To TTC or not to TTC, that is one of the many questions...

Oooh, don't mind if I do! Have a browse, I mean.

I like some of the more simple stuff, and think a proper look will be a good idea with a view to DH's studio space. That space in particular needs to be unfussy and simple, with lots of durable storage. (I cannot stand Ikea either!) Thanks for the link.

We have, as you may be able to work out from the pics of our house, a lovely leather sofa (and the sofabed thing from the lounge will be relagated to the attic in the new house) and need to find a chair to go with it. The Cambridge Street house at the moment has a HUGE sofa and chairs in it which makes the room look far smaller than it is. We want to go the opposite. These chair's, the leather one's, are wonderful although way out of our budget. I like leather (quality stuff though, not DFS!) as it wears well and, with dogs and cats in the house, this is A Very Good Thing.

There is also some amazing horses wallpaper by Patterns Farrow and Ball which would be amazing in the bathroom - we want to panel half the wall and then have patterned wallpaper on the other half, otherwise it would be too much. Know horses is an odd choice but, trust me, it'll work!

I think its going to be lovely, I can totally see it all stripped out and brought up to date. You are right, I think, with keeping it simple. The features will speak for themselves, then.

Im not sure if this is your taste but Ive been having a look recently and it seems full of reasonable bits and pieces.

Thank you, I'm glad you like it too! I showed someone the details at work and she looked at me like I had gone mad!

One thing we really noticed was it had a 'good feel' about it. I think with buying a house you just know and we did with this one (well, we did the second time we saw it - after seeing the rest of the crap out there this one seems like an utter bargain despite the amount of work!)

The kitchen to me is the most important room in the house so I am delighted we have found a house with room for a table etc. We are going to rip out the gas fire and put a wood burner in, and the kitchen will be quite plain and pastels. (I have a pic on my phone of a kitchen we both liked - simple but with character is the way to go we both feel!)

There are lots of features like the stained glass window too, we noticed more and more as we looked around the second time. And if you look on the street view link you can see it's surrounded by beautiful countryside so the lack of big garden is no big deal.

And yes, this is our sorting out house! And appreciate your enthusiasm on the streetname too!

Am now getting carried away with colour schemes and decoration! Where's SeaGreen when you need her with her amazing links?!

Oooo, I love it. Its screaming 'potential' isnt it? The window on the landing is gorgeous and could be a real feature. I see what you mean about the bathroom suite but that is easily sorted, like you say. The kitchen is a good size, with room for a table, which is great.

Like you say, this house is about more than moving from one place to another, its about the chance to get sorted and set for the future.

As for there being only two of you....Im saying nothing!

(I love the street name, I think its a positive sign )

This is the house we are hopefully buying in Hebden. As you can see, it needs a shit load of work! The other one's we saw in this price range were grim - dark, tiny kitchens, no open space, main roads etc. Also, although the others had, allegedly, two bedrooms the second bedroom was generally in the attic and often had hardly any head room. This house, the one on the link, has a proper attic space which can be converted into half studio for DH and the other half can be the spare bedroom. When, or if, we sell it we can easily make it two beds but the plan is to live there and save save save and then we can afford our rambling country farmhouse.

If we didn't have the debts we could stay in our current home with no issues at all but that's not really an option. Once this house does sell we'll be debt free and be able to save and hopefully move in 3 or 4 years.

Also, as we keep saying to ourselves, there is only two of us so how much room do we need...?!

Yup - we will have to put down a bigger deposit for the new house than we thought too, which means less money to do it up with. Not sure quite what our budget will be, it just depends on what we get offered and decide to accept on this one. On one hand it would be nice to hang on a bit but on the other the quicker we get out of here and resolve all our debts the better.

It's only been on the market two and a bit months but it feels like FAR longer!

Thank you - SO WHY HAS NO BUGGER PUT IN A BLEEDIN' OFFER THEN?!

Just procrastinating re. revision but had to say what an amazing house!! So gorgeous. Makes ours feel like the scruffy, cluttered, cramped house it is (and it isn't even that cramped really)! V. sadly, though our house is actually quite nice POTENTIALLY, the bathroom is and forever will be tiny - there is nowhere else for it to go. But this has inspired me to redo and decorate it, which needs to happen urgently (once the exams are out of the way). (Also to throw away half our possessions but I know I won't go through with that, perfectly doable as it would be!) Anyway, if I was a viewer, confused, I would be badgering DH from the moment of leaving the doorstep for us to put in an offer IMMEDIATELY!

That is exactly what we plan to do - strip the house out and do it room by room. We also have plenty of offers of help, although I know from experience that these are not neccessarily 100% likely to happen.

Not sure if he did know much about her dissertation to be honest. He, until recently, worked for HSBC (he has worked there since leaving school and was laid off aged 52 last October) and her dissertation is on branding (advertising.)

They are very involved parents, yes. They absolutely adore their kids but I feel as if it's bordering on the clastrophobic myself.

Imagine how satisfying it will be as you strip the house out and then complete it room by room. Putting your own stuff into storage is such a good idea, then you can view the space with completely fresh eyes and decide what to bring back in.

Cripes, thats a long time on the phone. I assume he can help her with the dissertation, that its something he knows about, otherwise it might be a bit crap! They do sound like very involved parents, maybe once the girls have left 'school' and start work the strings will loosen.

Nope, we're going to take a matress and some clothes and stay at the house, but only have the absolute minimum there. We can also de-camp to my mum's or various friends if the mood takes us so it's not like we'll have nowhere else to go.

White and cream can work very well and be reasonably practical depending on where you put it. Personally, I love a bit of colour but not too much; it has to be used wisely - our purple, yellow, pink and white kitchen is a good example.

BIL was on the phone to his middle daughter from 12.30 to 3.15 going through her dissertation. And, it was his idea, not her's. Back seat parenting strikes again, but I think they need to let go a bit. (They used to go and stay with both their daughters once a month or so when they went to uni - I would have thought a hotel would have been a better option, and then perhaps once a term but, hey, what do I know?)

I've been drooling over house decorating in a mag I bought on Friday (told you I am an addict!). The bathrooms are gorgeous, all massive showers, stand alone baths and immaculate tiles. It's all vicarious for me at the moment, as our house buying is still on hold. Hmmm, feel like I'm watching life rather than participating in it for now, with careers, babies and houses all being seen from afar!

The 'mood board' sounds like a good idea to focus your mind and sort out what you want to do. My taste runs to white and cream, which I guess isn't very practical, but as it's only a fantasy, it doesn't matter!

Are you going to rent somewhere while doing the work?

Very busy indeed, which is why I want to get moving asap! I am most excited about the bathroom. As it is currently the spare bedroom it's actually quite big for a bathroom (although we wouldn't entertain the idea of keeping the bathroom in it's current place which is the attic) so we can be quite creative and not have the usual space issues you can often get with bathrooms. Also, most of the rooms still have the original fireplaces in and hopefully other original features to so we will be making the most of them.

We are not going to move in but will instead put most of our stuff in storage so we don't have to spend time moving stuff or getting our stuff dirty. Also, as our current house has bigger rooms moving everything in immediately would make it seem super cramped before we do things like make fitted cupboards and so on (the cupboards in the main room of the kitchen, the aubergine coloured one's, DH made and we'll probably do similar in the new house.)

Yes, I agree that you can pick up all manner of things on MN - some details are more welcome than others though!

It's amazing what a few months on MN can allow you to pick up!

The new house being in such an outdated state means you can just wade in with the skip and chuck the lot out, and redo everything how you want it. Perfect! And you obviously have an eye for it, going by your current place. The next six months look like they are going to be busy!

I do empathise with the lack of shower facilities! Especially when you have visitors, it's so much easier and quicker. Luxurious bubble baths are all very well when you have an evening free but they are not ideal for first thing in the morning!

Yup, we will be able to do what we want with it (money allowing but it will come together eventually) and it will be lovely. As there is not one part of the house which doesn't need ripping out (it has balding swirly carpets, lime green peeling wallpaper, hardboard covered doors and bannisters and so on) we feel more inclined to get stuck in and do as much as we possibly can. Have been putting together pics of stuff we like the look of (need to keep it reasonably simple for most of the house to make it appear bigger) and DH is very practical (if a little slow) so we'll get there.

I don't want to think about dildocams. It has made me feel rather faint!

Apparently they mount the camera-jobby on the end of a probe (ie dildo) and use it to get a better view of the old innards. It's probably not as bad as it sounds....regardless, let's hope that isn't mentioned!! My bleeding may miraculously clear up if it is

We don't have a shower either, and this very morning I was hanging my head over the bath washing my hair. It bloody kills my back these days. When we buy, we definitely want a shower, at least a shower head. I'm getting too old for a jug of water and an aching neck!

It's so exciting that you are going to redo a house how you want it. Hopefully things will get moving soon and you can crack on.

Cross post! Cheeky git indeed! I was especially irritated by the complete redecoration bit - and how would he even know if it had to re-wired and so on. Did he stay for a bath?!

Tsk!

DILDOCAMS?!

Dear god!

I used to love our bathroom but would now give my right arm for a bloody shower! So much quicker (the bath takes 10 mins just to run it) and easier - bending over the bath to wash my hair isn't one of my favourite jobs I have to say! With our new house we're going to get the same bath but will also have the space (and cash to install) a seperate shower as the bathroom will be in what is currently the spare bedroom (the bathroom in the new house is, weirdly, in the attic at the moment and is a lovely shade of avocado... cracked avocado at that!)

Can't wait to rip into it though and start doing it up. It can't come soon enough!

Cheeky git, I'm glad you told him to get stuffed. I'm all for realistic pricing but that's just stupid. Complete redecoration indeed

Hopefully will be referred for a nice dignified blood test. Have seen mentions on other threads about dildocams, and poor LST must have endured all manner of prodding during the last few months. At least in labour you are 1. In pain and 2. Expecting to get it all out.

Still having bathroom envy over your lovely bath.

Yup, it's ours and that's the kitchen that took forever to do! (We had to damp-proof the smaller bit off the kitchen so the contents of that smaller bit were all in the bigger bit - it was horrendous!)

I do love it but the next house will be just as lovely. It's admittedly not as big room-wise, but it's on three floors so actually has the same amount of floor space if you add it all up.

It's hard not to take things personally when you get feedback from the people who've come to see it. One man, who the agent said was very odd anyway, said he was potentially interested but only if we could provide a quote for 'complete re-wiring, re-plumbing and re-decoration.' Humph! Needless to say, we didn't bother! I think he was trying to invent problems so he could get it for silly money as he had done the same with a house on for £295,000 - he offered £190,000 and, funnily enough, got turned down...!

We are wondering if it is the couple who have already been to see it three times. They had an air about them that seemed to suggest they were double checking rather than seeing it for the first time. I do hope so as really want to move now asap. Don't feel as if this house is our own any more - not with all these people traipsing through it and having to be ridiculously tidy.

Poked and prodded - ugh! Am with you there but hopefully it will be the quickest prod and poke (!) you've ever had! That's the (one of the) things that gets me about having a baby - half the world looking up your gussett. And, more so, the fact that you don't care!! Christ, what must it be like for you not to care when you're in a compromising legs akimbo position?

Euw!

OMG - is that your house?! It's gorrrrgeous! I love the kitchen, and it looks so spacious and well decorated!

Watch out, I'll be putting an offer in!!

Hopefully they will come back or contact the estate agent for a proper look. I bet it's common for people to have an unofficial look at a house and area before making an appointment. Fingers crossed! Or indeed GOOD LUKC!

Thanks so much for looking into it for me. Looks like it is a common problem. Whilst I can't recall my source for the sickiness info, I'm sure I read it somewhere . It seems the best thing to do is see a doctor. I hope she does want to do something to look into it, although I'm not in love with the idea of being poked and prodded.