Has anyone downsized and is now happy in a smaller house?

[ApolloandDaphne]

DH and I would like it downsize as our 4 bed family house is too big for us now our DDs are grown up. I think i want something small and cosy and easy to clean. In my head this will be lovely but I have a faint niggle that i may miss all the space we have now (but i will NOT hate less cleaning).

Has anyone downsized and want to share with me their experiences good or bad? I need to know what would be good to bear in mind. Thanks.

We downsized from a large old pile in the country only one DS at home now and he is off to uni. next year.

It is amazing. I can keep it clean so easily. No more mud being dragged in, a manageable garden. I did have to get rid of a lot of furniture, sentimental value but you know what I can hardly recall it two years on and I had the fun of buying stuff more suited to this home.

I should add we now have a small co-op down the road rather than it being a major trek to the shops.

It is so cheap to heat a smaller, more modern property. Instant hot water was a novelty for a long time.

We moved from BIG rooms big house to small rooms small house
We are moving again soon to BIG rooms even BIGGER house haha

Been a nightmare

That sounds great Madmum. We live in the country with a massive garden too. DH can't look after it at all and i don't like gardening. He hankers after a neat little pottering garden. I just want somewhere to drink a glass of wine in the summer! We also don't have any street lighting here so i can't take the dog out later in the day during the winter which is a pain in the arse.

Hmm QOU That doesn't sound so good though. Maybe i need to not go too small then!

I ponder the same question OP, in truth I only think I could do it if I was moving to a chocolate box cottage in a gorgeous village or an apartment with a magnificent sea view and balcony, it would have to have something amazing to make up for the lack of space. Moving from a 4 bed detached to a smaller version of the same thing in the same location? absolutely no way, no joy in that whatsoever.

We downsized from a modern 4 bed 3 storey townhouse to a 2 bed edwardian semi.

Don’t regret it for a single second. We had a whole floor in the other house that was almost never used. Do not miss all those stairs!!!

I sometimes miss having a third bedroom, but not the 4th, and sometimes wish we had two bathrooms upstairs when we have people to stay (there’s one upstairs and a shower room downstairs) but seriously, for the dozen night or so a year there’s someone staying, we can cope!

I moved (post divorce) from a huge house to a (comparatively) small place. I bloody love it. Much easier to clean, cosier and one unexpected bonus was that as I had to be ruthless about stuff due to significantly less storage, I'm much less weighed down by stuff.

We went down from a big four bed detached to a 3 bed dormer bungalow, smaller garden. It needed a bit of work, we have been here 14 years and love it. We still have room to move about and for DGC to stay.

Wow - personally we live in a 3 bed detached bungalow - just making it larger into a 'glamorous' 4 bed bungalownwith a two storey extension - most is still bungalow though ... it's been a fabulous house with all the rooms close together yet really large still

Our plan when our kids grow up, is to sell this (expensive area so will get plenty of capital) to buy a smaller home in thenUK and buy something abroad to both enjoy and make money from ... how does that sound!!

I would like a fixer upper, maybe a bungalow we can add a dormer to (loads of houses like that where we live) but i don't know if that will be too stressful.

We actually have another house which we let out for holidays but we plan to sell that next year and pay off the mortgage on this house. Then when we sell this house we should have money to buy a house and do it up without any mortgage. We are looking to our old age (both mid 50's now) and want to be in our final home.

We downsized to a small 3 bed bungalow and while we are still certain it will be worth it in the end (lovely village, our 'home' neighbourhood) it has been an absolute nightmare doing it up. Still doing it up. We've been let down by cowboy builders and delays delays, delays. no paperwork, no building regs, (they've gone into liquidation so have vanished, basically). So many hidden problems and we are doing as much of the work ourselves as we can handle..

We are not novices in doing up an old wreck but this is testing us to our limits. So I think it depends on how resilient you are, whether or not you can afford to get someone in to renovate the whole place or how skilled you are at basic stuff like carpentry and plastering and organising trades (I'm rubbish it would seem) and how certain you are that it will end up your perfect home. You need that conviction to keep you going... but yes, we have found & are still finding it very stressful.

Don't let that put you off though. Next year the garden (currently an absolute tip), then we can get back to living a lovely peaceful life. :)

Yes, I definitely think it's a good idea to go into retirement already settled in your forever home. We're early 60's and I wish we'd done it 5 or 8 years sooner than we did. But I keep telling myself that if we hadn't downsized we would still be working full time, commuting and all the other stresses that brings. We'll be settled here by the time we get a pension and all the work will be done which is a comfort.

We are crap at DIY beyond basic stuff but we would have money to pay tradesmen and we know loads of good people as we had to do a lot to the house we are in currently.

One bedroom less, so convertible sofa has to be used from time to time. So much more convenient and nearer all facilities that it has been a good decision.

Go for a bungalow you can add on to. We went from a 4 late reception room plus 3 upstairs bedrooms and 2 bathrooms to a small neat modern 4 bed
No eaves storage No space for free standing wardrobes. No room to make toast and a cup of tea and have anyone else in the kitchen leaning
Footpaths and people every ducking where.

Forallthesaints That sounds like the way we want to go. I want to be nearer to town and on a bus route. I have watched my DP's become less keen to drive.

You sound like you are ready and well prepared. :)

We have lived on a modern estate before and it won't happen again. I love the 30's bungalows around here. Big plots and loads of potential to add on.

yes, but the loft is full of stuff I can't bear to get rid of, and there are still boxes everywhere. I find it really distressing to have no storage and nowhere to put anything. You spend your life accruing things and then have to just get rid of them in the end. We don't have a bathroom, only a shower, and i miss having a bath! Can't keep anything clean or tidy as there is so much clutter. The spare bedroom is tiny and there is no room for anything else in the room but a bed. I'm not so sure it's all it's cracked up to be!

Yes, big house in the country with an acre of grass, orchard, etc., etc.. To townhouse, four beds and three receptions but courtyard garden, mod cons like gas central heating and double glazing, have traded an aga for a neff built in oven. I would not go back to a huge old house.

I can make my garden look fantastic n a day whereas we used to spend a day a week on the grass alone.

We think it would be great to do this but I just can't find the sort of house we want. I still want big rooms, just fewer of them, a garden that is manageable but not hemmed in and overlooked. With stamp duty the way it is the move would not be recouped in lower bills I reckon.

We gave away so much furniture and other things. Went from vast outbuildings to a single garage.

It was quite liberating tbh, all that stuff you don’t need.

I am really up for clearing out. We are going all William Morris and only keeping things which we think are either useful or beautiful!