How much more work to do on this house?

[Luckyelephant1]

Hi looking for some words of wisdom really. I'm no property expert at all and don't want to waste money.

We (DH and I) bought our first house about 3 years ago now. It's a small 3 bed Victorian midterrace with bathroom downstairs. Biggest drawback is parking issues but there's a free car park a few mins walk away so not the end of the world. It was a complete and utter fixer upper- new kitchen, bathroom, flooring throughout, knocked a wall down etc. We did this all slowly but surely. Could have done with replastering the whole place but tbh budget didn't extend that far at the time and we've just filled as required and painted. Been at the 'cosmetic' stage for ages now where we slowly add home decor and touches to each room.

It looks lovely and I think we've done a great job for our budget, not perfect but for an old wonky house where nothing is straight it's looking good. The house looks a million times nicer than most of our neighbours who are fairly old and have been living there for yonks. Realistically we are looking to move in the next couple of years.

Things that are left now are stuff like replacing front door, replace internal doors, add shutters to the living room window for privacy as there's literally none, replacing radiators throughout as they are fugly and filthy inside yet impossible to clean well (believe me I have tried everything). And lots of work on the garden which is a bit of a wasteland atm. All these are things that currently depress me about the house and if we still have another couple of years here I do want to change them.

The thing is, all of the above could cost a huge amount even within a sensible budget, yet none of it is stuff we can take with us when we sell. And although all those things will add some value to the house, how much value compared to what we might spend? Already at a disadvantage due to parking and a downstairs bathroom, and will our house go up much more than the average street value? We do have the means to do it all but will we just be chucking money down the drain? The garden we will definitely spruce at least but what would you do with the rest? Make do with eg. net curtain rather than shutters and keep the front door which is ugly and a bit warped but still functional? I just can't decide what is sensible or not.

I would just give your radiators a lick of paint the new owners can replace those. Maybe put some blinds or curtains up in the window, you really don't need to put shutters up, and clean the door as best you can. None of that costs lots of money.

Don't buy shutter if you're moving. Just get some nice blinds. If you like shutters, what about white Venetian?

Paint the radiators.

You can buy cheap internal doors but again, I'd make do with old ones unless terrible.
Depends how bad front door is. Would a paint spruce it up?

I'd concentrate on the garden. Clear it rather than spend money on it. Make a seating are etc but again, don't spend a lot on it. Of fences falling down, fix or replace.

There will be a ceiling price for your street. Spending money isn't always the way to go.

Personally I would give it a good kerb appeal so front door, shutters and a nice front garden. It would give it a good first impression and help people see the potential. Also I would hate to live with no privacy so would always see that as a necessary expenditure.

Is there anything you could do to the doors / radiators like paint them just to make them stand out less.

Ceiling price, that's the term I was after

OK all good tips and food for thought. We do need to be sensible, but equally it seems a shame to have got this far and let these fugly remaining bits of the old decor ruin the look of what we've achieved. I'm quite particular though so I know some people wouldn't even notice. But I do!

Painting the radiators is an option, does it tend to look well finished if done well? Would the radiator paint simply go on top of the existing colour? Don't think I've ever seen painted radiators in real life, only on Instagram with plenty of angles and filters available to hide imperfections!

@stealthninjamum this is what I'm leaning towards. Keep the internal doors and radiators but sensibly spend on the kerb appeal.

@Luckyelephant1 have you hit your ceiling price?

Get a valuation. If you have hit it then it doesn't matter what you do. You'll get maximum money for your house whether you change things or keep them. Either way your getting the same money!

Agree definitely not shutters. How bad is the front door? Could you share a picture?

I think I would just get the garden to a blank canvas stage, just make sure it's tidy. You wouldn't please everyone anyway and they may want to change anything you do so it might not add value.

Ultimately it depends on the market in your area. If it's a very desirable area, you may get more than your money back. Estate agents told me not to replace my kitchen, but I did as I was planning to live there for another year or so and it added much more value than what it cost and made it much more saleable in my opinion.

Op you could ask an estate agent round when lockdown has eased a bit.

I have painted radiators and found them tricky to do (but that was 20 years ago, paint is probably better now) and if yours are the very big old ones it might be hard to get in all the gaps.

Could you put a shelf over them or mirrors? Something to detract from them. Or move furniture in front of them just while you sell the house.

I would do front door (if it’s really bad and paint won’t do the job), window film not shutters and tidy the garden. You could look into radiator covers for the ones that annoy you the most if they’d go with your style? e.g. www.screwfix.com/p/contemporary-kensington-radiator-cover-small-white-1020-x-180-x-800mm/9775p

We did replace interior doors downstairs but ours were really ugly as sin (brown with swirly glass) so that made a massive difference but if yours are just white/wood and inoffensive then I wouldn’t bother as hanging doors is a hassle!

I painted radiators in my old house found it surprisingly easy; however they aren't at all expensive to replace if you want standard ones. We're replacing two in our front room at the minute and it's coming to around £180 and one is an unusual size.

We painted our radiators. For the price of a tin of paint it’s worth trying. Ours look loads better.

Get a valuation, ask an east ate agent about your plans and work out the ceiling price. You could end up as the most expensive house on a street where there’ll soon be lots of other doer uppers coming up for sale.

And get some privacy film or a translucent voile blind, there are nice plain roller blinds.

I agree with others, definitely do the front door and garden but manage without the shutters (window film or blinds), paint radiators and internal doors.

OK this has helped lots. I'm now thinking

• replace front door and sort garden for sure
• keep internal doors
• radiators either paint or replace the worst one only which is downstairs.
• shutter for downstairs front window- kinda have my heart set on this now as the do transform a room. I think I'll get a couple of quotes for cafe style half shutters at least, and see what the setback would be. Have saved a lot from not going on holiday or fancy clothes over the last year so if we are in this house for up to another couple of years I don't think it's a waste if I get a reasonable quote.