realise just how much house prices would rise - trapping me in my first home. I didnt realise just how difficult it is to get decent workmen. I didnt realise how difficult the whole housebuying process is - but I do see now how difficult it could be to sell this house/buy the next one even if I could afford it (if I ever do get in the position to "move on" - I will steel myself and hope I've learnt to be a good enough judge of character by now to be able to spot who would be likely to let me down if I decided to sell this one to them or buy my next one from them).

PasturesNew

anoneemouse wrote: »

So - I'm thinking that something along the lines of an item I can get myself - curtains/picture/etc - that I can see the exact quality of before I buy it - and its not possible for a Bodger to ruin! might be a help. Maybe a nice light or two.

They can be a bit pricey, but I got a rock salt lamp - and I LOVED that (although in a damp room the salt does leech a tiny bit so it needs to be on a plate).

I used to love it at Xmas with the lights out, the Xmas tree lights on and the warm glow of my rock salt lamp. Nice n cosy.

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=rock%20salt%20lamp&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

I used to sit and look at it for hours.

Edit: they're also supposed to be good at that positive/negative ion thing ... so they allegedly make the air/your mood better... some healing property there or something, not sure about that whole hippy thing, but they're really nice.

PasturesNew

anoneemouse wrote: »

..

I second all of that.

With each house you live in, rent or own, you realise a few extra things that you "must have" in the next one, or will specifically look to avoid.

But until you're living in it you don't realise just how much these things matter.

My biggie is: LOADS of sunlight. I don't get sunlight in the windows here at all and it makes me not want to get round to doing things (including going out). I absolutely must have in my next house: french doors on a south-facing garden, leading into a conservatory, where I'd spend most of my time.

But once you're in, it's too late

You also dream that you can find people to do the work you want, at a price you can afford - and they'll actually do the job you want them to (and not what they make up). I actually had central heating fitted in my last house, I was working away and luckily I turned up early one day to find they'd hung a radiator behind a door ... with a whole wall it could have been on, but he'd fitted it 2" to the right of where the door would open fully.... how stupid; luckily I was there and made him move it 2" to the left, but for a central heating engineer to actually not think "Oh, I have a whole wall, if I move this radiator 2" to the left the door can open" astounds me!

Jennifer_Jane

PasturesNew wrote: »

I second all of that.

With each house you live in, rent or own, you realise a few extra things that you "must have" in the next one, or will specifically look to avoid.

But until you're living in it you don't realise just how much these things matter.

My biggie is: LOADS of sunlight. I don't get sunlight in the windows here at all and it makes me not want to get round to doing things (including going out). I absolutely must have in my next house: french doors on a south-facing garden, leading into a conservatory, where I'd spend most of my time.

But once you're in, it's too late

You also dream that you can find people to do the work you want, at a price you can afford - and they'll actually do the job you want them to (and not what they make up). I actually had central heating fitted in my last house, I was working away and luckily I turned up early one day to find they'd hung a radiator behind a door ... with a whole wall it could have been on, but he'd fitted it 2" to the right of where the door would open fully.... how stupid; luckily I was there and made him move it 2" to the left, but for a central heating engineer to actually not think "Oh, I have a whole wall, if I move this radiator 2" to the left the door can open" astounds me!

Yes, I've learnt never to leave the house when there are workmen*. So saying, it didn't help that the handyman I asked to put up a curtain role, didn't put the central bit in the centre. I just don't understand why you would bother measuring and then put it way off centre! A smallish thing, but it's just stupid.

Also, I now have a lovely cashmere sweater left (will go to the charity shop if I need to move), and a very useful spanner. The sweater he promised to come and collect, and the spanner is I suppose just forgotten, but had that workman returned with the invoice I asked for....

Why are they so appalling?

Jen
x

*Except one time (in South Africa) I had painters in, they were booked for the fortnight previous, couldn't make it and I had booked for surgery at the time they could make it. They were kind enough to feed my cat whilst I was away!