I moved into a new house about 18 months ago. It's a typical two-bedroom terrace, with a fairly large garden. I feel very lucky to have finally bought my own place - it's taken years of hard graft to get here. It's also a very lovely house overall. However, there is a but...
The problem is I'm having real difficulty keeping on top of the housework and maintenance. The decor is liveable in but very tired - almost all the rooms need painting and holes in the plasterwork filling in.
My brother kindly painted a couple of rooms for me as a housewarming gift, but he's by no means a professional and the paint is already starting to flake off and is marked in places. I've tried calling a few decorators but no one seems to get back to me - they all seem so busy and in demand!
There are also things like internal doors and skirting boards that need replacing, the fence in the garden has collapsed into next door's, the floorboards are really scruffy and need sanding and varnishing, I have a load of paintings that need to be framed and put up, plus the gardens (front and back) are a total mess with very little in the way of flowers/colour at the moment.
Oh, and did I mention that there's mould inside one of the kitchen cupboards (which I never use as a result), all the windows are filthy inside and out AND I currently have ants coming into the kitchen from a nest outside?!
I suppose I just don't know where to even begin with it all really - keeping on top of it feels like an insurmountable task as my day job is very busy. I just want the house to be "done" but I feel overwhelmed and like it's never going to happen. I'm also dreadful at DIY so sanding floors and painting walls are not the sort of jobs I feel confident in doing myself.
I can't hire a cleaner as I don't have any spare cash at the moment - so it's all down to me.
How can I gain control of this house?