Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

How hard is it to live in s house and do it up ?

34 replies

Blessingsdragon1 · 04/01/2019 18:01

Nothing major structure wise but new kitchen bathrooms total redecoration - it looks a bargain but I have 3 teens and am wondering if it's too stressful ?

OP posts:

BarbaraRoyale · 04/01/2019 18:04

Do it, it's like child birth, you forget the bad bits

MiddleClassProblem · 04/01/2019 18:05

Depends how long it’s likely to take and the size of the house. If you’re able to come up with a plan that’s the best way to adjust living spaces in the house then do.

Be aware that new bathrooms and kitchens an create a lot of dirt and dust so hold off on new flooring elsewhere as it can get walked about.

Fantasisa · 04/01/2019 18:06

It was bloody awful and we have such unreliable tradespeople. But we never could have afforded it otherwise and we are very pleased now it is done. If I had known at the start how long it was going to take and how much it would cost I don’t think I would have started!

VictoriaBun · 04/01/2019 18:07

I live in a semi wreck. We purchased a few years ago and my dh promised it would all be done and dusted in a few years. Come to present day and we have renewed windows,gutters,doors a few ceilings have come down and walls etc but we are far from done, i.e. been without the main bathroom for months, kitchen still untouched. Hopefully you will not have the same, but don't forget these diy tv shows tell you to buy the worse house in the best area - location,location, location. Good luck !

crosser62 · 04/01/2019 18:10

I literally wanted to throw myself under a bus doing our house up while living in it. We did it before we had children.

It was the fact that we started something for example, peeling off wallpaper and the plaster underneath crumbled down to the brick. The whole house, walls and ceilings had to be re plastered. The mess, the dust was everywhere, in your hair, throat, clothing, every surface was awful.
Living for weeks with a kettle, microwave and washing up bowl as we had no kitchen, washing up in the bathroom sink.
Then having to go to Morrison’s for a wee as we had no bathroom.

That said, we did the work ourselves on our days off from work. If you can afford to pay people then it will be faster and doable but my God, it’s hard going.
Good luck.

Original poster

Blessingsdragon1 · 04/01/2019 18:31

Im self employed and flexible plus have the money for trades people I think that should make it doable - the space is amazing for the price in a nice area

OP posts:

CakeNinja · 04/01/2019 20:14

We have nearly totally overhauled our house since we bought it.
Lots of structural work, walls down, walls up, roof completely off, ladders instead of stairs, garden totally churned up for extension, all lasting far longer than it usually would because dp is a builder and has done lots himself.
I had dc3 in the middle of the kitchen extension although we did keep our old kitchen until the new one was in a usable condition which really helped.
I have been thoroughly fed up with it all at times, taks cutting my feet when the carpet in the hall was ripped off, the endless dust, rain coming through the window holes when the new windows were delayed, the relentless cups of tea, mud traipsed through the house, more dust, children not being able to play in the mud pit of a garden through the warm spring due to diggers in the garden, kids and I leaving the house covered in cement and bring dust for months, the expense, waiting in for deliveries of materials, people coming to gawp at the state of our house, hosting things in a building site, did I mention the dust?
It’s nearly there now and we have some lovely areas in our house, I love what we’ve done but I would never ever go through this scale of renovation and live in it at the same time again.
Kitchen and bathroom refits would be okay with teens, if you’re paying professionally (go for a personal recommendation), they’ll be able to give you an idea of what level of disruption you’re looking at.
Things like a kitchen can be got around easily enough, moving your fridge into another room and setting up a little camping kitchen elsewhere. Basic but will be fine temporarily.

MiddleClassProblem · 04/01/2019 20:16

Also be aware, it takes longer than you plan and other things that need fixing/replacing always somehow crop up.

TellerTuesday4EVA · 04/01/2019 20:19

We did it almost 9 years ago & I still shudder at the thought. I've vowed I will never move unless we have the means to live elsewhere until a new house is done.

It was manageable but we did it before starting a family, I couldn't even entertain the thought of doing it now with the DC's although if yours are teenagers that probably wouldn't be as bad.

We did it & I'm glad we did but certainly wouldn't do it again in a hurry!!

Loopytiles · 04/01/2019 20:23

Is it really just kitchen etc and decor? Could it be done bit by bit?

Did it three times, once with DC, hated it every time and last time told DH never, ever again. First time DH did a lot of the work, which meant I didn’t see him for a yesr! Second time were let down by tradesmen and again DH got consumed by it all. Third time went massively over budget, and DH got stressed project managing, still dealing with financial impact of that. On the upside, was nice to live in when done.

IMO much depends on the quality of the tradesmen.

Loopytiles · 04/01/2019 20:25

Suggest a visit to the property to properly work out what would need doing underneath the surface - structure, wiring, heating, plumbing, damp, plaster, windows.

WhereDoesThisToiletGo · 04/01/2019 20:26

You can hire pop up kitchens to get you through the worst of it
www.thetemporarykitchencompany.com/about-us/

Nellabella · 04/01/2019 20:27

We are doing it at the moment, with a baby in the mix- I would say it obviously makes a huge difference if you have great tradespeople, we have had new heating put in and are having the place re wired which isn't too bad as the electrician is neat and tidy and knows how to work in sections so that it's liveable.
kitchen diner next so that will be the real test I suppose. It's frustrating to only be able to go as fast as the trades can get started and living with old decor , also it helps that I am now a sahm so I can be in for deliveries and here for the tradespeople etc, I think you'd struggle if you were working full time.

flamingofridays · 04/01/2019 20:27

Awful. Bloody awful.

But we've a 70s nightmare covered in woodchip wallpaper and a kitchen the size of a postage stamp.

It will be worth it in the end

Anise7438 · 04/01/2019 20:27

It's tonight but it's ok!!! Tip do bedrooms first (if bathrooms and kitchen are livable) then you have a space to rest in. Then do kitchen and bathrooms then living rooms last. We did loads of structural stuff too but it means you get the house as you want it! Good luck!! X

AnnaNimmity · 04/01/2019 20:30

I did it and it was hard but doable. Mine involved completely remodelling the downstairs.

I got my teens to help with the decorating (bedrooms etc). Had builders in to do the rest.

We got new bathrooms done in a week iirc. (not finished, but usable).

MarchInHappiness · 04/01/2019 20:35

Fucking awful. We did it when DD was about 6/7.

When we did the bathroom, thankfully we had access to showers at a club we are member of but we had to use public loos near us.

Kitchen was bearable - lots of sandwiches, salad, micro-waved food and the fridge was just moved to the lounge.

Tbh it was bad enough for us with a small child so I would be very apprehensive doing a renovation with three teenagers

Scotinoz · 04/01/2019 20:39

We've spent the past 2 years doing it...kids we're almost 2 and 3 when we started 😬 We did move in with their bedrooms finished, which meant they had nice, clean, safe spaces.

They're both very knowledgable about tools...

madmum5811 · 04/01/2019 20:45

Three months the builder said. Starting in early March. Great I thought a summer of bbq food. Haha said mother nature lets throw the wettest summer in history at her. Eldest sitting gcses.

The reality a two storey extension that took six months. No kitchen for six months. Washing up in the bathroom for six months. Washing machine in outhouse. I would never do that ever again.

It was fabulous, but my nerves could not take that again.

madmum5811 · 04/01/2019 20:47

OH heaves at the sight of a microwave meal box now as well which is a bit of a pain. We were cooking in the sitting room, not great really and no downstairs loo for water.

AnnaNimmity · 04/01/2019 22:41

ha it's fine. 2 Christmases ago, I had no roof on my (now) kitchen. No floor. It was freezing.

It's just worth it so much to have a nice house. (if you can't afford to rent another place for 3 months, which I couldn't).

howhowhow · 04/01/2019 23:18

Fucking awful. But I would do it again. Prob should have planned it a bit better as we destroyed the whole house whilst living in it with 3 kids (three was a newborn at the start). It went on for so long I had child number 4 a month after the new bathroom went in. We were totally skint from the having kids and doing up a wreck.

I have a very nice house now though.

crosser62 · 05/01/2019 22:11

Also I agree with the person higher up who says that they heave at the sight of microwave meals as I do too after months of living on them...mixed with plaster dust!
Bowk.
It took longer than planned, cost more than budgeted and was way harder than we thought.

SushiMonster · 05/01/2019 23:20

Probably the most unexpectedly stressful thing I ever did. And I don’t have children. Nor did I experience any real issues. Everything went more or less to plan and my tradesmen were good.

Wheresmrlion · 08/01/2019 13:34

It’s tough. We’ve had three years of doing a bit at a time, with various combinations of babies and toddlers at home.

Two bathrooms and a boiler took three weeks. Mat leave with no loo was not fun.

Kitchen knock through took 6 weeks. So much dust from stripping plaster, it took months to settle.

Also new windows, porch, flooring, fireplace, stripped and painted all walls etc. Just a massive faff of moving stuff, living with boxes crammed in random rooms and not knowing where anything is. And having various people in your house all the time, I didn’t like that.

But now our house is bloody lovely, I can barely remember the bad bits and we’ve added value as well as made it work much better as a family home. We couldn’t have afforded it if it was ‘done’ so needs must.

Flip

1 2