To really not know where to start?

[Wheredolstart]

I am lucky that I live in a reasonably large house (5 bed). My Ex left it in a terrible state some years ago and gradually I have got to a position where the house is generally habitable. However in every room there are jobs that are part finished, unfinished or I need to do, and I have zero plan as to how or when to finish them or what to do next. I'm going to be selling at some point probably not for 3-5 years but I need to get on and get things finally done.

I know people say make a list, but I've tried making lists before and it gets overwhelming, I could cry. I could honestly take about 6sides of A4 and there's still more to do.

I'm not sure what order to do things in. I need new carpets in some rooms but I also need to decorate those rooms first because otherwise I'll end up with paint on the carpets as I have now. But then I'm worried I'll scuff the walls or paintwork when I move all the furniture out to have carpet fitted. And where does the furniture go when carpets being fitted?

2 rooms don't have any heating but we're kind of used to that now. There's no door on one of the other rooms. My front door is battered (we had an attempted break in a few years ago, and the door took a beating. It still functions but looks a mess and I need to replace it at some point. All the windows pretty much are blown, but they all still open and close so part of me thinks that's more a cosmetic issue than a priority. I won't even start on the garden issues as that's a massive job it itself.

I'm currently thinking I need to repaint all the hallway, stairs and landing. I did this last year but I only had time to do the walls and the upstairs doors. But the walls look grubby and I think they need another coat or two. Plus all the doors downstairs (6) need doing, and all the stair bannisters and spindles which I made a hash of a few years ago so that all needs stripping right back. Then there's filling, caulking, etc etc. I will start one thing, see something else and go onto that and the next and before I know it a whole day is passed and I've achieved nothing.

I know advice will be get someone in, but I can't afford to for stuff like decorating as there are other jobs like the windows and doors that I have to pay for. The going rate for hall/stairs and doors is about 2k, and that's if its ready to go other than some light prep which mine certainly isn't, all the sanding, filling etc would be extra.

So where do I start? And any tips on how I can concentrate on one task at a time would also be helpful.

I wouldn’t bother. Unless you really love the house, I would sell as is and make a fresh start somewhere already done!

Break the large task down into “bite size chunks” instead of focusing on the entire house, start with one room. It will make it feel less daunting.

Can you remortgage to fund the works? And therefore add more value than what you've borrowed in time for when you come to sell? If not start with the big ticket items first - heating in all rooms, windows and front and internal doors. I'd also add garden to that list. Buyers will see past decorating and carpets but not these big items.

Id just do the big stuff in your case like the windows, doors, heating etc. People wont be put off by general decorating like they would for high cost stuff. I wouldnt anyway

Maybe tackle something small first, just to get a run on the board so to speak?

Then I'd tackle the thing that bothers you most ..for me it would be the front door as its the first thing you see when you come home.

Then I'd choose one room probably the one you spend most time on to get sorted.

But if you plan to sell don't get too caught up in it as the new owner may want to do their own thing so just make it comfortable for you

I'd start on one room. For the new heating first then paint then decorate. Leah style paint for a couple of months before new carpets so the gloss is hard enough for new carpets. That's enough time to move onto the next room (s). You'll love it when you've done one room the hardest park is getting all the sandpaper abs brushes out I find, once I've got that I quite enough it

Borrowing money isn't really an option, I do have some savings but I want to try and make that go as far as possible, hence trying to work out what I need to do, and when.

I can't sell right now as I need to stay in the area, and it would mean paying 2 lots of stamp duty etc. I'm here for the next few years at least.

Don’t worry about the scuffs.

First thing is first, get the painting done.

Get the missing door replaced.

And then get carpets fitted. Let the carpet fitters worry about the furniture.

I'd start by making the house weather tight, the front door and the glass in the blown windows. If the frames are still good, the glass is all that's needed.
Then do one room at a time. If you get fed up before all the rooms are done. At least it's ready to sell and the new owners only need to decorate and do carpets.

I agree with PP. Sell it as is while the market's good and buy somewhere that's done. You don't always recoup the money/time that you spend on a house.

OK, sorry, just read your update.

So I would start with the most heavily used parts of the house - front door, front hall, living room, kitchen. Bedrooms last. Paint then carpet.

I would start with the garden. Do you have side access to the garden? If not everything will need to come through the house. Don't underestimate how messy that can be. Everything is dormant now do its a good time to do stuff out there.
Do you want heating in the 2 unheated rooms? Do that next as it may involve lifting floorboards.
Sort out the windows third. If you need replacement frames there may be a small amount of repair needed where the old ones were removed.
Then start upstairs. With each room work from the ceiling downwards.

Leave the hall stairs and landing until last.

I was going to say to pick one room, and finish that completely - shutting the door on other rooms until you get to them BUT I would sort the heating first, in truth. It is quite disruptive to put heating in (though I am a bit confused how you have heating, except in 2 rooms). I would also make sure every room has a door - that is a fire hazard, as well as making keeping the place warm more difficult.

Then I think I wold start to work through the rooms.
Before you sell, definitely sort the front door - first impressions and all that - but, if you sell with 2 bedrooms still to decorate, so be it.

Your windows are blown? As in, no glass in them??
Start there!

@Somebodylikeyew 'Blown glass' is still there, it just looks misted up, like there is condensation in the glass.

If you’re doing the house up to sell in more than 2 years time there is no point in painting and putting down carpets yet. I’d make sure the front door is secure. I wouldn’t spend money on windows because you won’t get that back. I’d focus on decluttering so that it’s easier to paint/re carpet. I’d work on minor internal repairs too. Then, when you’re closer to selling I’d start decorating.

By blown I mean they are misted. They're watertight and secure but they're not clear. Replacing all the windows would cost something like £15-20k. The individual panes are about £100-150 but I've got 6-8 panes in each window, and 7 windows, so that's still thousands to get that done.

There's no heating in 2 rooms (1 ground floor, 1 first floor) which were part of an extension. We have a couple of oil filled radiators in there if they get really cold but as there's never been a radiator in there we've got used to it. I had someone in to look at it ages ago but he couldn't work out how to instal radiators in those rooms, especially the downstairs one as the floor is a concrete slab, so it sort of got left. I might go round the loop on that again and see if another plumber has more idea.

No idea where to start with the garden, its a decent size (about 80ft) and there is side and rear access to it but its on several different levels and the part at the back is totally overgrown, grass doesn't grow well but its too big to put shingle or artificial grass down, plus the cost of course.

I wouldn't bother to paint and replace carpets unless they are absolutely in a terrible state and out ppl off the house.

Windows are expensive but folk will take it in to consideration in the price, either through the home report if ur in Scotland or a survey. That fact they open won't make much of a difference if U can tell they are old and need replaced.

When we bought our current house it was 14yrs old. It had the original boiler which wasn't a combi and it went on home report as a 2 which is needs attention as it's old it will need replaced soon but is not an urgent repair. We replaced it 1 month after moving in. Ur windows wld be similar I guess.

I wld tackle a room at a time. The furniture just needs to get moved to another room or the hall the bathroom wherever it can go temporarily while u decorate then put it all bk. it's annoying but it's what everyone has to do, good luck!

Start with the most disruptive job. There is no point painting before having heating installed if they are going to need to do lots of work for example. We have just had a new front door and it makes such a difference to how the house looks, and makes it much warmer. No point doing the garden until summer. Get the internal door fitted, for warmth and fire safety. Investigate the heating, maybe you could have some sort of electric heating in the rooms with no radiators? Then cosmetic things come last.

So how will you fund all of this then if borrowing isn't an option rather than borrowing as such like loans and mortgages could you afford to do 0% finance etc maybe as an alternative? Getting heating to rooms without it is easy, the pipes can run along the skirting if required if you have concrete floors (and painted to blend in) and this job shouldn't cost thousands. If you can't afford to borrow in any way and don't want to use savings you'll probably only be able to do the cheaper jobs like painting and decorating yourself.

You could also sort the garden yourself too. It would be a lot of work but you could do it, maybe rope in friends and family and pay them with meals etc or some beers!

No friends/ family to help unfortunately, so it does rather fall to me.

I do have a small amount of savings but once that's gone it's gone. I also am reluctant to spend too much money if it's going to be wasted (I don't think the windows will make £20k worth of difference to the sale price for example - maybe if they were single glazed etc). I do also want us to live in a degree of comfort for the next few years, so replacing carpet is important, especially as the current carpet is quite damaged in a lot of rooms.

The level of work to be done is what it is, my main issue is not so much how much there is to do but simply where to start, because I feel like I just go round in circles and struggle to get anything finished.

And in the garden I don't really know what to do, I know nothing about gardening, as I said the back section of the garden in particular (about 20ft x 35ft) I can't get grass to grow on it, at the moment it's completely overgrown. I have in the past spent about a week clearing it, but it just gets overtaken by weeds again. I look at people with normal lawned gardens with envy.

Which room do you relax in? Can you sort the jobs in that room first? That way you can properly relax somewhere without looking around noticing jobs. A proper rest might give you more incentive to do the rest of the jobs