Moving as a Childminder - advice needed.

[MaryPoppinsBag]

Has anyone experienced moving as a CM?
How long did you need to take off.

Also has anyone moved to a house needing quite a bit of work?
The work would be done in stages, not all at once.
But the house has been lived in by an elderly gentleman and has lots of swirly patterned carpets. And flowery wallpaper.

Oh and the original 1950's kitchen.

The living / dining room is Livable but dated.

I will be moving from a beautifully decorated home with a conservatory used as a playroom.

Part of me thinks I must be mad, but it's a forever home and we just want it. We had aimed for a modern 4 bed detached but are
going for a 4 bed semi.

It is on the same Road as our house (so no inconvenience there.
Mindees won't go upstairs ever as there's a downstairs loo.

What do you think is this acceptable?
Mindees are 3, 4, 5, 5, 8, 8, 9 & 10.

I think it would be quite tough to have a lot of work done downstairs while you had mindees in the house (workmen IME always leave the front door open) - I'd say you'd almost certainly want to take holiday while you had the kitchen done. Depending on the space you might be able to 'fence off' parts of the downstairs while other work was being done.

The kitchen has its own entrance so could be fenced off. It'd just be the cooking that'd be the problem.

I am worried about how parents will feel when they've chosen my smart semi with a lovely garden and then we move just a few months later.

I think parents have picked you, not your house. As long as you can reassure them that you have planned it all out and the mindees' care won't suffer then they'll be ok. After all, there's a lot that they can learn from the situation - you'll be able to show them how bricks are stuck together, where piping goes, how plastering is done. Not many children have the opportunity to see that stuff.

I'm not a CM, but my last CM moved while DS was in her care. She had 1 day off for the move and then had lots of work done on the house including a new kitchen while minding the children. By the Monday after the move, the playroom was all done up so they just kept the children in there. I have absolutely no idea how she managed though, I moved over a year ago and am still surrounded by boxes...

Thank you for your responses ZuleikaD & Trazzletoes

I think that you are right that they have chosen me, not my house! we were just worried.

I personally don't think it will be detrimental to their care as I would just do the same things with them and set up the dining room as a playroom. I think even without decorating the Lounge and Dining room would look heaps better with nice furniture in. And like you say they could learn from the situation and we could role play being builders etc. And get them to come up with ideas for how they would like the Garden.
I was thinking if things do go to plan I'd invite them all round for a special tea (chip shop!) and they can have a good look round.

Trazzletoes
Its good to get a parents perspective, I've moved to a new home 5 days before Christmas and then went on to hold Christmas Eve drinks and my friends were amazed how sorted the house was (although had no children then). This house has 4 bedrooms and 2 would be used for storing boxes until needed and my two boys would share until we did the bedrooms.
(Getting my heart set on this house may lead to tears! as we aren't even in a position to offer yet!)