Anyone else feel like.....

[jackpoint]

.....Petrocelli

Showing my age a little I know.

Over three years in and it's still a case of 'It'll be nice when it's done'

Ask me if I would tackle any sort of renovation again :lol:

 

[skier-hughes]

You haven't even made it passed the nappy stage yet if you compare renovation to rearing children.........................

I'm at 10 years and nearly half way through.........................

 

[mims&pip]

On the last three houses.....yes :roll:

Last one took 39 months, previous one 40 months and the one before that about ten years, lol :lol:

Trouble is we sold up each one as soon as we'd finished the work - which wasn't the initial intention as each one was originally bought with the long term in mind......otherwise we'd never have sunk so much cash - not to mention our own blood, sweat and tears - into them

Hopefully you're planning on staying there long term so you'll live to enjoy the benefits of your hard work. Pip says that our last two houses in particular have been restored purely to benefit our buyers, especially as in the case of the last house-but-one we took a huge financial hit when we sold.....

Our *mistake* is always to go overboard on quality of fixtures - Fired Earth tiles and V&B bathrooms being two prime examples - and whilst we do tend to hunt out bargains (eBay is my preferred shopping location :wink: ), and never apply champagne taste to a house that isn't worthy of it, we could easily achieve as good a finish without splashing quite as much cash - let's face it many house buyers wouldn't spot the difference between Hans Grohe Axor Montreux and something from Bathstore :roll:

Mims x

 

[Flyfisher]

You haven't even made it passed the nappy stage yet if you compare renovation to rearing children..........................

:lol: :lol: :lol:

I suppose a lot depends on the nature of the project. Ours has no timescale because we have no plans to move again. There was some urgency to fix the structural problems but since then progress has slowed down because neither of us want to work on the house every spare hour we have - we're in charge of things, not the house.

Of course, this approach is not for the feint-hearted and those who can't stand bare walls, peeling wallpaper, crumbling plaster and general untidiness, but it works for us. We're now dry, warm and have at least one comfortable bedroom and fully operational bathroom and feel there is no great rush for the other rooms. We started in 2007 and could probably have finished everything by now if we really had wanted to, but there's more to life than constant DIY so we pace ourselves.

Having said that, one of our niece's has said she'd like to take up our offer to host her wedding next year, so I can foresee a spike in activity in the coming months, which is probably not a bad thing.

 

[jackpoint]

Thanks guys, that made us chuckle :lol:
Mims, you really are getting the hang of the renovation game, 10 years down to 39 months is very impressive

 

[skier-hughes]

Fly we had the most amazing wedding for my Son in the paddock this year, this did lead to a movement in diy activity, but as it is with old properties, one thing led to another and the room I was working on wasn't finished in time. Oh well, I had two weeks off and this weekend I start again.
We had offers from both the Tipi supplier and Wedding Planner to rent our paddock for other weddings......... quite a lucrative business it appears :shock:

 

[Flyfisher]

Sounds like a good 'do'

The event will be mainly outdoors with a marquee etc and I have a year to prepare, so no real excuses. I won't need to finish everything, though it would be good to finish the remaining outside bits (some windows, wall repairs, complete limewashing etc), remove the last of the scaffolding and finish a few areas of landscaping so at least the old place looks good in the photos.

 

[skier-hughes]

Ours was all outside, we put up our marquee and they hired in a double tipi, http://www.elitetents.co.uk/ a Burrito van provided some of the food, thankfully it was super hot Saturday so we all sat outside on straw bales and we had a festival themed wedding.
I spent ages making sure the grounds were tip top and my internal project was to split the big bedroom into two smaller doubles, but I was hampered every step of the way, lots of poor service by suppliers who I've used before just kept putting me further and further behind, so I didn't get it done.

 

[Flyfisher]

Wow - he looks a lot like you!

Did you actually host the ceremony as well? I've read that private properties are unlikely to be granted a wedding venue licence as they are not usually classed as public venues and a wedding ceremony must be open to the public. So our plan is to use the village church, which is about a 10 minute walk away and just host the reception jollities.

 

[skier-hughes]

Well yes and no.
They had a legal registry office wedding ceremony with around 30 of us on a different day.
The main wedding with around 150 guests was at ours, where we had a full ceremony, a friend of his officiated and it was all written by them.
I looked at getting a licence, it's £1800. We have a structure which we could have got licensed, but you do have to open it up to anyone who wants to get married. We could of course have priced everyone out We decided £1800 could be better spent

 

[Lime]

On the last three houses.....yes :roll:

Last one took 39 months, previous one 40 months and the one before that about ten years, lol :lol:

Trouble is we sold up each one as soon as we'd finished the work - which wasn't the initial intention as each one was originally bought with the long term in mind......otherwise we'd never have sunk so much cash - not to mention our own blood, sweat and tears - into them

Hopefully you're planning on staying there long term so you'll live to enjoy the benefits of your hard work. Pip says that our last two houses in particular have been restored purely to benefit our buyers, especially as in the case of the last house-but-one we took a huge financial hit when we sold.....

Our *mistake* is always to go overboard on quality of fixtures - Fired Earth tiles and V&B bathrooms being two prime examples - and whilst we do tend to hunt out bargains (eBay is my preferred shopping location :wink: ), and never apply champagne taste to a house that isn't worthy of it, we could easily achieve as good a finish without splashing quite as much cash - let's face it many house buyers wouldn't spot the difference between Hans Grohe Axor Montreux and something from Bathstore :roll:

Mims x

Your post begs the question, why did you sell the houses you wanted to keep?
The logic of the events you describe suggest that it is the improvements you chose that made you want to sell.
Somehow, deep down, you make the houses into something you don't like.

?

 

[Flyfisher]

Well yes and no.
They had a legal registry office wedding ceremony with around 30 of us on a different day.
The main wedding with around 150 guests was at ours, where we had a full ceremony, a friend of his officiated and it was all written by them.
I looked at getting a licence, it's £1800. We have a structure which we could have got licensed, but you do have to open it up to anyone who wants to get married. We could of course have priced everyone out We decided £1800 could be better spent

Ahh - I hadn't investigated to the point of finding a price, just the restrictions and conditions. I'm with you though, £1800 could certainly be better spent! Looks like it'll be the village church then.

 

[skier-hughes]

Your post begs the question, why did you sell the houses you wanted to keep?
The logic of the events you describe suggest that it is the improvements you chose that made you want to sell.
Somehow, deep down, you make the houses into something you don't like.

?

We are in the same situation at the moment, 10 years in to our forever home, doing everything to the best of our ability and finances, we find external changes make this a different place to live. We were promised more land could be bought once we'd settled in and our neighbours liked us. Unfortunately, no land is forthcoming and as our neighbour is now 92, his children have taken over control and their plans are to sell the land for development. Of course they can't at present, it is green belt. So, what will the situation be in 10 years? Will I still ant to live in this house in 10 years? Will I want to move when I'm 10 years older? Could I afford to move in 10 years? Would I want to take up keeping animals in 10 years?

The question is, do we stay and see what happens, do we move from our forever home?

 

[Keith Bowman]

[/quote]

.......

The question is, do we stay and see what happens, do we move from our forever home?[/quote]

But would anywhere else would be immune from problems 10 years down the line?

 

[skier-hughes]

If we could surround ourselves with 10 acres or more, we'd have a bit of a buffer between us and somewhere else. If we wanted to live in the middle of a housing estate we'd have not moved here
But yes, it is something we need to think about when choosing another house!!

 

[mims&pip]

On the last three houses.....yes :roll:

Last one took 39 months, previous one 40 months and the one before that about ten years, lol :lol:

Trouble is we sold up each one as soon as we'd finished the work - which wasn't the initial intention as each one was originally bought with the long term in mind......otherwise we'd never have sunk so much cash - not to mention our own blood, sweat and tears - into them

Hopefully you're planning on staying there long term so you'll live to enjoy the benefits of your hard work. Pip says that our last two houses in particular have been restored purely to benefit our buyers, especially as in the case of the last house-but-one we took a huge financial hit when we sold.....

Our *mistake* is always to go overboard on quality of fixtures - Fired Earth tiles and V&B bathrooms being two prime examples - and whilst we do tend to hunt out bargains (eBay is my preferred shopping location :wink: ), and never apply champagne taste to a house that isn't worthy of it, we could easily achieve as good a finish without splashing quite as much cash - let's face it many house buyers wouldn't spot the difference between Hans Grohe Axor Montreux and something from Bathstore :roll:

Mims x

Your post begs the question, why did you sell the houses you wanted to keep?
The logic of the events you describe suggest that it is the improvements you chose that made you want to sell.
Somehow, deep down, you make the houses into something you don't like.

?

No, not at all Lime, quite the opposite in fact

What actually happened was that back in 2007 having spent ten years (and approaching £100k) restoring what I hoped would be our forever home (3500 sq ft Victorian villa on the South coast, crammed full of original features), Pip suffered a bout of ill-health and decided to quit the ratrace to set up his own online business. At that point he persuaded me that our very large mortgage was a millstone and as DS had recently departed for uni, it made sense to sell up, cash in and become mortgage-free.

In hindsight it was a terrible mistake - the house was beautiful, completely finished and suited our style of living perfectly, as well as being within 30 mins walk of my parents' house. It sold fairly quickly for close to asking price. Recently it was re-sold and with the exception of a couple of colour changes and the addition of an Aga, the vendors have made virtually no alterations from when it was ours.....and apart from changing the colours (their choices - yellows & blues) back to *ours* (muted greens and burgundies), I would move back there in a flash, but without a ginormous mortgage it is impossible

As we wanted a comparable-style property - ie, period with loads of character but still relatively spacious we realised to achieve this without resorting to another mortgage we would have to change area. Unfortunately we chose Essex - a lovely non-listed Tudor house that had been dismantled in the 1930s and rebuilt elsewhere with Arts & Crafts additions - and from the start we hated the location. We realised our error immediately post-completion and almost put the house straight back on the market, but instead tried to make a go of things. Whilst attempting to do so we fitted a lovely bespoke timber kitchen that I hand-painted, added two gorgeous bathrooms with V&B sanitaryware in tasteful period style and decorated (sparingly) using vintage Art Nouveau wallpapers I had been collecting for years. Unfortunately, none of this made us love the area, but if we could have picked the house up and moved it to the South we would have.....this would also have doubled its value :roll:

After three years the house was finished and it sold within two weeks to buyers who fell in love with its chocolate box looks and the amazing kitchen. We *lost* around £60k. Our buyers have been trying to sell for a year at £60k more than they paid, having done very little to the house apart from replacing a period fireplace with a yucky modern one - with no success. The kitchen and bathrooms we fitted are still in situ.

Next we bought the unmortgageable thatched, stone wreck in Wiltshire....for cash. This had been in the same ownership for twenty years, but the vendor had done little except re thatch and do some timber treatments. The house was very handsome with wonderful garden, but badly positioned on a rural A road. It also had no kitchen, a dodgy bathroom and an attached outbuilding that was literally falling down :shock:

Pip loved it, but I wasn't so sure - a thatched house in the countryside (especially as I don't drive) was not my ideal. The house, however, had bags of potential to become a lovely, comfortable, period home that would take us from our mid forties into old age. Plus it got us out of Essex!

Unfortunately at that moment our three surviving parents' health worsened (all three developed Dementias of various kinds) and my father - the last to succumb - requested that we get a wiggle on and make the house habitable for my mother to make frequent long term visits in order for him to get some well-earned peace. We therefore tackled the 'uninhabitable' issues first - removing the literally collapsing outbuilding ourselves by hand and having a kitchen extension added, for which Pip did much of the work. We used the same kitchen company as previously - a relatively inexpensive (£8k for units that required painting, which filled the smaller end of a 36' x 15' room) kitchen but added antique limestone floor tiles (Fired Earth copies found on eBay at a fraction of the cost) and fixtures found on fleabay (a £2k chandelier from a Mayfair house for £200 ).

My father fell, went into a nursing home and died 18 months later. Pip's father also died. My mother lost 22% of her body weight in the nursing home and her dementia became severe We had hoped to bring her home, but were advised against. All the while we were painstakingly restoring our house to a lovely country home, mostly DIY again using quality traditional and timeless fixtures, but with little eclectic touches that give the *wow* factor - we HATE inappropriate, tasteless, contemporary style, but the road noise was unbearable and the house (three storeys) shook every time a large vehicle passed by.

By the time we had racked up £100k in expenditure from our savings - and increased the square footage from 2000 to 2500 sq ft of habitable space - we realised that whatever we threw at it, the road would never go away - although if it were not there this would have been Pip's dream home - so we finished off a few outstanding jobs (new heating system with cast iron rads, oak flooring through the three receptions to replace the bare concrete and replacing fireplaces where they had been removed) and put it on the market.

Our buyers - a family from the nearest market town three miles away - fell in love with the character, the space and most of all, our finishes. The wife (fwiw, a published writer of popular fiction for children) burst into tears on the viewing and offered asking price to us on the spot - her husband wasn't even there! They admitted they could never have afforded it had it been in a more peaceful location which would have added around £200k to the price tag. Over and above our restoration/build costs we made a small (£35k?) profit.

We bought our current house in December. An 1850s house with arts & crafts extension added in the 1920s. It was love at first sight.....the trade-off being that it's located in the West Midlands, which to get what we wanted - detached, large garden for our dogs, character - was one of the few places we could afford, whilst leaving us with some savings for the inevitable work that would be required.

We both adore the house and garden. It suits our style and things we collect perfectly. More importantly - apart from ghastly woodchip on walls and ceilings - it has barely been touched for many years. It could be amazing if we employ the finishes we usually do.

My mother passed away in March. DS lives on the South coast. We miss him like crazy. I am completely depressed and lonely. Have started the work, but not sure if we have the stamina or heart to continue. If we sell now, chances are we will make a hefty loss as prices are not rising here. We could barely afford a flat in the location of the first house now as prices have risen exponentially. We put our souls (and very many man hours) into the last three houses and for what? Lots of admiring comments and quick sales, but despite knowing we rescued three unloved gems and restored them to glory we are not happy.

Our biggest mistake? To let our hearts rule our heads when buying......we would never make successful property developers

A very sad Mims x

 

[mims&pip]

Meant to add - super wedding pics, skier-hughes.....the happy couple look extremely.......happy

I feel for you guys and empathise with your house situation, btw......

Mims x

 

[88v8]

DS lives on the South coast. We miss him like crazy. I am completely depressed and lonely. Have started the work, but not sure if we have the stamina or heart to continue. If we sell now, chances are we will make a hefty loss as prices are not rising here. We could barely afford a flat in the location of the first house now as prices have risen exponentially. We put our souls (and very many man hours) into the last three houses and for what? Lots of admiring comments and quick sales, but despite knowing we rescued three unloved gems and restored them to glory we are not happy.

Our biggest mistake? To let our hearts rule our heads when buying......we would never make successful property developers

A very sad Mims x

I put 30,000 hours into our previous house. As I've said before. Then 'progress' came along. The sort of 'progress' or which Osborne is so fond. I couldn't move the house so we decamped to a chocolate-box thatched cottage which had thankfully escaped modernisation and has a fabulous garden and a location so peaceful that we can hear the frogs in our pond 100 feet away.
Am I entirely happy? No. It's too small for two cluttermongers, and somewhat damp and the low beams that seemed so quaint annoy me when I hit my head.
And there's more to do here than I really wanted, given how slow I am.
And I worry that the land opposite might sprout houses, and our three quiet neighbours 200 yd up the lane might move - one indeed has their house up for sale, well she is 84 - and be replaced by inconsiderates who would destroy the peace that is a cornerstone of the rationale for living here.

But I think the reality is there are other causes for my unhappiness, and wherever we lived I could find something to be unhappy about.
Perhaps the time I spent on the house was a weird form of escapism.

It is hard to find the right house in the right place, so many are spoilt or surrounded by tat or increasingly threatened with the arrival of tat. We looked for more than two years across six counties to find this cottage.
If the location does not suit you, then move, but is anywhere really safe from Philistines?
You cannot spend your life pining after DS. He might move abroad, or worse. Essex.....
You must make your own life.
Go slower with the house. You are young. It doesn't have to be a race.

Easy to say.

Ivor

 

[plasticpigeon]

Dear oh dear Mims, that doesn't sound good. I wish you had chosen a house where I would like to live, I would be an ideal buyer. I feel like I am doing up my little place for the next owner to destroy but I am cursed. i feel a house is such a relection of its owner that I couldn't bear people thinking I had chosen to make it cheap and gauche so i plod on pouring in too much time and money. By the way who is DS? To me DS is a vintage Citroen car.

 

[Flyfisher]

But I think the reality is there are other causes for my unhappiness, and wherever we lived I could find something to be unhappy about.

Have you seen the BBC film 'Marvellous'? It contains a wonderful line by the main character: "I always wanted to be happy, so I decided to be."