New home , 1990s elderly couple designed, where to start

[Irishhills]

Hi , we’ve just moved home into a beautiful home in the Suffolk countryside but now we’re in we realise the enormity of what we need to do . We both work full time and I am a hopeless organiser and planner so really need someone to show me the way. My poor OH is getting very despondent that I don’t seem to be getting anywhere with it. Who do I go to for advice , interior designer ? Architect? Any advice gratefully received

What does it need? Re-modelling? Extending? or just updating kitchen / bathroom/ decor?

Architect if you want to extend or significantly remodel.
Interior designer if you have money to burn.

Get on Pinterest, Houzz etc. What kind of look do you like?

Look on Rightmove at similar style properties for sale or already sold and see if you can find something that you like.

If you are feeling brave post a couple of photos of you home and let us know what you don’t like. You will get good feedback from people on here.

What do you think needs changing?
1990s isn’t so long ago. We renovated our house in the ‘90s and we haven’t really done much to it since.

Hi, we are thinking about knocking the room wall between the conservatory and the kitchen but we can’t picture how we would place furniture etc

That’s a really good idea -about looking on right move etc

We’ve got very old carpets and curtains , even have curtain valances and pelmets and the woodwork is all stained a very funny dark colour

How can I put this tactfully... is there anything structural you want to keep?

I'd be concerned personally about opening up to a conservatory depending on how well insulated it is?

Remodelling and kitchen and bathroom refits

What sort of budget do you have?

Be very careful about knocking a kitchen into a conservatory if it's not heated and insulated properly you will get terrible condensation issues

I always think it’s best to neutralise as best you can and live in it for a year or so before deciding what to do. We’ve been in our current house 18 months and the plans I made initially have drastically changed.

Agree with this.

And, put some floor plans up here, tell us what you’d like to achieve (open plan dining / cosy snug library / another downstairs loo / dedicated office space etc) and we will all have a scribble on it!

I'd live in the house for a couple of months and get the feel for it. Where's a good spot for a coffee in the morning/ glass of wine at night? how does the sun move around your property and how that affects light and shade at different times of the day and then you can choose colours to compliment each room. Its absolutely beautiful

Live with it for a year. Watch how the light and shadows move across the rooms at different times of the day and across the seasons. It will also give you time to think about you really want and need from your space.

Don't decorate until you have had the messy specialist stuff done like plumbing and electrics.

It will look better if you either paint the dark wood white or replace with lighter wood. We had that dark stained soft wood and it’s really oppressive.
Study the light.
Decide what is important to you both and how you want to use the space.
Start collecting pictures from magazines or pinterest of the styles you like.

Don't rush it, as others have said. Collection ideas, share the floorplan, along with what you want to acheieve so people can have a go at rejigging it foe you.

Do keep the ercol chairs, they're great!

Look at Pinterest and Instagram for inspiration

Another vote for don't rush it. Absolutely give it a lick of paint and make it more neutral. See how you live in the space. You may find little things that are really useful that you would have knocked out. You may also find things that are placed in places that don't work for you and need moving. Our kitchen is really dark and we did it first as it was awful (damp rotting cupboards and orange slime everywhere) and I was so excited. I really wish I had put some light tunnels in. I also miss the old hatch between the kitchen and dining room that we covered over and put cabinets over.

I wouldn't knock into the conservatory unless it has proper roof/ insulation as they are very hot in summer and very cold in winter and can be very damp.

I had a lovely time going around kitchen showrooms looking at all the different types of cupboards (I am a rather sad old stick), they often have kitchen design services where you can design it and look at it virtually and move things about. They measure up your kitchen and then you can pick the cupboards, white goods ect and mess about with layout.

Living room wise, see how you use the space, the lighting. Mess about with the furniture layout. See how warm/ cool the room is before you get a new floor (carpet, laminate or hard). Our neighbour had sanded the floorboards and waxed them in their house. They didn't realise there is a massive void under our floors and it is really drafty. They ended up having to put new flooring on top of their lovely sanded and waxed floorboards, they were gutted. We have carpet with a lovely thick underlay and our house is nice and warm. Equally you may do what my friend did, get the kitchen lino up and find some lovely tiles.

Check out pintest, insta ect for inspiration.

Good luck

1990s elderly couple?! 1990s was 20ish years ago... I don't get the elderly reference

Can you add the floorplan on here and maybe we can give some ideas of what we would do.

Some great advice , thank you, will try and get the floor plan uploaded soon. The house was built in 1992 and the couple we bought it from were in their late 80s .
yes to painting the skirting boards , it really is oppressive
We won’t keep the conservatory, eventually we’ll replace it with extension , so we’ll be keeping the doors on for now and just see about knocking the kitchen into the tv room