Hold my hand: pregnant and moving into a 1950s time machine

PasturesNew

Overall that house looks in perfect nick compared to some of the grubby holes that are in my budget.

Given the choice I'd like a 1960s kitchen, where the base unit was 3-units long with sliding doors and inside it's just one looooooong shelf top and bottom where you can move things about and everything fits and you can see everything. All this modern "tiny single base units" so many cheap developers throw into a house simply don't house things well.

I also dislike integrated appliances so feel I'd be paying for something somebody else chose that doesn't in any way fit my choice/needs, so it's useless.

I like good stand alone appliances... you know where you are with those if they need to be pulled out, or replaced.

melanzana

That house is lovely, Retro Heaven!

But I do realise that some things need to be brought up to modern standards like electrics and plumbing and so on.

I live in a late 50s house. It is just so solid and soundproofed, mind you we did have to change a few things, not that much though in the end. Bigger gardens, tree lined roads. Yep.

Sorry I have no help for your dilemma, but enjoyed looking at the pics!

Wishing you the best of luck.

Dottles1

Wow what a fabulous house, congratulations. I can imagine an Agatha Christie plot in the living room. I have moved a few times, the last being a year ago. I always call on anyone available to help with packing and moving and ordered pizzas for the helpers at the end of the day. First job is always to get the beds up and made and I agree with Herbily, have the kettle handy, take it in the car with you so you know where it is.
Good luck with the move and the baby, I'm sure you will make many happy memories in your new home.

Busy_Mee1

Top tips for moving house from Me:

Use blue Ikea bags for bedding, and towels,
Wrap breakables in tea towels and hand towels,
Borrow as many suit/dry cleaning bags as you can to transport clothes on hangers. Keeps them together and clean,
Use freestanding hanging rails until you sort wardrobes and storage out.
A George Forman grill, microwave and kettle work well if your cooker isn't up to scratch. We managed with these for 12 months until our kitchen was done.

Your first job when you arrive (after putting the kettle on ) should be to set up and make your beds. You will be shattered and everything else can be unpacked over a number of days/weeks.

Get as much help as you can from family and friends- play your pregnancy card for all it is worth !

And above all enjoy, you have bought an absolute gem.

MandM90

Thanks all for great advice.

Lovely neighbour brought loads of boxes down - that's what I'll miss most about this place...the neighbours! Though a few of the new ones I've met at dinner parties because they've moved from this road to the new one!!

Managed to pack one box of books so far. It's a start!

joedenise

That looks a lovely house, huge rooms with high ceilings. I'm jealous!

For our last move we decided to employ a company to pack everything and move it for us. We just packed a box of essentials - tea, coffee, milk, teapot, cups, a teaspoon, kettle, tea towels & hand towel.

They numbered the boxes and what rooms they were from and on arrival at our here we asked them to put all the boxes in one room and furniture into the correct rooms, ie our bed into main bedroom, spare bed into 2nd bedroom, suite into living room etc.

We could then sort out the boxes at our leisure. We moved on a Friday and both took the Friday and Monday off and managed to sort most of the boxes out in that time.

It was certainly easier than doing it all ourselves which we'd done previously.

Yes it costs more but it was so much easier.

PollyWollyDoodle

Essentials box: kettle, mugs, tea, coffee etc.

This should also include: corkscrew and bottle opener, kitchen roll, j-cloths and washing-up liquid for any urgent cleaning or spills. Anti-bac spray might be handy too. Some heavy-duty tape, and at least two screwdrivers (Phillips and ordinary) a pair of scissors and a Stanley knife or similar. Notepad for jotting things down on. Phone charger and a couple of adaptor plugs because I guarantee there won't be enough sockets in the new kitchen. Spare lightbulb just in case any are missing/broken. I'd also have some sandwiches/snack bars and crisps in the box, and a leaflet for your nearest takeaway!


Although we all have these things on our phone these days, it might be worth typing out and printing a list of essential numbers: solicitor, estate agent, removal company, anyone else involved in the move so it is easily accessible.



I also endorse the advice above, have clean bedding and towels in a bag and make the beds up AS SOON as they are up, don't leave it till you want to collapse into it.


My other piece of advice is - don't feel you have to do it all on the first day. Get it liveable - working kitchen, access to essential clothes and so on - and then take an afternoon off if you can, go out somewhere and do normal family things, you will enjoy being in the house much more when you get back. The house looks fabulous, and I hope you'll be very happy there.

oldtractor

Lovely house and there is so much in there that is lovely, the bathroom, the furniture i'd keep it all

K9sandFelines

MandM90 wrote: »

The kitchen will definitely stay as is for a few more years. I was thinking I might be able to respray the cabinetry and get some vinyl flooring down. The vinyl on the wall will have to go though, it's yellowing and peeling (and I hate it) so think we'll strip and paint.

We live in a town that was famous for furniture making and the house and garage is stuffed with parker knoll, G plan etc. Hoping to use some of it, but I'm likely not to keep the upholstered 3 piece suite and bedroom furniture as we have our own good quality stuff. I doubt anyone will be interested in ancient year old upholstered furniture (though I'll certainly try) so they may have to be skipped. The curtained kidney shaped dressing tables will go to a retro-loving home, I'm sure!

Its very sought after, look at groups on Facebook (when you are resting)!

MandM90

We are hoping to exchange next week and complete the week after. We shall see.

Buyer is having the survey tomorrow, but attending survey, and I've sent her the independent one we commissioned 4 years ago. The surveyors have promised to return the survey early next week. Fingers crossed!!

Meanwhile, I'm still not sure I believe it's happening. We have boxes, a couple are packed, but luckily we're pretty minimalist and in small 800sqft house so it shouldn't take ages to pack.

Tonight's job: madly clean the house and make it look presentable. Both the surveyor and the buyer will be here tomorrow. I said she could come and look at white goods (which we're offering to sell) and measure up. So we I'd like to:

Tonight:
Tidy all rooms
Get all laundry down and put away
Hoover and mop
Clean bathrooms
Give white goods a swizz (outside of all of them, run bleach wash on washing machine, wipe and reorganise fridge, run empty dishwasher)

Morning:
Shut cat flap (weather looks neither rainy nor baking so not feeling guilty about that!)
Make sure kitchen is perfect
Change bedsheets (need doing anyway - plus they're white and the black cats have been sleeping on them!)

There are boxes in the dining room but not much I can do about that except to stack them neatly!

I'm hoping if it's still nice and shiny and pretty looking it'll help spur the buyer on to get it sorted quickly.

Right now I'm feeling concerned about booking removers as there's still no date! Hopefully the buyer is fine to go ahead after the survey, after which we can discuss a date to aim for and I can get a removal company to pencil it in.

On the upside, my morning sickness and extreme fatigue is subsiding somewhat!