Anyone else feel like.....

[mims&pip]

Thanks Ivor and PP

Ivor, you've actually made me feel much better......I seriously think we haven't had enough *us* time over the past few years, what with one thing and another and perhaps we just need to take a bit of time to enjoy what we're blessed with for a while

I'm not going to post another essay, but suffice to say that your words were very comforting.

Mims x

PS *DS* in this particular case is our *darling son*, PP :wink:

PPS Sorry to hear you have still not truly settled either Ivor, perhaps we both need to watch that film FF referred to!

 

[Flyfisher]

. . . perhaps we both need to watch that film FF referred to!

I can highly recommend it. Here's a trailer: https://storify.com/KeeleUniversity/marvellous-neil-baldwin-s-story/elements/e17159439d11f781945db171

 

[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.

?

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

I'm sorry if my post caused you further distress.
Personally I will always regret moving from my house in London, Ealing common to be precise.
It was everything I liked about a house in the suburbs of a city.
It was far enough away from Central London, in a nice relatively quiet area but a short walk from Ealing Broadway and well-served with 3 tube lines into the West End.
It was a Victorian (1870) large double-fronted detached house with 3 floors and a cellar in about 1/4 acre.
My mother originally bought it when I was 12 with the compensation that she received as a result of my father's death.
She died in the early 70s and my sister and I inherited it.
Unfortunately my sister had recently married to someone who turned out to be a crook and who brought nothing but trouble to her and myself.
I couldn't stand living with them so we sold up.

The house next door to it was up for sale a few years ago.
It was almost identical being a mirror image of our old home.
It was said to be run-down but unfortunately I couldn't afford the £4,500,000 they wanted for it.
If I had had the money I'd have bought it like a shot.
A few years before that another similar house in the road had been up for sale for £6,500,000 so it was a snip really.

 

[mims&pip]

Hi Lime

No worries.....I guess I was just feeling particularly grumpy that day and it seemed as though you were insinuating that we chose to decorate our homes with tasteless tat, which couldn't be further from the truth :lol:

Mims x

 

[Lime]

Hi Lime

No worries.....I guess I was just feeling particularly grumpy that day and it seemed as though you were insinuating that we chose to decorate our homes with tasteless tat, which couldn't be further from the truth :lol:

Mims x

No I wasn't suggesting that.
But from what I've seen quite regularly over the years is that people often buy a property claiming they like a particular aspect of the house prior to purchase then change what they said they liked completely and usually not for the better.
I think it is the difference between liking something on sight, usually unusual, and having to live with it.
Alternatively there are a lot of people who really do not want an old house's interior as shown by so many makeovers at estate agents and on TV.

 

[Flyfisher]

Alternatively there are a lot of people who really do not want an old house's interior as shown by so many makeovers at estate agents and on TV.

You're probably right and if so it's been going on for a long time - including the purchasers of our 1550 tudor house who then proceeded to block up original windows, hack the close-studded oak frame to pieces and damage the original wattle&daub panels to insert large sash windows and then render over the entire front facade to give it a 'Georgian makeover'. But that was a few hundred years ago and there was no LBC to prevent such abominations. :wink:

 

[mims&pip]

Alternatively there are a lot of people who really do not want an old house's interior as shown by so many makeovers at estate agents and on TV.

You're probably right and if so it's been going on for a long time - including the purchasers of our 1550 tudor house who then proceeded to block up original windows, hack the close-studded oak frame to pieces and damage the original wattle&daub panels to insert large sash windows and then render over the entire front facade to give it a 'Georgian makeover'. But that was a few hundred years ago and there was no LBC to prevent such abominations. :wink:

Agreed FF :roll:

Although in the case of the previous owner of our last house (in Wilts), it was more a case of taking a Georgian house and trying to make it more cottage-y by exposing every beam (and adding more - admittedly very authentic looking real old timber ones - he was a skilled joiner, so thankfully none of those fake things you can buy!), removing virtually all the original lime plaster internally to expose the Shaftesbury Greenstone walls and creating a vast inglenook complete with faux bread oven :roll:

I think it was an attempt to make it more like the house of some friends of ours in the same village - a rambling, 16th century low-ceilinged (non-listed) cottage with some fantastic original features.

As our house - despite being one of only four period thatched properties in the village - was also not listed, he was able to *get away* with it, but it was clear from the bones of our house that it was a much later and significantly grander building that was not suited to the Disney-style exposed stone walls of neighbouring and considerably smaller, farm workers' cottages......

You could argue that if we wanted smooth-plastered rooms with fire surrounds in order to hang wallpaper and display our pictures/decorative objects, why buy a house with not a plastered wall in sight and faux bresumer beams etc, but we saw our job as restoring the house to its rural Georgian splendour and (where feasible) undoing the violations of the misguided PO

Mims x

 

[plasticpigeon]

The problem seems to be putting in a vast amount of effort to make a place beautiful and then move before the fruits of the labour have been appreciated for long enough for the effort to have been forgotten. I'm doing that here. Maybe we will stay a while but i'm sure we will move. I massively regret not buying a 5 bed Victorian Gothic house in a slightly rough end of town but very near my favourite jazz club. The house was a bit run down but even came with 2 complete norton motorcycles in the cellar and a sprawling workshop with lathe, mill, shaper, extensive workbench etc. It was amazing and even had the original bread ovens in the kitchen and pretty much every feature left as the day it was made apart from some weird choices of paint colours. I know putting effort into that place would have been worth while as I don't think I would have wanted for anything else, but my other half hated it so it was not to be.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-pr...l?prop=33078287&sale=23148978&country=england

 

[mims&pip]

Hi Lime

No worries.....I guess I was just feeling particularly grumpy that day and it seemed as though you were insinuating that we chose to decorate our homes with tasteless tat, which couldn't be further from the truth :lol:

Mims x

No I wasn't suggesting that.
But from what I've seen quite regularly over the years is that people often buy a property claiming they like a particular aspect of the house prior to purchase then change what they said they liked completely and usually not for the better.
I think it is the difference between liking something on sight, usually unusual, and having to live with it.
Alternatively there are a lot of people who really do not want an old house's interior as shown by so many makeovers at estate agents and on TV.

A prime example being our current (1850s) house. Another couple who were not proceed-able had already offered when we viewed. After our offer had been accepted the EA emailed us a quote the other couple had obtained for alterations to the property, thinking it might be of use to us. These included removing chimney breasts, removing the main staircase (there is a secondary staircase added in the 1920s when the house was extended) in order to create a much larger kitchen and general wall-removal in order to create a contemporary open plan feel. We were shocked as the charm of this house is the 'warren' of rooms, some of which are admittedly of quite petite proportions, but that was one of the reasons the place was attractive to us.......

The kitchen is small by current standards and much tinier than that at our previous house, but rather than knocking down walls and removing staircases to create a more user-friendly, but totally out-of-character space, we have opted to fit our new kitchen in one of the three reception rooms whilst retaining the original kitchen as a utility/pantry, thus allowing the 1850s footprint to remain.

As for removing chimney breasts......shudder :x

Mims x