Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

never_too_old

Hope your spa day went well:D

greent

Hope you had a lovely time at the spa

We've overspent at the moment, too - too much on bits n pieces here and there and takeaways etc. Control over the spending MUST be regained or we will end up with CC debt

DH likes my kitchen - but we both hate the floor and wall tiles. As the floor tiles go under the units they are hard to change I'd also really like underfloor heating, as it's a north facing kitchen and is very cold - and porcelain tiles in the Winter are freezing!! (and, yes, we do wear slippers!) I'm resigned to the fact that he wants to change it, though - but will look to sell the existing one on ebay to offset the cost slightly

Walls down and stuff isn't that hard IF you know what you're doing - several family members have done it to their houses. My DH isn't practical and is very time-short so we always end up getting someone in. I'd advise a couple of quotes to see what people say about it and they can confirm whether there are any load bearing issues etc. Don't forget planning dept - we didn't need any planning permission, but did need a building inspection after the works (we had to pay a fee) Far better to check with local council whether you need permission/ an inspection (and get it confirmed in writing if you don't - email is fine) now, rather than trying to deal with it when you sell the property in the future...!

pink_poppy

greent, thanks for that info, that was useful for me to know too Can I ask who did the work ~ did a builder knock the wall down & someone else fit the kitchen etc. or did a builder do/sort everything??

newgirly, your spa day sounds fab, hope you've had a lovely time

greent

pink_poppy wrote: »

greent, thanks for that info, that was useful for me to know too Can I ask who did the work ~ did a builder knock the wall down & someone else fit the kitchen etc. or did a builder do/sort everything??

newgirly, your spa day sounds fab, hope you've had a lovely time

We had a builder (used him in our old house) do the knocking down/ making good. He also had a 'tame' architect (his words!) for plans for building works for the council.

The kitchen company supplied us with a fitter for the kitchen - I have to say, he was fantastic (unlike the one we had fit the kitchen in our previous house). Mind you, our kitchen was peanuts compared to what the company making it normally did - the one our fitter worked on just before ours was £70K:eek: !! When you're talking spending that amount of money you employ fitters who know what they are doing!:rotfl:

newgirly

Thanks for the info greent, it all, sounds a bit expensive. I think we need a quote for the knocking through only really as I think a kitchen fitter as well is going to be too expensive. I would love a down stairs loo more than anything though and its possible we may be able to squeeze one in.

The spa was fantastic today, we had a one hour body massage, facial and manicure, two course lunch, followed by a swim, jacuzzi and cream tea. My best friends hubby had also rung ahead and paid for robes for us to keep, it was a lovely place kind of art deco with big gardens. I want to go back tomorrow

greent

Spa sounds lovely - and what a nice thing of friend's hubby to do - they always have lovely robes in those places!

Fitting a kitchen isn't *too* bad - we've done a couple ourselves - far easier than the building and electrical work! Just be prepared for it to take a bit longer (Mind you, saing that, with the building work and stuff we took our kitchen out in the 2nd week of October, new one was fitted Nov- Dec, finally had the cooker plumbed into the gas on Xmas Eve!!!! and had our sink fitted 3rd week in JAn...(underhung one from the granite and we had to wait 7 weeks for our granite to arrive from Italy due to the large size of one piece) A long time to be kitchenless! We survived with a microwave, toaster, electric steamer and a George Foreman - and inventiveness. No more than 1 takeaway a week and no ready meals. Now I'd use the camping stuff and the gas bbq

newgirly

You must be very organised to cook for that many with no kitchen! I was thinking about seeing if I could get one of those little table top mini oven and grill, other than that your right you can do most stuff in the steamer,slow cooker and microwave.

Still can't decide whether to spend a bit on the house or not! I've been asking friend's opinions on whether to knock through or not and still don't know what to do. 10x10ft kitchen and 26ft lounge with conservatory on end , or roughly 15ft ish lounge and 20ft ish kitchen diner with conservatory at a right angle. Hmm.

pink_poppy

Would it be possible to get an Estate Agent round to give their opinion on any possible work?? They would know what buyers are looking for at the moment & you could say you were thinking of selling?? I honestly don't know if they do that sort of thing but may be worth a try??

I like the sound of the bigger kitchen/diner btw

greent, thanks for the kitchen information, very interesting. How & where did you do the washing up though?!

greent

pink_poppy wrote: »

Would it be possible to get an Estate Agent round to give their opinion on any possible work?? They would know what buyers are looking for at the moment & you could say you were thinking of selling?? I honestly don't know if they do that sort of thing but may be worth a try??

I like the sound of the bigger kitchen/diner btw

greent, thanks for the kitchen information, very interesting. How & where did you do the washing up though?!

Another vote here for the larger kitchen / diner


(We washed up in the ensuite sink - one of the worst things about it - as we had to do it for months!!)

Peonie

newgirly wrote: »

A quick question, has anyone ever had a wall knocked through to another room and made good? and/or a kitchen fitted, as dh wants to get a quote but if its way out of our budget I don't want ot waste thier time.

Yes, but my dad is a tradesman so he did it.