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

Two things I would love if I had space: Utility room with pulley on ceiling for drying washing inside. Small study for working from home and to keep all the admin stuff, printer and all the things with wires!

@HandsOffMyRights is it tv noise, chatting etc or more slamming doors kind of thing? I’ve heard it’s easier to solve the first type of noise issue.

TV and chatting not so bad. It's more footsteps and doors

Next door has wooden floors and our previous neighbours had a toddler who would not go to bed. Every evening they'd be running up and down, screaming. Thankfully they moved!

Noise travels in various ways, through floors, walls and chimney breasts, joists. We never bothered to soundproof the adjoining upstairs wall as the downstairs didn't make a massive difference.

A door and a wall between kitchen and living areas.

And loads of stuff pp have mentioned.

I agree with get the basics right.

Layout and any structural work - it’s worth spending money to get what works for your family and not leave annoying bits of wall if you can help it (unless they are useful eg to put tv on).

Think about daylight and how to get it into the dark central parts of the house.

Where are the messy bits of life (coats/shoes, bikes, laundry, paperwork, pet stuff etc) going to live.

Plumbing, heating (incl ufh), insulation

Electrics - lighting and sockets in the right place and enough of it.

Anything else is decorative and can be done in stages, your tastes may change anyway. I’d rather have a great layout and a cheap kitchen any day than the other way round.

Don’t really understand the two dishwashers thing...

Weve just bought a 3 bed semi in need of modernosation and with a large enough garden to extend plus an out building at the end of the garden.
Our plan is just to leave upstairs as is we have 2 kids so bedroom each for them and us...although may move the wall between the kids rooms in the future to give our son a bigger room.
Downstairs the front room is staying where it is, the kitchen is very small so turning that into a utility/mud room as turning the window into a side door will make a courtyard as theres a nice bit of space to side of house this is where washing can be hung out.
Then the back room will lead round into an L shaped extension to be a kitchen/ diner family room and we will also have a downstairs loo where it already is which is by the kitchen (new utility room) so at the back of the extension they'll be a door to loo and utility. We also will get bifold doors and sky lights in the extension for the light (important to make sure original back room isn't too dark)

Then we plan to make a summer house/ bar and storage area in the outbuilding. For me this ticks all the boxes of what we can afford for now as we want a grown up lounge hence keeping the front room separate then the rest can adapt to family life! Xx

Air con in at least 1 room.

A big bathroom with a walk in shower and free standing bath

Thanks all just an update. Had our offer accepted so all moving forward.

Lots of great ideas will be incorporating quiet a few of them.

More sockets than you think you will need particularly in kitchen + living room. We have 4 doubles by the tv which I thought was overkill but they are all in use most of the time.

Also if you rewire take photos before the walls get replastered so you can see where the wiring goes from the sockets - horizontally, vertically and in which direction. It is a hugely helpful reference when you want to screw something to a wall or put a picture up in the future.

Bit late to this thread, but, we had a major extension and refurb 3 years ago. We are retired and wanted to make sure the house suited our needs for quite a while.
Plenty of storage was very important. It makes such a difference to be able to put stuff away and keep everything clutter free.
Easy to keep clean was a must. No high maintenance surfaces or difficult to clean areas.
Individual space. We have our own studies, bedrooms and bathrooms. We are getting on, have our own interests and have never lived in each others pockets...plus we both snore like warthogs.
A secure house, knowing that it would be difficult to be broken in to when we are away.
Insulated as well as we can to keep heating costs down, plus a good economical new boiler.
Good lighting available in all areas, including outside.
That's all the practical stuff. My favourite thing is actually the drinks fridge built in to the kitchen, but then, I do like a glass of chilled white wine!