Complete refurbishment what is your must have?

[lovelyupnorth]

Just about to buy a 3 bed semi that requires total modernisation.

We will be moving walls etc. If you had a blank piece of paper what would your must haves be. In features or just rooms.

House is about 1100sq ft. And we have a good budget to do what we want

Really consider where your sockets and light switches are going - we've made a couple of mistakes with ours as they went in before the kitchen.

I'd get the whole house re-wired if it is likely to be needed over the next 15 years or so. It'd save having to lift floorboards etc in the future.

I did a total reno of a 1700s house. We didn't move walls, but we did add a bit of a kitchen extension.

You MUST MUST MUST spend money on the basics. If it's a 20th century 3 bed semi, it won't be as well built as an 18th century house, so see what you can do about:
insulation. If you're moving walls, make sure you spend on the best insulation your builder can put in

Double glazing: definitely worth it & again depending on the age of your house, not the rubbish PVC stuff.

New roof

Rewire

Everything else is probably just decorative detail.

Spend the money on basics, and then the rest can follow.

Doors which slide inside the walls (in between the stud) which I've only seen in Europe but are amazing space savers / have one to my kitchen now and am saving to do the rest of the house!

Why two dishwashers.

We have one currently 1/2 size which we set of once a day.

Family 2 adults and two teenagers. Though one is off away shortly for a year and then uni.

@Ofitck

Love that idea as wanting to squeeze an en-suite into my DDs bedroom.

It’s a mid 20th C house

Slate roof in good nick.

Garden well established but needs work. Will want to pave the driveway and redo the paving round the back once we’ve done the house.

Rewrie is a good call as all the flooring will be up and would like to plan a car charger into build even though not got an electric car yet.

Utility room, no contest! I also really like having an en-suite. We have a 3 bed semi with family bathroom, downstairs loo and en-suite and I would happily trade the downstairs loo for a utility.

two dishwashers means you never have dishes stacking up on the side whilst the dishwasher is on/full. At any time you have a clean dishwasher and a dirty dishwasher. You can just take clean crockery straight from the clean dishwasher which saves time unloading it. When you have loads pots and pans you can just bung them all in. I saw it suggested on a few kitchen threads on here and was skeptical but am so glad we did it. Only two of us at home but it makes life much easier.

Ceiling fans. We get away with no air con in Australia thanks to them. They can be attractive!
Agree laundry is great.
Decent size en suite to be your retreat
Would love a pantry

And agree +++ on insulation and double glazing

We have one currently 1/2 size which we set of once a day

Get a full-size one, and use less frequently. Takes pots & pans as well.

I've lived with both half- and full-size, and insisted on a full-size dishwasher in my recent renovation. Also a range stove, with grill + 2 ovens and a griddle plate and a central wok burner.

Also - drawers in the kitchen. I wanted all drawers but had to have some cupboards. I wish I"d insisted on all drawers ...

And when you're rewiring plan in outside power sockets. Ours is very useful. Plus we've got three double sockets behind the TV so no extensions needed.

Also add power and light to the loft.

And they'll also install wired in smoke alarms.

Rewire was one of the first jobs we had done :)

If you are really stripping back, re-wiring etc think about little things that will make your life easier as you age. So sockets half way up the wall (better for older people and young families as out of the way of babies and toddlers)
Lots of sockets - maybe ones with the USB in as well as traditional.

Think about making things easy to clean, environmentally friendly, low energy use (LED lightbulbs etc)

USB Sockets are a definite as had them in last house.

LED lights - looking at changing all the lights to LED again had that in our old house. Currently renting and our electric is so much higher having bloody 50w downlighting everywhere.

Looking again at the photos we are going to want to move the electric board and boiler from their current locations.

Working on the plug theory of when you think you have enough add another couple.

watch out for cost of moving the electric board. If the meter is there too you legally have to involve the electricity company and it can get hideously expensive. Due to age of cables on our road we were quoted over £20k 8 years ago. We built a cupboard instead.

Pantry
Utility room
Small study , even if you don't WFH it's good to have a dedicated computer , files of household paperwork
Storage for shoes , boots , coats
Mud room (dirty /wet clothes)

My must haves would be a sunny kitchen diner as that's where so much of family life happens.
Definitely a utility room. Being able to keep laundry and muddy boots and all that clutter out of sight is great.
Downstairs loo.
Good sized coat/bag/shoe cupboard.
Smaller bedrooms of equal sizes not a master, a double and a box.

Underfloor heating
Decent quality detailed skirting boards and architraves

We're literally half way through doing this now! Living in a tiny rental too 😔

So, was a 3 bed bungalow with bathroom and utility, lounge and kitchen and cloakroom. Now...
New roof
Two upstairs bedrooms and en suites
Moved kitchen to the other side of the house
Knocked through to lounge to make lounge diner kitchen which had access
To garden (garden used to be via our bedroom so awful layout)!
Snug with a corner floating ceiling and bifold doors to corner on both sides - this leads out to the garden too
Laundry room
Two downstairs bathrooms one en suite for master and one master bathroom for family or guest use
Guest bedroom downstairs too, as well as master bedroom downstairs
Large hallway with loads of storage
Under stairs storage
We also extended out along the longest wall by 2 metres and a bit (so lost the whole side of the house and all extended outwards)
Changed front window as was a horrible letterbox shape window, changing to two long thin windows, tinted
Rendering the whole house in white newly render that doesn't need painting - ever!
Changing from around 105m2 to around 200 or just a bit less

The first thing to do is evaluate the survey and decide what you really must do first. Then plan the wish list after essential work has been priced.

Don’t have sockets half way up walls unless you really like looking at them. Easier for DC to find and stick things in them.

Also if this isn’t your final house, don’t over specify or have very expensive finishes because you won’t get the money back. No one will thank you in the future for two dishwasher slots! What is better use of space is two fridges!!! If you cannot fit in a pantry, get a larder unit in the kitchen. Alternatively, two fridges are great storage for food and very useful when you have visitors. It’s also hygienic to keep food separated and not piled up in s small fridge. We just hand wash dishes if the DW is full.

We have a large house but decided against a separate study. We could convert a room into a study but we have an L shaped hall and we have a built in computer station in one area of behind closed doors. We have seating and a coffee table opposite. It has the advantage that no one was shut away using a computer and separated from the house. It has file storage and you could work from home if need be. A semi with a study would be unusual and not necessary. We used to have a bedroom/study but didn’t like not having the kitchen handy, so using the hall space works for us but it’s a big hall!

if you have a second dishwasher slot you can easily just put an undercounter fridge or any other appliance in there instead though. It is really flexible, you just turn the water supply off if you don't need it.

I've just done a 4 bed semi. Kitchen still to do.

I work fabric first, so roof, windows and insulation. Rewiring and heating. Flooring and replastering. Internal doors and handles. Bathroom and plumbing. Then decorating and any units built in. ..

If I had the funds I would have done the kitchen when I did the bathroom. So plumber electrician etc work on both.

If you are evolving walls and doing the fabric of th e building do it before you move in.

I would love an upstairs laundry and more built in cupboards.

But I like homes with storage but not gadgetry. I think an efficient boiler is great bit I would never bother with smart tech.

If doing a rewire full or part rewire, go online and get the fittings yourself, you can save a fortune, I saved probably 1k just buying my own, good brands but cheaper online.

Hopefully we will be doing all the work before we move in.

Love all the thoughts please keep them coming.