What would you do first?

[17MUM19]

I have a list of home improvements that I'd like to eventually get done.
I currently have around £10k to spend and can't decide what to prioritise.

The smaller jobs are:
• replace the blinds in the living room, master bedroom and one of the spare bedrooms.
• redecorate the living room (paint, replace carpet, new radiators, new sofa)
• replace all internal doors (9 doors throughout the whole house)
• partially/fully board the loft
• redecorate the master bedroom (carpet, paint, new curtains and blinds, new bed)
• replace the tiles in main bathroom
• utility room (our utility was part of the garage and is brick on the inside. I'd like to plaster, and have proper base units and worktop put in)
• replace flooring throughout downstairs (each room currently has different tiles and I'd like it to all match and flow better)

My big jobs that the budget definitely doesn't stretch to are:
• underfloor heating throughout downstairs and then replace flooring as above. Around 85sqm and quoted £10k for this alone 😖
• knock down current conservatory which is full width of the house and build a 2 storey extension in its footprint, making our 2nd bedroom into big master with dressing area and en suite. We wouldn't actually gain a bedroom.

I can post floorplan or photos if you need to visualise.

What would you do first...?

I always work on the principle of structural/extensions/wiring and plumbing, i.e. big jobs first, then new kitchens/bathrooms/flooring, then decoration/re-plastering/painting/tiling, then furniture and soft furnishings. This is partially for budgeting reasons (I find it's much easier to blow the budget on the furnishings etc and not have enough left to get round to doing the big jobs than vice versa) and partially because doing the big jobs creates so much mess I don't want my nice freshly decorated rooms getting dusty or lovely new carpets having workmen's boots trampling all over them.

So for me (assuming the house is habitable/bearable currently), it would depend on if you absolutely definitely are going to do the 2 big jobs you can't currently afford at some point in the medium term, in which case I'd put your £10k into savings and save as hard as I could to get the money for the big jobs (perhaps reserving a small amount e.g. £500 for essential furniture replacements and perhaps some cheap paint and soft furnishings to spruce the place up in the meantime).

Or if those are really much more of a long term idea/the £10k is all you are likely to have to spend for the foreseeable, I would probably work from the bottom of your list upwards, starting with the floors, tiles and utility room and doing the painting, blinds and new furniture last (unless you are currently suffering a bad back on an ancient mattress or something).

Flooring and front room decorating. See what's left in the budget after that and do the doors.

That's the thing @maxelly I'm not 100% sure we'd ever get around to doing the big jobs. If our garden was bigger, this would be our forever home and I'd be saving hard to get them done straight away.
We certainly wouldn't have the cash to do it until both kids are at school and that's 4 years away.

I think I should probably just rule out the big jobs and crack on with a few of the smaller jobs.

We haven't changed anything in this house since we bought it 3 years ago, it's structurally sound and our furniture is good condition so I think I will start with downstairs and see how far my budget goes before working my way upstairs 😬

Doors, living room and flooring. We’ve replaced doors quite recently and made such a difference

I think id do the utility room.

when do you think you'll have the money to do the expensive projects... months? or years? because if it's months there is no point buying blinds/curtains etc because the extension and dust will ruin them.
Theres no point doing the floor as you'll rip it up to do the underfloor heating.

I’d prioritise what will make you happiest right now. That’s what we did - we did the kitchen first and gradually did the rest of the house.

@Karcheer it would be years, if I spent the 10k doing little bits here and there we would be talking at least 5 years to save that sort of money again and my bigger jobs would need a lot more than £10k to get done.

I don't want to but I think I should realistically kiss goodbye to the underfloor heating and keep the radiators downstairs and replace the flooring anyway. That's the main this I dislike about the downstairs.

@17mum19 you've answered your own question then :) do you floor!