Daydream thread... without the rose-tinted specs

lostinrates

Sounds not dissimilar to ours or ctc's then phoebe.

Insulation was a big part of discussion with council. I'm not sure where you are but guessing different planning, but interesting same count should address things do differently, odd even.

We have done no extension yet ( we're calling ours 'rebuild' or 'restoration of missing wing' for easing listed constraints lol) but the bit we have fine is insulated to modern standards.

Honestly, you DO feel the difference walking into that part of the house. The pay off? You lose some internal inches. But its not HUGE amounts. And with old properties its lost in wall thickness essentially. Our study WAS the kitchen with room for a table in the middle and units on three sides, but not huge. Now I'd say its right for a rather comfortable study.

The cheese room, which I suppose as a sort of extension, (it was just an attached outbuilding) the space is much less noticeable really.


Finances are hard. Ours was only granted a mortgage be a use of the size of our deposit and ' our relationship' with the bank. I think the speed of the transaction helped too frankly. But four purchases had fallen throu because while it IS habitable, and had been eight up until two years before we moved in four purchases had fallen through. We know one of those was because our first mortal gagee deemed the proper tee uninhabitable and the deposit the purchasers were putting down was their minimum and in the climate they weren't going to negotiate. Luckily.....we struck lucky.

We couldn't have done this without striking lucky several times I think, our architect is a godsend, Ten times over the project is better because of him. We could never have afforded his normal rates, ever. I'm very lucky a friend owed me a favour and he owed a fried one and then he fell in love with our project. He's our guiding light and far too good for a house like ours! However Its an ambitious first home frankly. And slightly off putting. I went green when I read everyone else's spends. But we are ftb, we have at least twenty years and three properties in one.

Its not happened on the order I wanted because structural issues forced our hand. I wish things like heating problems had not happened. As well as costing a fortune the delay they put on things is a pita.


We want 2014 off we've decided. We have a decent kitchen( albeit without a sink still) and will have working bathroom, so we'll stop and save.

Things we might unbend for is floor in cheese room / lobby. Woodburner in study, fireplace in kitchen or a couple of windows.

Otherwise, its the year of taking stock I think.

alfie_1

i have never been one for posh houses [haha] i much prefer character to costs. id rather see a kitchen of character than a show room. id rather slob in a lounge than stand and look, i wanna splash in the bath not panic over the splashes, id rather have dog hairs than a hoover in every room...

a home is just that. where you are comfortable,relaxed [albeit maybe not in mid build]
i said to LIR re my new house..." its not really me is it" and she said " it soon will be, you will make it you"
i rest my case...

money may build it but love will MAKE it...

lostinrates

Oh alf, true,

But that house will make a home easily. And tbh I would n't mind feeling not at home in such luxury!

Cat that you are, falling on you feet! Well deserved though!

alfie_1

lostinrates wrote: »

Oh alf, true,

But that house will make a home easily. And tbh I would n't mind feeling not at home in such luxury!

Cat that you are, falling on you feet! Well deserved though!

well i have been neutered :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Rummer

Alfie your new home sounds amazing and I am so happy for you when do you move officially?

LIR I think a year to gather your thoughts (and cash) is a great idea.

We have taken a long time to do our house but the decisions we have made [STRIKE]except for the light beige carpet [/STRIKE] have been the right ones. We have quite eclectic tastes and our house is mix of styles which all work for us. Our bedroom and the kitchen are the two rooms lacking in love and attention and neither of those we can afford to decorate the way we want so we will wait [STRIKE]forever[/STRIKE] and start saving when my maternity leave is over.

What we have no excuse for however is the state of the garden It does not need money just elbow grease and sustained enthusiasm. I really do want to get it working for us however the last few years through illness, bad weather and various other things it has not reached its potential. This year however I hope to do better.

choille

We've over insulated & over engineered our house! We've used German stuff that was expensive but it will pay itself back. We actually made some of the beams as they were a ridiculous amount per metre, so we actually laminated them together & nailed them - thousands & thousands of nails.

The winds are getting stronger & longer lasting here - everywhere I suppose, so we wanted it strong.

Kitchen will be a cheapy. We acquired a 2nd hand load of cabinets free. They are very good, but don't like the doors. OH is very good at altering things - wall units can become floor units etc. I think I'll buy new doors & have seen some great ones on Wicks website that are primed ready to paint - Quaker. They are so much cheaper than I've found elsewhere.

A while back I bought new 2nd unites off Gumtree for £100 for a load that will do the utility, but I may swop what's going where - I keep changing my mind...a bit.

A guy who sells Oak flooring sent us some samples - OH uses him for some posh clients, but I think we can get some cheap posh engineered oak wide plank flooring that we'll use as skirtings & facings/window cills as well! That's the plan at the mo, but still to get the roof finished, the cladding sawn & the Rayburn here....

I do want in the house this year - I could not do another one in here.

Better_Days

alfie_1 wrote: »

https://www.gov.uk/leasehold.../extending-changing-or-ending-a-lease‎


how many years does he have left on his leasehold ? 80+ is good
79- is not so good !

oh ...durrrrrrr ! 62 years left? could be expensive

Thanks Alfie. :A I have been browsing the .gov pages and I think that I need to do a bit more research on whether or not my uncle can sort this out informally. Teh Residential Property Tribunal service may be worth contacting. I do have a horrible feeling though that it may have to be done formally with the consequential costs and time. Lets hope he gets some good advice from the Leasehold Advisory Service.

Better_Days

Have opened up the coop. Put out food and water.

But....chickens are not convinced about the benefits of fresh air and sunshine......(plus it is January and they are minus quite a few feathers)

Will give them a while then it will be time for some 'encouragement'. I would rather they went out on their own though so that they will hopefully find it easier to get back in again.

We have had our first egg though so they are keeping to the bargain.:)

lostinrates

Better days, our ex batts often don't want to go out for some time. I let them pick their time, but our 'hen house' is really big. Despite it bing January its comparatively mild, but still the poor girls, meant to have a duvet around them, will be freezing. I'd let them make their own minds up for a while, maybe reward them with something nice if they come out, like some meal worms.

phoebe1989seb

Alfie - your new place sounds fab......and with your talents you obviously won't take long to make it into a wonderful home

BD - sorry, I forgot to comment on your gorgeous girls yesterday - they look so sweet, bless them It's great that they've found a lovely new home with you and Mr BD - hope they settle in soon and start regaining their feathers :A

LIR - maybe it's down to using an independent building inspector, I don't know, but either way he did all the applying to the council and has done all the onsite visits personally to check all is being done correctly, which is what we paid him for, after all!

You are extremely fortunate to have what sounds as though it will be an amazing home as your first home, despite all the hard work it will take to get to that stage

We were very lucky in that we didn't need a mortgage to buy this place - good job too as our (previously excellent) relationship with our bank was by then not so good - not helped by the massive PPI reclaims I successfully submitted, lol - but we made a nice profit on our last-but-one house, enabling us to buy the most recent two without any borrowing

This one wasn't mortgageable anyway though - down to having been ripped out internally I guess - and previous sales had fallen through, it failed to sell at auction etc etc. We came along at the right time - although now we're intending to sell again I'm not so sure about that - and were able to seal the deal in about five weeks