Daydream thread... without the rose-tinted specs

rozeepozee

Rummer wrote: »

:j:j:jRozee is back :j:j:j you have been greatly missed

Davesnave wrote: »

Hello rozee, great to hear from you, even if you confirm my worst fears about builders every time you post! :rotfl:

You're through the worst of it now, but if the garden has had to wait, no matter, because plants are much more tolerant of neglect than animals.(or children!)

Wish I had your youth, and the stamina for caravan living in particular. I think I've worked out how we can stay in the bungalow while our work goes on over two years (with a gap for winter) but I'll have to run it past builders first.

Aw, I'm blushing. You are a lovely lot. Dave, if I had my time again, I would either do nothing (well, the bare minimum with a strict criteria of no work unless it helped to pay for itself - i.e.energy saving) or everything we have done..... But it costs. And it costs a lot. Itsme is totally right. Double your budget. And probably a bit more, if you go to town on finishes. Which we won't. Child now awake, so must dash....

Davesnave

rozeepozee wrote: »

But, on a sunny day, this is the sunset from the front gate https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/98410421/2014-03-26%2018.47.31.jpg So all can be well with the world.

Dave, having been through the buying process ourselves now, the first prpoerty looks like a go-er. If you really want to smallhold, I think this is probably the right amount of acreage.;)

Yes, 10 acres with a sound house is like chicken's teeth to find round here at that kind of price.

A friend of mine bought a wreck of a semi-detached to get the acreage and paid £315k,. Since then, he's extended and made it comfy, but he'll have spent much more than £35k and he's still not detached.

Lovely photos. It's amazing how a few sunny days and unfolding leaves can lift the spirits.:):)

Davesnave

rozeepozee wrote: »

Dave, if I had my time again, I would either do nothing (well, the bare minimum with a strict criteria of no work unless it helped to pay for itself - i.e.energy saving) or everything we have done..... But it costs. And it costs a lot. Itsme is totally right. Double your budget. And probably a bit more, if you go to town on finishes. Which we won't. Child now awake, so must dash....

I'd prefer to do less and I realise the risks, hence the two phases of work, just to make sure that we finish one end! :rotfl:
DW doesn't share my pessimism, but I guess we'll see who's right!

No fancy finishes here. We are going for one coat of primer and bare walls too.

lostinrates

Pretty sure my geese headed next door as soon as I let them out. Lucky my neighbours like them. I have their peak so we decided to be cool about free range nature of birds.

Davesnave

Car goes in again in an hour, so I'll have to whizz up to friends' house and open the greenhouse soon, as the van won't fit in there. Odd that someone can have a house worth around well in excess of 1/2 million and nowhere to easily turn a van.

They return today. I'll miss being able to borrow their garden to walk in, as it's much better than mine and I don't have to worry about maintaining it.

And before anyone says anything, no I really haven't 'borrowed' it in the physical sense! (well, apart from a bit of lemon balm, which is a weed! :rotfl:)

moneyistooshorttomention

Davesnave wrote: »

Wish I had your youth, and the stamina for caravan living in particular. I think I've worked out how we can stay in the bungalow while our work goes on over two years (with a gap for winter) but I'll have to run it past builders first.

I'd be interested to hear details of that Dave...as, I'm guessing, would a fair number of us.

The "living in a caravan" whilst its all done route is the one many (including Rozee) go down ...and I can understand why from the amount of work involved.

There's the "squatting as best you can and trying to live in the house whilst its all going on" route I'm going down (with my rather lower level of work needing doing than Rozee or Lost in Rates) and that has been causing various people to wonder how I'm managing to do it (so do I..so do I and Next Big Project is going on at the moment).

Is there a third alternative? or are you planning to rig up an indoor tent of some description. Mind now boggles thinking "Is Dave planning on setting up a yurt or similar within his 4 walls whilst his work goes on?"

EDIT: Lemon balm a weed Dave? Que? It makes some nice soothing herbal tea. One of the few herbal teas I like personally. 'Sposed to have calming effect on the nerves.

Better weather does help. Yesterday was decent weather here..for once. Thank goodness, as my nerves are about snapping at the seams from The Weather (on top of everything else) and I don't have any of that lemon balm to hand...am looking to source some at the moment. Think that, for something so easy to source, its maybe more difficult to source here with the "area history" of putting up with The Bad and fighting through it (not like us southern softies, such as myself, LOL).

lostinrates

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I'd be interested to hear details of that Dave...as, I'm guessing, would a fair number of us.

The "living in a caravan" whilst its all done route is the one many (including Rozee) go down ...and I can understand why from the amount of work involved.

There's the "squatting as best you can and trying to live in the house whilst its all going on" route I'm going down (with my rather lower level of work needing doing than Rozee or Lost in Rates) and that has been causing various people to wonder how I'm managing to do it (so do I..so do I and Next Big Project is going on at the moment).

Is there a third alternative? or are you planning to rig up an indoor tent of some description. Mind now boggles thinking "Is Dave planning on setting up a yurt or similar within his 4 walls whilst his work goes on?"

We're living in the house while it happens money.

The main problem with a big project is it takes longer. If one could afford to do it in one hit you'd find there were cost implications of living in I it because it slows things down, labour time is more expensive than camping often.


We're lucky in that phase one here ( not complete but structurally complete) could be tackled separately. Its around a third of existing floor space and was the kitchen and out door loo.

We blocked doors into it and moved kitchen in to another room( previously study, currently dumping ground , to be half of dining room and had the temporary kitchen temporarily plumbed with cold water only) .


The problem we have is order of works. Do we finish phase one to finished standard now? Or press on and tackle finish in one hit?

I see advantages to both.

Davesnave

Our bungalow has two 'halves' with bathrooms in both, Money, so it's possible to shut off one half and live in it while having the other half done. We also have a barn which will have a loo in it and a caravan with similar facilities, should we need them in extremis.

Of course, there will be times when the builders need access to the bit we are living in, but we understand that. We both suffered parents who 'did up' houses when we were children, and in those days there was no renting or camping out, because it took years.

Lemon balm grows like a weed, but it's good for wildlife. Herbs could be the sort of thing you might grow in your front garden if the locals don't fancy your broad beans. My friends have a herb garden at the front of their cottage. That was fairly buzzing with insect life yesterday.

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

Our bungalow has two 'halves' with bathrooms in both, Money, so it's possible to shut off one half and live in it while having the other half done. We also have a barn which will have a loo in it and a caravan with similar facilities, should we need them in extremis.

Of course, there will be times when the builders need access to the bit we are living in, but we understand that. We both suffered parents who 'did up' houses when we were children, and in those days there was no renting or camping out, because it took years.

Lemon balm grows like a weed, but it's good for wildlife. Herbs could be the sort of thing you might grow in your front garden if the locals don't fancy your broad beans. My friends have a herb garden at the front of their cottage. That was fairly buzzing with insect life yesterday.

It will take us years these days. Sometimes I certainly wish we had a magic wand to make great strides quickly. Other times I'm really glad we don't .

Otoh I am trying to persuade non res parent not to buy something in similar state ATM.

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

The problem we have is order of works. Do we finish phase one to finished standard now? Or press on and tackle finish in one hit?

I see advantages to both.

When we extended our last house, we made the mistake of not finishing one room, which then took years to be completed, because it was so darned useful, being full of equipment for our business.:o

So yes, the advantage of being immediately useful, but very slow and inconvenient finishing when it finally happened.

It was never actually used in the way we intended, as a children's slobbing-out and play room! :rotfl: