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Fixed budget and a lot to do, help me decide
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YORKSHIRELASS
Posts: 6,467 Forumite


After being in our house for a number of years we really need to do some work to it. We have a maximum of £10k available to spend and in no particular order this is what we want/need to do:
New kitchen
New bathroom
Re-tiling utility room and downstairs loo floors
Re-plastering living room, painting walls, new carpet and sofas
New stairs and landing carpet
Two new bedroom carpets, new furniture in one bedroom
New front door
So would you do as much as you could on the cheap. Or would you spend most of the budget on a kitchen and bathroom and wait and do the rest as and when you could afford it.
This isnt our forever home. We will probably want to move in 5-8 years time. Hubby and I are reasonably handy at DIY but have limited time to get anything done.
I suppose I am just curious to know how other people would approach this and how you would spend the budget!
New kitchen
New bathroom
Re-tiling utility room and downstairs loo floors
Re-plastering living room, painting walls, new carpet and sofas
New stairs and landing carpet
Two new bedroom carpets, new furniture in one bedroom
New front door
So would you do as much as you could on the cheap. Or would you spend most of the budget on a kitchen and bathroom and wait and do the rest as and when you could afford it.
This isnt our forever home. We will probably want to move in 5-8 years time. Hubby and I are reasonably handy at DIY but have limited time to get anything done.
I suppose I am just curious to know how other people would approach this and how you would spend the budget!
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YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »After being in our house for a number of years we really need to do some work to it. We have a maximum of £10k available to spend and in no particular order this is what we want/need to do:
New kitchen
New bathroom
Re-tiling utility room and downstairs loo floors
Re-plastering living room, painting walls, new carpet and sofas
New stairs and landing carpet
Two new bedroom carpets, new furniture in one bedroom
New front door
So would you do as much as you could on the cheap. Or would you spend most of the budget on a kitchen and bathroom and wait and do the rest as and when you could afford it.
This isnt our forever home. We will probably want to move in 5-8 years time. Hubby and I are reasonably handy at DIY but have limited time to get anything done.
I suppose I am just curious to know how other people would approach this and how you would spend the budget!
I wouldn't spend too much on the kitchen and bathroom if it's not your forever house. Purchasers won't give it the value it deserves so just make it all look clean and tidy and they won't discount the price too much.
Painting should be done every few years anyway so in 5 years it will have to be done again to put it on the market.
Carpet has a lifespan of about 8 years so if you stay 8 years you'll have to replace it again to make it look reasonably good looking. You don't need to spend much on it just enough to make it look clean for a purchaser.:footie:Regular savers earn 6% interest (HSBC, First Direct, M&S)
Loans cost 2.9% per year (Nationwide) = FREE money.
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Thanks, that fits with what I am thinking. I am very aware that once we start on one part of the house it is going to make everywhere else look really shabby. If we were to be able to make the money stretch to cover as much as possible then we can really improve the look of the whole house.
Our current kitchen and bathroom are around 15 years old and you can tell the kitchen was good quality as it has lasted really well. We are unlikely to still be in the house in 15 years time though so no point in spending a fortune on a new one.0 -
Make a detailed list, rank it and be prepared to add to it over the course of a year.
As said, turn your hand regularly to what you can do. Browse the net and magazines for ideas. Depending on your design eye, look for as much free stuff as you can and rehash it for your own use. With the kitchen consider replacing the doors or spending a bit on paint.
10k is ample. I think it could be done on less than half that. This year I built and kitted out an extension (part renovated, part new build totally 25 sq m) on less than 12k in London including cloakroom and labour"enough is a feast"...old Buddist proverb0 -
The two that stand out for me are the carpets and doors, if either is in such a condition that replacing them will make a real difference. e.g. carpets getting threadbare and therefore potentially unsafe, or front door which is draughty or relatively insecure.
Is the kitchen generally useable - perhaps just changing worktops / cabinet doors?
You will be taking furniture with you when you move, so I wouldn't buy unnecessarily cheap for that.0 -
The two that stand out for me are the carpets and doors, if either is in such a condition that replacing them will make a real difference. e.g. carpets getting threadbare and therefore potentially unsafe, or front door which is draughty or relatively insecure.
Is the kitchen generally useable - perhaps just changing worktops / cabinet doors?
You will be taking furniture with you when you move, so I wouldn't buy unnecessarily cheap for that.
Thanks, we have had endless discussions about the kitchen. The carcasses are solid enough and the doors might paint. The problem we have is that there are four little shelving units, one at the end of each run of cupboards. They have been built with this pine effect melamine which seems to have gone a nasty orange colour over the years. There are also plinths/cornices top and bottom of the cupboards in the same stuff. We have taken advice and been told that this melamine stuff probably wouldnt paint and its going to be really hard to remove it all without it damaging the cupboards.
There is a possibilility that we may be able to keep and reuse some of the carcasses and we will do this if we can.0 -
I wouldn't spend too much on the kitchen and bathroom if it's not your forever house. Purchasers won't give it the value it deserves so just make it all look clean and tidy and they won't discount the price too much.
I think the mistake would be to have the kitchen and bathroom redone but cheaply, meaning the new buyers would factor in replacement. So either get them done properly in a popular style, or have them tarted up so they suit you till you move. Or do it up as you want it, knowing you will lose money overall, but you enjoyed it for 5-8 years.
Furniture makes sense if decent quality as it lasts, but cheap furniture does not last so well.Warning: This forum may contain nuts.0 -
YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »After being in our house for a number of years we really need to do some work to it. We have a maximum of £10k available to spend and in no particular order this is what we want/need to do:
New kitchen
New bathroom
Re-tiling utility room and downstairs loo floors
Re-plastering living room, painting walls, new carpet and sofas
New stairs and landing carpet
Two new bedroom carpets, new furniture in one bedroom
New front door
So would you do as much as you could on the cheap. Or would you spend most of the budget on a kitchen and bathroom and wait and do the rest as and when you could afford it.
This isnt our forever home. We will probably want to move in 5-8 years time. Hubby and I are reasonably handy at DIY but have limited time to get anything done.
I suppose I am just curious to know how other people would approach this and how you would spend the budget!
I will be very interested to see how you get on as we are doing a big prokect similar but we are also doing a small extension downstairs and our budget for the work was £40,000 but that included the extension and full rewire and double glazing..
So far we have done the rewire and double glazing, had full central heating done and the extension is in progress to be built and plastered within the next 8 weeks.
We had a budget of £10,000 just for the kitchen and bathroom including tiles and fixtures and fittings but after researching its looking like we can do it cheaper but we want it to last as we are looking to stay in the house for the forseable futureBlessed on 18th February 2014 at 0814 with little Sarah xxx0 -
I think the mistake would be to have the kitchen and bathroom redone but cheaply, meaning the new buyers would factor in replacement. So either get them done properly in a popular style, or have them tarted up so they suit you till you move. Or do it up as you want it, knowing you will lose money overall, but you enjoyed it for 5-8 years.
Furniture makes sense if decent quality as it lasts, but cheap furniture does not last so well.
Mmm, I suppose the question here is how long does a cheap(er) kitchen last? We have just dug out some paperwork from when we bought the house and the existing kitchen and bathroom are 19 years old! They were obviously decent quality - but werent top of the range and have coped with two families growing up in the house. I would hope that in 8 years time the kitchen and bathroom would still be looking OK.
Thanks for the thoughts though, keep them coming!0 -
I'm simply thinking from my point of view, which might not be yours. When I was looking for a house a few years ago, I saw quite a few done up with a new but cheap kitchen and cheap carpet. They looked cheap, and my reaction was to factor in the cost of replacement. So I would favour sprucing up the kitchen and bathroom, rather than refits. Unless you really want a nice kitchen and bathroom of course.Warning: This forum may contain nuts.0
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Just some ideas that might help.YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »
New kitchen
Could you re-paint the bottom cupboards and then just replace the top cupboards to match? So for example, paint the bottom cupboards grey and then buy some grey and glass-fronted top cupboards? Or try IKEA their budgets kitchens are not too bad.
New bathroom
Are you good at DIY? Could you replace the bathroom yourself? We have made repairs using freezer kits and then put on service valves to make this easier to turn the water off. Just be careful you buy all the bits you need, e.g. a sink needs a sink fitting kit and you need bits to fit the toilet too that may not come with the toilet when you buy it.
Re-tiling utility room and downstairs loo floors
Do you need to put tiles down how about something as shown in the link below? They are easy to fit and hardwearing.
http://www.diy.com/nav/decor/flooring/vinyl-flooring/Colours-Finschi-Self-Adhesive-Vinyl-Tile-Antique-Oak-Effect-9956788
Re-plastering living room, painting walls, new carpet and sofas
Can you use lining paper on the walls and then paint instead of re-plastering? Also, do you need carpet? Can you lay your own wooden floor as this can be cheaper? Have you tried ebay for a second-hand sofa?
Two new bedroom carpets, new furniture in one bedroom
Look for 2nd hand furniture. Buy good wooden furniture and then sand and re-varnish or paint.
I think if you do a lot of work yourself and try and find bargins then you may be able to do all this for around £10,000 depending on the size of the rooms and carpets etc needed.
Regards,
Spider.0
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