To ask how much work you do to your house?

[Merryoldgoat]

We’ve been in our house for 7 years and it was utterly vile when we moved in.

We’ve had to redecorate but by bit but it therefore feels like nothing is ever finished.

In the last 2/3 years we’ve had:

New porch
New front door
New bathroom and cloakroom
Refreshed kitchen (tiling and painting)
New hallway and kitchen floor
Redecorated both kids bedrooms

The living room now looks tired, the stair carpet needs replacing, hallway needs repainting. The porch already needs a fresh coat of paint. The front render is dirty as hell and our driveway looks like a junkyard.

There’s more but it feels like it never ends.

Is this just how it is?

Every day there’s something.

Oh well. I’ll definitely make progress beaching myself on the sofa 🤣🤣

Oh it’s constant in the 15 years I’ve lived in my house I’ve had
Extension
New kitchen
New roof
Replaced bathroom twice
Flooring replaced & carpets throughout
New door
Garden landscaped
Decorated numerous times
I’m saving up for some more work which will cost ££ and new driveway / new fences & posts . Plus I need to redecorate again .

What I really need is someone to hand me £100k, then I could do everything on my wish list.

Unsurprisingly that isn’t in my future!

I think so.

Mine is mid 19c and it’s an endless round. But I think all buildings are Like this. They have to be maintained to last.

We live in a 200 years old cottage, we moved in a year ago, the precious owns had done nothing to it for years. So most of our spare time is spent on repairing various bits that have broken and upgrading everything - but is a slow process as we don't have much spare cash

I think it’s really off putting and disheartening when we see so many lovely houses on instagram and tv that we just look at ours and think ugh what’s the point.
We’ve done double glazing and new bathroom and some small roof repairs, and some diy internal laminate flooring which is a bit of a shit job.
We are about to spend close to £10k on a kitchen which hasn’t been replaced since early 80s, but we know the hall stairs and landing look so bad and shabby that they will also need redecorating , or we will be coming out of a lovely kitchen into a shabby hallway. plus we really need internal doors and skirting replaced or t least a great paint job.
and really it’s time the living room and one bedroom was done too.

We've been in our flat for 10 years and we've done very little. The building is about 25 years old and we repainted the rooms when we moved in, and changed carpets for wood flooring. There had only been one previous owner who had no dc so it was in pretty good condition when we moved in. Replaced the boiler a couple of years ago when it broke.

We'll be moving within the next 2 years and will probably repaint and give the kitchen doors a facelift before marketing. But we don't have time or the inclination to do constant maintenance. We've ruled out getting a doer-upper for our next house as we have 2 under 5s, and I think the cost of labour/materials/availability means it makes more sense to pay the premium on a finished property than it used to.

DH has just wandered downstairs and said ‘did you know the catch on the bathroom window is broken?’

Ffs.

Ours is a 1930s house and we moved in nine years ago and every room has been decorated at least twice. The eldest went off to uni last year so bedrooms were switched about and redecorated again. The main lounge has had a number of changes after we had originally decorated including moving radiators and electrics as we had an extension built to the rear. We had a loft conversion and an en-suite added five years ago. We had the whole garden done and a garage rebuilt as it was falling down four years ago. We have just finished re decorating the hallway which took ages. It’s been a hard slog over ten years but I walk into each room now and I enjoy all of them and the children are growing so not as destructive. It’s been incredibly expensive but I’m very lucky in that my partner is hugely motivated and loves a project. It’s fantastic when I muse about a new shelf and he’s out the garage in a flash sorting one out.

I bought a 1930's last year. Looked like it was still stuck in the 70s but had been maintained well.

Got electrics, new flooring, plaster throughout and repainted before i moved in. The paintwork in the hall is already a state and needs redoing.

Since then had the bathroom redone and changed a window to a patio door.

Out of money but still needs:
New internal doors, woodwork painting, new windows and doors and a new kitchen. Will be years before i can cover it.

On the plus side the garden was lovely when i moved in but my lac of gardening skills in a year its not looking quite as fresh. So that also will be on the list for a very low maintenance garden

Just to add even though its not showhome its my home that ive bought and renovated on my own and I love it. Even the imperfections

Its pretty constant tbh. Our house was built in the mid 90's, but since we moved here 15 years ago it has had: new bathroom, ensuite, downstairs loo, new flooring throughout, decorated throughout with some rooms done twice, new front door, new back door, new fencing, landscaped the garden, retiled the kitchen and replaced the worksurfaces and sinks.
This year we will be doing an extension and replacing the kitchen. The garage doors need replacing, and the fencing needs replacing after storm damage as well.

We're on our 3rd 'doer-upper' and have done diy literally every week/weekend for 12 years.
We're constantly repainting something, fixing something, replacing something. My dad is 72 and still does diy every weekend too.
I'd rather chip away at it constantly than be in a position where I feel like I'm drowning and the house and garden has taken on a life if its own.

@Yarboosucks

My house is big and over 500 years old.... Pity me!

Yes, same here, an absolute money pit. Next big job is replacing the sole plate ££££££

We’ve lived in our house for 24 yrs , it’s a constant round of improvements . We had an extension a few years ago and last year we put fly screens all round and started on the garden landscaping which is almost finished .

Ours isn’t even an old house - mid 90s maybe - and it’s pretty constant. It’s just home ownership. Boiler - gutter - roof tiles& chimney after storm damage - new windows - plumbing - flooring - fencing and that’s before basic decorating and wear and tear.

@Merryoldgoat

What I really need is someone to hand me £100k, then I could do everything on my wish list.

Unsurprisingly that isn’t in my future!

If you find someone doing that though, can you send them onto me after please?

Just how it is.
New central heating system
New windows
New floors
New carpets
Ripped out old wardrobes and had new.
Coving, plastering, painting, tiling.
Knocked a wall down.
New bathroom suite
New kitchen
Garden fencing an decking and new pavers to back and front.
Plants - lots.
New roof.
Cellar converted and loft insulated and all decorated.

We are not DIY people at all and moved into a smaller new build on an estate 10 years ago as we would have had to get tradespeople into any older and larger properties and it wouldn't be financially worth it. We painted the kids rooms and that's it so far.

I'm always so impressed by friends who have bought a house and completely transformed it!

We need pointing done, a new roof, outside painted. New bathroom. New front and back door. We’ve ripped out our bathroom but haven’t replaced it yet….

We’ve replaced carpets in 2 rooms but they all need redoing. We’ve replaced some window panes. Improved the garden. That’s all we can afford.

Mine was by no means I fixed.upper, but I've still had part of the roof re tiled, a fibre glass porch roof, new guttering, paintwork to the front and back door steps, a new back garden gate and then half our fence blew down in storm Eunice. In an ideal world I'd love a new bathroom with nice tiles and a vintage rolltop bath.

I remember hearing once that a house costs £2k a year in maintenance. Obviously that's an average but it does give you an idea that there's always something to do.

Our house was only 8 years old when we moved in 6 years ago, but it hadn't been looked after and the fixtures the original owners chose were outdated even when new! So we have..
Decorated throughout
New bathroom
New en-suite
New kitchen/knocked through to make kitchen diner
Updated utility
Built in storage in garage
Complete renovation of very overgrown garden (but I love gardening!)
New flooring throughout
Repairs to boiler, electrics, plumbing (badly installed or broken)
Soffits and fascias covered (coastal area, they get some hammer)
And ongoing fiddly bits like window catches/sealant/draughtproofing...

It is definitely never ending.

In three years, we have painted the hallway.

House is presented well but I would like the following done within the next 5 years:
New kitchen
New bathroom
New flooring
Bedrooms repainted
Ceilings done
Hallway carpeted
New drive
New gate
New fence

As several posters have stated, some money would be nice - £40k should cover all of the above

It’s just how it is, OP, you’re not alone! I love reading home magazines, but I do admit that I get annoyed (and more than a tad jealous) when the owners have a huge 18th century rectory or something and say that they bought it, rented “a cottage in the village” for six months and moved in once their team of expert builders had done all the work for them. You just have to do what you can on your budget. I agree with other posters - think about essential/structural work first (roof, glazing, DPC, rewiring, heating etc.) and then move on to the decorating as and when you can. I’d recommend doing one room at a time, but doing each one really well. We’ve been in our house since 2016 and managed about two rooms per year, including an 11 metre kitchen extension and an additional bathroom. It might be tempting to do a bit here and there, but trust me, save up, get the basics right (plastering, wiring, woodwork) and then decorate, one room at a time. The difference is so much greater and more satisfying than piecemeal bits you won’t notice so much. And when the time comes to refresh or even change your scheme, it’s so much easier if the underlying “bones” are all in good order. Good luck! 🤞