If you had limited funds which would you do first?

[TheElementsSong]

This is probably going to be long (stream-of-consciousness) so bear with me.

We've recently moved into a miserable moneypit house and (for my sanity if nothing else) need to make some improvements. In the short term we have 2 possible projects and we can't decide which is the priority.

(1) The master bedroom has a huge en suite shower room of very dubious workmanship and poorly designed layout (it is not original to house). We have concerns about dodgy installation of soil pipe, poor plumbing with high probability of hidden leaks, hideous tiling, etc. The size and poor design also means that the bedroom is (spatially) wrecked - we can't sensibly fit a double bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers . Because of this, we are squeezed into 2nd bedroom, while the master bedroom is a wasteland of boxes and junk. So we would like to redesign layout to make smaller en suite and useable master bedroom all done to a proper standard. Obviously this will cost not just the bathroom work but also complete redecoration of the bedroom.

(2) The kitchen is another disaster area of poorly designed layout, insufficient storage and awful standard of installation (are you sensing a theme here?). Despite the kitchen being a decent-sized room, the previous owners moved the boiler upstairs into what is now DD2's bedroom. So we would like to move the boiler back, which will require a new kitchen design as there is nowhere we can fit it with the current arrangement of units. And while we're at it, we're planning to knock through into the dining room and install some French doors to the garden.

We have about £10-15K to spend, which is probably plenty for (1) but rather tight for (2). But we feel that (1) is a bit selfish, whilst the whole family (especially DD2) would benefit from (2). So, wise MNetters, WWYD?

Ah, no. T'other side of the Pennines.

Boiler in bedroom isn't ideal I agree.

A heating engineer might be able to give you some ideas on where to site the boiler. It's never recommended on here but ours is in the loft and we have never had any problems caused by freezing, nor access issues, but then again we are daarn saarth where it rarely gets below zero.

There may well be regulatory considerations as to where you can put the boiler - apologies if you've already discussed this with the professionals.

I so know what you mean about the kitchen. We have just got rid of a shit one we've had for nearly five years and the change in our family life is immense. We can have people round without been mortifyingly embarrassed.

It's a hard choice, I don't know what I would do in your situation. I think I would go for basic making good and capping off of the horrid ensuite, and checking there isn't any awful rot/ damage, and doing whatever you can to the kitchen/ diner.

Have you had the electrics inspected?

Actually electrical safety check good idea. Ours found some horrors - best was loft lighting on 30amp fuse with standard 2 amp wire...

But dry rot is a total git and can happen through slightly leaking bathroom fittings and could be super expensive to solve if found upstairs - joists out for a good couple of metres, structural problems. Had it in a rented cob house. Don't think landlord ever fixed it!

Haven't had the electrics checked, no. Oh god, another thing to worry about!

I seem to recall PigletJohn (whom I regard as the fount of all knowledge in these matters) saying not to put the boiler in the loft, and anyway we can't because the loft is currently unusable - no boards at all, thick layer of insulation which apparently shouldn't be squashed and no felt (?) under the slates. That's a whole other thread worth of what-shall-we-do!

And it'a such a pain getting hold of tradesmen to even quote in the first place, mostly they don't even bother to return my calls. I have money! I want to give you money! Don't you want my money?

My builder worked well for us to find trades.

Thanks random, I have searched mybuilder and made contact with someone (his reviews there and elsewhere on Google look good). He is coming to measure and quote next week. I should probably get a couple more quotes, but it's such a nightmare...

Just an update for anyone who might be interested.

We've now got quotes, and (unsurprisingly) can't afford to do both the kitchen and en suite to the standard we would like, without wiping out all our savings.

We have decided to get the en suite done first, it will be between £7500-8000 all told, this will include some much-needed tidying up of the dodgy pipework on the exterior of the house. The designer came up with some great ideas - the room will stay the same size but the door will move to the other wall (this will allow us to fit the furniture we need in the bedroom), the layout in the en suite is completely rejigged, and there will be a Velux window installed to give lots of natural light.