Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

Generali

lemonjelly wrote: »

Not a yellow card. It wasn't dangerous play or anything.

Gen, your posts are always interesting, and accessable - which is important. I always learn stuff (& I know next to diddly squat about economics really:o) and I appreciate your humour, and humility & willingness to consider alternative perspectives. And the lack of jargon!:)

It's all good stuff really.

Tell you what, I'll get me John Lanchester book, & sit at the pc with you & debate so it looks like I know what I'm on about!:D

I think it's more the equivalent of pulling my shirt over my head to reveal a T-shirt with a slogan on it saying something like 'End Moral Hazard!' or 'Stop The Bailouts!'.

vivatifosi

silvercar wrote: »

The lady herself.

Just at the right time.

If you scroll back just a few pages we were discussing this:

http://www.skbauctions.co.uk/auction-lot-details.php?id=1906080&search=current&page=2

that fetched 256k at auction yesterday.

...and how it wasn't worth that.

In addition to the problems you can see from the pictures, the back garden is inadequately supported...

what would you do with it?

I didn't mention it yesterday but my brother's old house was a bit like this only bigger. As a builder he was able to do all the work himself. It took a while but he turned it around at minimal cost. His new house had a different issue, house at top of slope with 1930s drive wide enough, well, for nothing that you get on the road these days. He needed more than twice that though for parking. He dug out the whole garden, which was something like six skips worth, himself. So it probably would cost about £8k to get someone else to do it, but not if you do it yourself and work hard.

I bet a builder has bought this house. A lot of the ones I know are slightly under-employed at the moment, so would see this as an opportunity to get a bit of a bargain: it's probably only going to cost them about £10k in materials and tool hire charges to bring it up to a £300k house, if they can turn that round in a year on the days they can't get work, that's a good deal. Especially if they sell one of the £300k houses and buy this. If you can also factor in something else: for example its in a good school catchment area and the builder has kids aged about 9-10, then its a no brainer.

If you do ever find out who bought it Silvercar, please do tell.

lostinrates

doozer...not worth 8k to you and H or to a client you might do the same work for? I'm guessing the difference to make it worth the while for you and H!

Also doozer...while you might be popping in ....I remember you saying you used a lot of F&B slipper satin...can I ask why that white? I'm trying to get a first draft of decorating details finished for the architect (we can chage our mind at any stage but he suggests having some firm idea in mind). The colours for dh's study and the kitchen are proving elusive and lime white, which I like, seems quite dark on the amount of wood work we have. In fact, its funny, we've been here so long now that when I put the sample of teresa's green (a vastly preferable colour than the peach here now) on the wall of my sitting room I started to get a little uneasy about changing the colour at all, lol.

The asenic we thought we wanted on the study walls is actually too dull and we want a zingier turquoise, which we might struggle with in the nice chalky finish (F and B don't have one, and neither do Little Greene). And my milky kitchen is proofing harder than I thought. I wanted not white woodwork....blue green or something (like milk bottles ), but now have decided to have stone skirtings, so might go a shade paler for windows and doors, but may be not. But all of the off whites look a bit grubby on the walls, and cream too sickly, I want a milky WHITE not a custardy cream.

vivatifosi

There's a story jelly might like in today's Telegraph.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8866083/Jack-the-Ripper-Is-this-six-inch-knife-used-by-Victorian-serial-killer.html

It's about Jack the Ripper, definitely not a nice person...

silvercar

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

It's now a platform bed, with chests of drawers underneath, wardrobes to the side, and no other furniture - so when we're actually in it, there's no furniture in sight, apart from the tops of the wardrobes whcih make bedside tables.

Disappointed. When you said "interesting" I thought water bed, or possible one of those circular beds where the TV rises slowly out of a hidden slot.

If your wardrobes are underneath, how high is the bed? I'm envisaging high enough for the wardrobes to store hanging room for dresses?

So do you have a ladder to get in, and a slide to get out. I saw one like that in IKEA, but it was in the children's section.

Can Isaac manage to climb in?

lostinrates

I can't imagine a circular bed being very comfortable for two people sleeping in the same bed...because if one hogs the middle the other ends up with their feet dangling off the edge or lying not close to the partner but having to cross over their body. dh and I sleep all in a tangle a lot , but I also like space sometimes....and retreat to the edge....I wouldn't like having to turnmy whole body a quarter circle to be able to spread out a bit.

I was hoping NDg might have meant something like this bed can't quite imagine her in it.

Generali

silvercar wrote: »

Disappointed. When you said "interesting" I thought water bed, or possible one of those circular beds where the TV rises slowly out of a hidden slot.

If your wardrobes are underneath, how high is the bed? I'm envisaging high enough for the wardrobes to store hanging room for dresses?

So do you have a ladder to get in, and a slide to get out. I saw one like that in IKEA, but it was in the children's section.

Can Isaac manage to climb in?

I would definitely love to have a slide to get out of bed. How good would that be?

Doozergirl

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

It's now a platform bed, with chests of drawers underneath, wardrobes to the side, and no other furniture - so when we're actually in it, there's no furniture in sight, apart from the tops of the wardrobes whcih make bedside tables.

Our kitchen is oak cupboards, slate floors, and granite worktops. Very nice (in my opinion) and hard-wearing.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/48017327#Comment_48017327

We need a picture of the bed when it's in but it does sound fun. I thought the same as silvercar but this sounds a little more practical! Did you have it designed especially for you?

Look at those lovely units! And sink! They look really substantial, beautifully made.

lostinrates wrote: »

I was hoping NDg might have meant something like this bed can't quite imagine her in it.

Brilliant. You simply must have the side table to match it, otherwise it doesn't make enough of a statement.

tomterm8

From my point of view there is more right about that kitchen than wrong... I love the fact that it is large, and has a decent number of cupboards. Just a little redecorating, and it would be really great.

GDB2222

Doozergirl wrote: »

Nice. :rotfl: It looks way better than the house we're living in right now. I like the paruet floor. The stairs are a fire hazard and that is what would put me off personally, not so much the back wall.

Clearly the wall isn't pretty, proper retaining wall with drainage holes and a fence on top, I can't see what costs £8k as it can't possibly need to be that high based on the neighbours, but then H seems to like digging holes and clearing muck. If it's mainly rubble then maybe it's just that is unstable along with years of that stuff that accumulates under conifers and trees themselves, the retaining wall maybe isn't needed so much. The house at the bottom clearly needs one! Everyone seems to have what looks like concrete barge boards at the bottom which I presume is original, without those cracking.

If it was bought to sell on then I'm not even sure it would come up on most surveys! You'd have to stand in the garden but I'm not sure how much remedial action we'd take if we'd bought it.

I can see that back on the market in five months time with a high gloss kitchen and a survey result that is still bad, for £320k.

Hmm, you pay £256k + £8k SDLT + legals etc and auctioneer's buyers fee = £265k. Work costs £30k (according to Silver). Financing for 6 months (min) £10k. Marketing costs £5k. That's £310k. Where's the profit?