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Tell me what you’ve done with a 1930s semi?

8 replies

JanisJoplin73 · 19/10/2018 23:04

Hi desperately need to find a well
Proportioned, well built house with a good sized garden for my two children and I after a divorce. My boy has autism and he and his sister need a bit of space. I think a 1939a semi with s big garden and needing interval makeover is preferable to a small Victorian which is unextendar snd unimprovable. Semi is on same streeet as school I want but looks dull and ugly and in style of elderly owners. Please inspire me with your makeovers or tell
Me what you like about these properties please? I’m
So depressed about leaving my lovely home I really need some ideas that won’t cost the earth.

OP posts:
MovingThisYearHopefully · 20/10/2018 01:05

I love a 1930's semi, but the third bedroom always lets them down. We are just selling ours now because with 2 DC its simply too small. To get adequate space you need to go up into the loft & or extend to the rear too, as most of our neighbours have done.

When I got divorced & was looking for a new place I bought a 1960's chalet bungalow with a lovely through lounge diner, downstairs bedroom for me & 2 equal sized rooms for the kids. Post-divorce I was too fragile for the hassle of one DC having a room much larger. Compromise was a small garden, but this wasn't a huge issue.

Forward on 3 years & I buy with my then DP, a 3 bed semi with a huge garden. I guess I was looking to make up for the small garden they'd had & lack of trampoline space. The kids barely used the garden & the arguments about the boxroom were awful. We are now moving to a much larger space. How much of an issue to your kids is the garden space? From my experience interior space beats exterior space every time!

RedAntsBiteHard · 20/10/2018 01:22

Not sure if you're on Instagram but there are loads of accounts with 1930's renovations could give u an insight into their true potential, however the amount of work/money some ppl spend is an eye opener in itself ...

PrivateParkin · 20/10/2018 09:15

We are looking to move soon too, and have been keeping an eye on 1930s semis that are coming onto the market. I have a real soft spot for them as I grew up in one. It was probably a bit like the one you are looking at OP - it had been lived in by an older couple and absolutely everything needed doing to it. The garden was this huge wilderness which was great for my DSis and me, but not so much for my folks! It took a good 2/3 years for them to renovate it (although that included putting in central heating, extending the kitchen and fairly major stuff like that). Could you extend into the loft? We've seen a couple with loft bedrooms as well as the original rooms.

There are some great renovations on Pinterest/Instagram as RedAnts said - they look fabulous but the amount of work/money that has probably gone into them is huge. We have just spent about 5 years renovating our 2-bed Victorian semi and I don't know if I have the stomach for it again. We couldn't extend our 2-bed as it had already been extended at the back and the foundations were too weak for an upstairs extension as well apparently. We managed to squeeze in an en suite (we only had a downstairs bathroom previously) which has been great, but other than that space is fairly limited and there isn't much scope for doing anything else with it now.

I agree about looking at exterior v interior space and which is most important to you and your DC. Good luck with it OP.

SunnyUpNorth · 20/10/2018 09:33

You need to check out my1930sfixerupper on insta!

namechangedtoday15 · 20/10/2018 12:50

We're in a 1939 semi. For us (have lived in new build, 1960s semi, Edwardian terrace) it wasn't so much the style of the house - think elderly lady style, family had owned it for 50 years - but the potential. Usually, decent sized plot (decent sized front & back garden), option to extend across drive at side & rear, lovely cul-de-sac location, perfect in terms of location. It did come with gorgeous stained glass bay windows, picture rails (as well as the floral carpets everywhere, including loo and bathroom!).

We lived in it for a couple of years doing the absolute bare minimum because we couldn't afford to - replaced tiled worktop -with grout that had gone black on Day 1, ripped up carpets. The 60s peach bathroom suite and textured wallpaper were particular highlights but couldn't afford to change those!!

Then a couple of years later we knocked down wall between kitchen & dining room which made a massive difference, had cupboards built either side of the fireplace etc. Started to look nice.

We've been here 8 years now, 2 years ago had a big extension to add more space downstairs, plus get a 4th bedroom and ensuite. It's not cheap though as a pp said, we didn't go high end and it's cost about £100k (North West) - that's not including the garden work / drive which we still have to do. Having said that, we simply would not have been able to buy a 4 bed house for the cost of the house + extension, so we were buying the "potential". We love it, our neighbours are all similar - families or older couples whose children have left home and there's a real sense of community.

Just one point - be careful to check out each house. Even though they're all lumped together as 1930s houses, the styles are often dlightly different. Some are bigger than others, some have narrower driveways. Ours, for instance, doesn't have the head height in the loft for a standard loft conversion, we would have had to lower the upstairs ceilings. Conversely our "box" room is actually a small double (at 9ft x 9ft).

sdaisy26 · 20/10/2018 13:26

I love my 30s semi. It had already been extended when we bought it - to the side, rear & in to the loft, so has a lot more space than when it was originally built. It means we have 5 bedrooms (all of them doubles) and most importantly to me a big kitchen / diner / family room. The plot is a nice size and there is space around the side of the house.

Sadly because if being extended by successive owners there aren’t many original features left but I love the high ceilings and the bay.

Cassimin · 20/10/2018 13:31

We extended to the side.
This made kitchen bigger, gave us a playroom,extra bedroom and shower room.
We also extended into loft.
In our road some semis have slanted sides to the roof, some are flat.
Luckily ours was flat, this meant we didn’t need a dorms, loft room is really big with walk in wardrobe.
We’ve spent nearly 15 years doing it as our family has grown.
When they older ones went we started fostering.
Love our house, it’s always busy.

TinklyLittleLaugh · 20/10/2018 13:37

Friends have knocked down the wall between kitchen and dining room and gone up into the loft. Didn't cost as much as an extension.

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