doing up a house on a budget

bexster1975

Do ask the management company for a written list of what they are responsible for. Trust me, they won't have replaced the Windows voluntarily! They might be your problem, but I'd check first.

Bexster

frosty

I always do things as cheaply as possible,I see it as a challenge.
I always buy as much as possible from charity shops and car boots.
I have just started doing Airbnb and the flat I am letting is 90 percent charity shop.
If you want to have a look Google Airbnb and put Ellon Aberdeenshire in search box,mine is the photo with a double bed with a red throw and green towels.A lot of things were only £1 or given to me.

System

Do you know anyone with carpentry skills? Husband bought me a second hand kitchen from eBay and made it to fit.

oystercatcher

With carpets / flooring and windows I have found that small locally owned companies are vastly cheaper than the big national companies . I am talking about approximately half the price for similar products. Just think if they are advertising on TV and national newspapers who is paying for that...the customers. So ask around for local companies that people are using and hopefully you will be pleasantly surprised at the comparison .

This is a brilliant time to be educating your daughter on money management. Involve her in choices and explain the costs and discuss how much better it is to wait and save for things rather than borrowing and paying interest. Show her how something secondhand can be better quality than a cheap brand new item. Maybe let her help with decorating and furniture renovation so she will be proud of the things she has helped create, and maybe will take better care of them too !

We have several furniture reuse charities near us and they have some lovely things in, it's worth looking, watching and waiting for what you need to appear.

Good luck with your new home.

[Deleted User]

My first owner occupied home back in 1971 we had a carpet square from an off cut which we fitted vinyl tiles around as we couldn't affford wall to wall carpets My kids weren't fussed we had moved from a grotty south London flat with damp dripping walls and a serious mouse problem. We moved into a victorian bay fronted money pit with no central heating ,double glazing or inside loo but it was ours and our own front door was just wonderful

GlasweJen

As long as your daughters room is decorated then everything else can wait. I wouldn't be running to fit a new kitchen, they're expensive and shouldn't be rushed into.

Your daughter won't mind as long as she has somewhere she can retreat to.

We also bought a fixer upper (more of an absolute nightmare) and have saved money by using an independent carpet company who allowed us to buy our upstairs carpets as one order then cut it to fit the three bedrooms, they also stored it for us until we were ready for them to fit. We saved a lot by fitting our own gripper rod.

You can learn a lot on YouTube, husband has learned loads and borrowed tools. Obviously some things need a professional (especially gas) but things like changing over light fittings, removing and changing the bath panel, demolishing an old built in wardrobe and a few other things have all been done by online tutorials.

Charity shops are fab, we've found loads of nice pieces in charity shops. I'm not sure if this is a local thing but Emmaus charity warehouse sales have been excellent for us.

Tink_04

We moved last year and have just done a room at a time best we can - not fully refurbished but painted and new curtains etc so it looks like ours!

We have been doing the big jobs outside in - we had the drive paved and a fence put up for security etc. We are saving for a new roof - then new windows. I think that in winter it doesn't matter what the kitchen looks like if the house is cold and damp!

We still have the old kitchen in and I hate it but I need other things done first! I have the rest of my life to make things pretty!

Good luck

Tink

jk0

I seem to recall the bathroom carpet in my first flat was someone's waste pieces held together with duct tape. It was done well though, and I never realised until I replaced it.

timehastoldme

Modular kitchens can be a lot cheaper than fitted, and way easier to install or remove when you want to upgrade. We gutted our kitchen a couple of years ago. I bought tiles on sale, and tiled the walls myself (hate grouting), and then used old school lab benches for kitchen units and work tops. Installed shelves underneath and have the whole shebang covered with vintage sanderson curtains from the charity shop. We've got open shelves for extra storage. The only actual cupboard in there is the one that holds the sink (black stone thing, eBay) which we also fitted. That's got a matching curtain in front and wooden worktop (ikea).

It's not everyone's ideal kitchen, but it's perfect for us. if you're comfortable gutting the kitchen, have a Pinterest search and eBay trawl for modular pieces that might work for you.

[Deleted User]

Only other thing I would do is when you start to decorate start at the top of the house and work down