Nice people thread part 3- Nice as pie

SingleSue

I worked part time from the age of 11, starting with a paper round. At 12, I lied about my age and got a job as a washer upper at the weekend and during school holidays, by the age of 14, I had 5 part time jobs and was earning more than my father. In just 35 days, I paid for my holiday in Spain with my nan (£199), bought a whole new wardrobe of clothes and saved £150 for spending money and still had fun on a day to day basis with my money.

Eldest has got a part time job...took him blooming ages to find one though as no-one seemed to be taking on those under 16.

vivatifosi

Morning all! Haven't been on for a couple of days as was helping my brother move house. His new house is quite stunning. We call it THTTF (the house that time forgot). It was a probate sale and to save money to spend on the house they've moved straight in, but it wasn't a straightforward move in, it was a move in at the same time as rewiring and ripping up the carpets which were worse than threadbare.

We pulled the boarding off the walls to reveal original fireplaces in the downstairs two rooms, one is a lovely arts and crafts style, and under the carpets were stunning floorboards in fantastic condition. I don't know why (it is very in keeping with the style) but the Edwardians had stained the blonde wood floorboards a gorgeous dark brown colour, just short of ebony. The best bit was ripping up the lino in the carpet and finding quarry tiles underneath.

Still lots of work to do, but a very promising start, even if the weather didn't play its part.

misskool

vivatifosi wrote: »

Morning all! Haven't been on for a couple of days as was helping my brother move house. His new house is quite stunning. We call it THTTF (the house that time forgot). It was a probate sale and to save money to spend on the house they've moved straight in, but it wasn't a straightforward move in, it was a move in at the same time as rewiring and ripping up the carpets which were worse than threadbare.

We pulled the boarding off the walls to reveal original fireplaces in the downstairs two rooms, one is a lovely arts and crafts style, and under the carpets were stunning floorboards in fantastic condition. I don't know why (it is very in keeping with the style) but the Edwardians had stained the blonde wood floorboards a gorgeous dark brown colour, just short of ebony. The best bit was ripping up the lino in the carpet and finding quarry tiles underneath.

Still lots of work to do, but a very promising start, even if the weather didn't play its part.

Sounds absolutely amazing. We're doing the moved in and re-do the house but we appear to have stalled in progress.

Although we probably would move quicker if ours wasn't a 1950s semi and a proper edwardian house. :rotfl:

Good luck and have fun, hope he enjoys his home for a long time.

vivatifosi

misskool wrote: »

Although we probably would move quicker if ours wasn't a 1950s semi and a proper edwardian house. :rotfl:

Therein lies my problem too. I'd much rather go round and do his up than do work on mine, which lacks stylish features as it was built in the mid 1990s.

Doozergirl

vivatifosi wrote: »

Morning all! Haven't been on for a couple of days as was helping my brother move house. His new house is quite stunning. We call it THTTF (the house that time forgot). It was a probate sale and to save money to spend on the house they've moved straight in, but it wasn't a straightforward move in, it was a move in at the same time as rewiring and ripping up the carpets which were worse than threadbare.

We pulled the boarding off the walls to reveal original fireplaces in the downstairs two rooms, one is a lovely arts and crafts style, and under the carpets were stunning floorboards in fantastic condition. I don't know why (it is very in keeping with the style) but the Edwardians had stained the blonde wood floorboards a gorgeous dark brown colour, just short of ebony. The best bit was ripping up the lino in the carpet and finding quarry tiles underneath.

Still lots of work to do, but a very promising start, even if the weather didn't play its part.

Wistful sigh. It sounds fabulous, he's very lucky to have that. We move temporarily into our latest house on Tuesday. It had everything except fireplaces - it had a couple of later ones that didn't suit the house. But it was completely rotten. The stairs had already collapsed, rats had eaten through floorboards, there was dry rot everywhere, beautiful bay window with all the original woodwork and plantation blinds, all looked fine, if very grubby; but they just crumbled to the touch. There were beautiful stained glass french doors to outside which we were going to keep but they would lead into the new lounge. So they stayed in position until H shut them one day and the bottom bit of wood crumbled. I hope they're in the garage, the glass was stunning - reds and blues with etched glass stars in it.

Even the furniture in there was rotten with dry and wet rot.

The Minton floor goes up for sale tomorrow. We extended the hallway sideways but the floor was lifting badly, some bits were missing and we could never have afforded to buy the missing bits plus the extra 5 metres for the new part. So it's a very modern old house now. We put in oak stairs and oak Victorian style doors but there's no denying it's a very modern style house now with great big folding sliding doors and a spanking high gloss kitchen.

Our house has the original cottage beams still hiding underneath plasterboard which I spotted through a small gap made when we removed a soil stack from inside the house (eurgh). We'd already installed the new open plan kitchen and new flooring so H just groaned when I suggested we rediscover it. Still trying to convince him to let me rip of the boards. We'll get round to it, maybe as we're living elsewhere and the house will be empty it will happen quite soon, contain the mess :rotfl:

vivatifosi

Doozergirl wrote: »

The stairs had already collapsed, rats had eaten through floorboards

Ew, I hope the unwanted tenants aren't still there. The house still sounds like it has promise though, but a bit like a petulant teenager that could go either way.

My brother was taking a risk with new place, but taking up floorboards to rewire there was no rot or worm whatsoever. Just luck I think. He's a builder though, but doesn't have the developer instinct, falls in love with houses too easily.

But its what you and my brother both do. If either of you had moved into my house you'd be bored rigid. Your place will look stunning at the end of your hard work and I'll still be living in a boringly solid place with no features.

I hope this new place isn't where you were feeling rough and stuck in bed over Christmas. That would make you feel even worse! ETA: just re-read your post Doozer and I'm glad to see you're moving this week. Hope you're feeling better now.

misskool

Doozergirl wrote: »

We put in oak stairs and oak Victorian style doors but there's no denying it's a very modern style house now with great big folding sliding doors and a spanking high gloss kitchen.

Does a high gloss kitchen really sell the house? I was just wondering as that seems to be in the property developer world.

And also the whole open plan thing. I'm not a fan of both but I'm guessing/wondering that lots of people prefer them?

Doozergirl

Different things sell houses to different people. Having probably sold houses with every type and colour of kitchen going, I get bored doing the same thing over and over again, the most classic kitchen with oak shaker doors, range cooker and black granite tops was the house that probably took the longest to sell, possibly because that seems to be the most common kind of kitchen round here. You can look at umpteen houses with that kitchen. I sold a flat which H had converted years ago, changed the doors to purple, put in a glass hob, granite sink and pale glass splashback and sold it immediately! There are tens of boxes to be ticked when people make their decision within the first 11 seconds or whatever it is. I can only make a call. But most of our kitchens over the last 11 years have been high gloss. Even the one in the 400 year old listed cottage that my daughter was born in Our house now is a mix of Applewood and high gloss.

There aren't many genuine open plan houses around in this part of the world, unlike London which seems to be filled with gorgeous spaces, which is why I like doing it; we can offer something that little bit different - I don't want our houses to look like others, I want it to stand out and that's quite hard when the unwritten rule is that I still have to paint everything magnolia if the house is for selling. That said, the rooms in both houses are flexible and large enough to have a significant open plan space and a separate lounge and there's usually a point at which we can install doors for people if they want them. I possibly need to start reigning myself back a bit, I'm not sure. I don't think I could do it if I had to play to the common perception of what people want. And the flat with the purple kitchen was really quite brave - I did it purposely to stand out from the hundreds of indentikit city centre apartments, and it worked with huge success. I didn't even get the opportunity to take a photo of it finished!

Doozergirl

vivatifosi wrote: »

Ew, I hope the unwanted tenants aren't still there. The house still sounds like it has promise though, but a bit like a petulant teenager that could go either way.

My brother was taking a risk with new place, but taking up floorboards to rewire there was no rot or worm whatsoever. Just luck I think. He's a builder though, but doesn't have the developer instinct, falls in love with houses too easily.

But its what you and my brother both do. If either of you had moved into my house you'd be bored rigid. Your place will look stunning at the end of your hard work and I'll still be living in a boringly solid place with no features.

I hope this new place isn't where you were feeling rough and stuck in bed over Christmas. That would make you feel even worse! ETA: just re-read your post Doozer and I'm glad to see you're moving this week. Hope you're feeling better now.

Me too!

Don't worry, the new house is now finished and we are moving into it specifically to sell - to make it more homely, less starkly developed. I can't afford to 'show home' it so I'm going to fill it with two kids, a great big dog and a senile cat, see if that works instead...

The house where I've been feeling bad is our home, with the hidden beamed ceiling, which we have been working on steadily for nearly three years when funds aren't diverted into rotten Victorian piles! But it's totally acceptable now, it's certainly gone through periods of looking like a stinking hole. The garden still needs doing and indoors is just tweaking to suit my constant need to change things.

If the nice people would like to see the new house, then I will show you the pics when I've moved in and taken them for the estate agent

michaels

Before moving we had the kitchen and dining room knocked through - with young kids having a tiny kitchen big enough for 1 and the kids out of sight is a recipe for disaster.

With the extension we will extend again making it about 24x17 with some arrangement of sitting, eating and kitchen areas and then have a seperate sitting room with double doors (this needs to be seperate as it will also be the granny annex if needed and then a decent size hall and the current sitting room which will probably be the study/library/dining room.

Being late 30s there isn't really any character so we will probably go for 'modern' with wood or ceramic floors and I would like a new open glass staircase if funds permit to give the hall a wow-factor. Our last kitchen we did black appliances and sink, light wood floor and worktops and white units which seems to work fairly well so we may do it again here. DW wants a range again but I prefer a glass hob and built in oven so we will see...

Assuming planning appeal goes well does anyone recommend a builders in this area?