Anyone bought a renovation house, and just been too busy/ lazy/ broke to do it?

[Flamingosareflummoxed]

Because this is what I think might happen to us. We’ve been here over a month and have done nothing. It’s liveable but not cosy.
Yet I can see myself just not wanting to sacrifice the time or money to do it lol.
I think maybe we’ve overestimated our abilities.
Anyone else?

Yes. We started to plan it all but DH got sick so now we’re too broke 😂 we’ve done bits like fix the roof, add insulation because it was so cold I thought I’d die in January and sorted the garden because we do that ourselves. But the wonky floors, dodgy wiring, hideous bathrooms and cracked walls are all just… staring at me.

Weve been in for 2 years

You called?! Three years in and the only things I've done is replace the carpet in the kitchen (yep!) with lino and get the electrics fixed.
Everything else is just taunting me daily. I'm single, I work full time and I massively overestimated my ability and interest in home and garden maintenance.

Not a house, no.

Ended up single parent and my disability got worse.

Don’t stress. Our renovations took 7 years! I always advise people not to do things immediately, live in it for a while first and get a good feel for what you need to do. We jumped in and got things done at the beginning, that I wish we’d done differently a couple of years down the line.

We got one (quite) a few years ago and did loads, but then got long term, life-limiting illnesses, and life keeps getting in the way too. We should have done it in our 30s 😁. We’re slowly plugging away, do what we can when we can. I love the house and location, so that helps me put up with it not looking great. I have a dream!

A month? That’s nothing!

You need to live in a house for a bit to see how you’re using it, and make sure you spot everything you’d like to change and can therefore do things in a sensible order,

Why don’t you start a list of big ideas like, redecorate the lounge, install new kitchen etc but then taking advice from one of the comments up thread, add in all the small details that strike you whilst you’re living in the house, like you’d want a socket here or it’s a pain that your fridge is in the position it is. Then you are planning and when you come to start you’ll have all these good ideas. You could also throw in design ideas you see and like too.

14 years and counting. We’ve done some big jobs (rewire, new bathroom, insulation) and some cosmetic but there is still a mountain of work to do. Finally getting the ball rolling on plans for some major renovations, though no idea how we’re going to pay for them!

A month? Slow your roll. Renovations take years for most.

We started off well but lost enthusiasm about 5 years in! Then, of the things we've done, we've never got round to the snagging so there's e.g. a bit of door architrave missing, or a piece of loose skirting board.

I'm at the stage now where I think, what pleasure would I get from fixing that piece of skirting and come to the conclusion it's absolutely none so do something else instead 😂

Me.

slowly working through it

Originally bought in 1986 and still some jobs outstanding. In my defence exH was a builder who promised to do the jobs . We were separating and the children were with me . Turns out he was too busy sleeping with ex best friend to do the work so I was left with a money pit . Only now in a position to start doing big jobs !

Yeah - 15 years living in it, and we sold it when we split up. Never had the money or the skills, to be honest. Did quite a lot though, but it cost us a lot, and put me off DIY forever (it's not my forte).
But it was a lovely house in a perfect spot, and my kids grew up there. It has some very happy memories - I walk past it almost every day, just going about my business.

A month in is early days you compare to what you left
settle in best thing for any renovation is to give yourself time to plan I rushed into a bathroom big mistake
also once you get one room done it spurs you on

Yep! Bought house Summer 2006, FINALLY completed the work in October 2010 but by that time my partner and I both had depression and had split up.
I would never, ever, ever do that again (ever).
I just don’t think it’s feasible to live in it whilst working on it unless it’s fairly minor cosmetic repairs.
Highly recommend relocating to a hotel or relatives whilst you tackle the main projects - sadly that wasn’t an option for us.
I can still taste the plaster dust in every meal 😆

Everything costs so much money to change and replace. I am always baffled by people who move into a completely nice, safe, clean and functional home and decide that they need a new kitchen and bathroom, even if though the fittings are not old and look nice. It seems like many people want a fashionable, influencer type home, despite the cost to their pocket and the environment

A month is nothing!

we’ve renovated twice. Both times was a fairly slow process, getting work done as and when it was affordable.

Unless you feel you’ve made an actual financial mistake, then just accept that these things take time. Is this your forever house? If so, hang in there. If you were thinking you’d renovate and sell, that’s different because you obviously don’t want to end up spending more than the house is worth. But either way, give yourselves time to settle in and really plan for the work you want to do.

When you get quotes back for new flooring and it’s £300sqm. Instagram is the bane of my life! 😂
Mood board, right a list of priorities, work out what you can do yourself (e.g. can you rip stuff out?), then get tradesman in to quote for priority jobs you can’t do. Source materials yourself, especially if you are fussy like me and don’t want white plastic!!!

Yep, 5 years in, plans have had to change due to interest rates and COL plus a new roof which we hadnt anticipated! still along way to go, i dont even have a cooker, but we adapt!

It’s only been a month! I wouldn’t expect anyone to have started doing significant work at that stage. I think we’d lived here five years before our (major) renovation was substantially done.

We have friends who bought another old, battered house that we’d considered buying around the same time, and not only have they not done any of the work yet, the house is in worse shape than when they bought it — heating has packed up, worse damp etc.

5 years in and we’ve managed 1/3 of the windows and doors, both bathrooms, the utility room and DC’s bedroom. We also had to repair a shitload of fencing. My DF got on top of the garden for us so we ‘just’ need to maintain.
Hopefully this year will be more windows, our bedroom (including carpet) and maybe carpets for the landing and stairs. We will also attempt to re-gravel the drive ourselves because any quotes we’ve had for that have been eye watering!
We’ve been saving for a kitchen since we moved in but that money keeps getting taken up fixing more urgent broken things, so it’ll be at least another 5 years before we can afford that.
Thankfully I love the lifestyle this house affords us, so it all seems worth it!

We're 8 years into renovating our French wreck. All the structural stuff, roof, rewiring, and some replumbing is done, a few windows have been replaced, and one bedroom is finished but pretty much every room needs replastering and new flooring, the new kitchen is here waiting to be fitted, the bathrooms need redoing. This wasn't the plan but we've not had much luck finding competent tradesmen so we're left doing most of the work ourselves. And we both work full time. We also have a lot of land, which like the house had been neglected for decades, so when we have free time, it's usually spent doing outdoor jobs.

If we get the kitchen and main bathroom done this year I'll be happy.

I echo others who suggested live in a house for a bit before you start doing any reno - we changed our minds so many times.

As with others…highly recommend you just live in the space for a bit. My, now complete, renovation looks very different to my original plans for the place…and that’s purely down to living in it for 12-14moths before starting.

It took us 7 years to do our kitchen which was literally falling apart, albeit useable. But I'm actually glad we put up with it for so long because I think we had a much better idea of what we needed and how we like to use a kitchen by the time we did it, and our needs had changed quite a lot (2 children). We also had more money.

Yes! We bought it 15 Years ago and redecorated one room. We have just got planning permission and hoping to start building works later this year. I had a few children and we didn’t have the finances to do it, but are finally in a position to do so.

I have got used to no proper kitchen and my 1960s coloured bathroom suite! I suspect the tiles in the bathroom are from about 1930 and I think I will miss them when they go!