Does this sound too ambitious a DIY list for 18 months and minimal money?

[Applebobby]

Downstairs bathroom (complete remodel)
Upstairs bathroom (complete remodel)
Living room (redo fireplace, remove dado rail, repaint)
Re-tile utility room floor
Bedroom (re-plaster one wall, paint and wallpaper)
Repair falling down garage (which is essentially just a giant wooden shed)
Plaster staircase and tiny hallway

DH works full time (so do I but I have absolutely no DIY skills so this is really just on him) and only has weekends to do these things. He is incredibly handy and can do all of these things (except plastering the hallway... Small patches he can do but not a full staircase), it just takes him a lot longer than it would a professional. We have a DD, 18 months and would like to start trying for another baby when she is 3 but we'd really like these things done before then because the house is currently very tired and in desperate need of all these things. We've been here a year and have only managed to decorate one room and repair a knackered conservatory as well as a few more urgent repairs such as the electrics. Because of the extortionate childcare fees we're currently paying we're also bound by only being able to save a few hundred a month so there's the need to save for much of this in-between jobs also (we already have 90% of what we need for the downstairs bathroom, DH has an already very expansive tool collection so it's only really the upstairs bathroom and staircase that need a good amount of money thrown at them, most other things can be done for a few hundred max). But my worry is, if we don't get these things done before we have another baby, they'll never get them done. Or at least not for a very long time as we'll have more money restraints and less time. But if we could just get them all done then that would be essentially it for the house and we could live here very comfortably with only maintenance DIY for a good long while.
It's not a big house so none of these are big rooms and we're not talking making anything our dream, perfect room; just less grim then it currently is would do. It's a ex local authority property which has not been decorated in about 40 years so it's just all very tired... Functional, but oh so tired.
Does it sound like a reasonable list to try and achieve before DD turns 3 without using every spare second of DH's time?

It sounds like a lot of work but it depends how much time you have. If you only have weekends and also have to fit everything thing else around that then it will be tough IMO. If you have the sorts of jobs where you can get home quite early and you have your evenings to yourselves without having to work then it will be easier

If you need to save up to have the hall & stairs replastered between jobs, then 18 months is quite a tight timescale.

And saying you have zero DIY skills is a bit of a cop out. No-one has any skills until they try. Watch some videos. Learn. If you can take the redecorating off your partner's shoulders, then things are more possible.

That's a longer list than we have achieved in 8 years.

That’s really not much, the bathrooms are big jobs. You either have the money or not, the rest is not major.

I will be helping with painting and decorating. It's not so much a cop out as one of us has to be with DD. She's not old enough to be left toddling around whilst we both do it so either way, only one of us can really ever be cracking on with it at once so it might as well be the one of us who already knows what they're doing. But I do tend to do the painting side of things anyway.

Also, it's a flexible list. If it doesn't get done it doesn't get done. None of this is urgent, we would just like for it to be and want to use this time when we know we have ever so slightly more time and money than we will when we have have two children, all being well. We have our priorities and if we finish the list, that would be wonderful. If not, oh well. I'm just interested to know if people think it's actually achievable.

IME, yes, too ambitious. He'll get burnt out if he is DIYing EVERY weekend.

I think lack of money will slow you down more than lack of time with savings rates of only a few hundred a month. Have you considered a home equity line of credit? This works like a credit card but at mortgage rate of interest. We used one to DIY remodel a home we bought as it badly needed new kitchen and bathrooms, roof and windows when we moved in with a 1yr old and 3yr old. It meant we could just get the work done, and pay off the costs at very low interest. Instead of the wait 3mos to save, do one tiny thing, wait another 4mos to save, do another tiny thing.

I agree trying to get this done before DC2 arrives is a good idea, but I wouldn’t put off TTC over it in your shoes.

At 18mos, you can try to put DC in a play pen with a bunch of toys in same room while you get on with painting. You can still interact with them and stop if they need you or abort if they’re not in the mood/are clingy. So you and DH can both work on house in small bursts.

No, especially if only one person is bothering to do it.

We bought a holiday home, its an old stable and in the state of a very old stable, I had someone fix the roof, brickwork etc to make it waterproof. I then tried to do as much as I could at weekends and during annual leave in the summer holidays (we have a camper, so could stay no matter the state of the building).

Apart from popping back home for sport I spent a solid three weeks there, in that time I managed to fit the bathroom and kitchen (although a carpenter fitted the worktops). That was me working 6-7 5 days a week, so what took me three weeks (15 days) would take your husband 7 full weekends, and really, he shouldn’t be working fulltime with zero days off for seven weeks.

We hired professionals for a lot of things, electrics, plastering, decorating (they primed and painted the entire place in two days), carpentry, landscaper, window fitter.

It was a nightmare and I hated every moment of it, my husband couldn’t do any of it as he is disabled, but despite it of course not being his fault, having to do it all really tested my patience.

Our current projection is:

Downstairs bathroom between now and Christmas. We already have everything we need for that and have always planned for that to be done now. The utility room floor will probably be done at the same time because it's the same flooring.
Then the living room which is a much smaller job and DFIL will help with.
Then the upstairs bathroom which we want plastering partially so will hopefully get the hallway done at the same time. And that will be dependent on a plasterer of course.
Then (or before, depending where we are, the Garage will be a Summer project and DH can call in friends support (they love big woodwork projects like this.
The bedroom is literally a two weekend project, three if done very slowly because it's just one wall and then decorating and that's our lowest priority.
There will always be gaps between projects as we save to get the bits we need but the only expensive thing is going to be the upstairs bathroom and hiring a plasterer so that will be the biggest hold up and other things can be done as we wait for them so I think it doesn't seem too much but I appreciate I'm not doing the majority of the work.
And again, it's not I'm not bothering to do it. DD is not a sit quietly and play in a playpen kind of child. She needs one of us with her and DH loves DIY, this is a conversation we are both involved in. I'm not utilising my husband for slave labour.

I don't think its realistic without professional help in but there's no reason why you can't continue with 2 children. I would assume a similar pace to what you have achieved so far and work out what is a priority for you / what is achievable without outside help. Its also quite stressful, couple next to us did theirs quickly with professionals but ended up divorced by the end of it, and would definitely have some weekends off and not doing both days at the weekend on a regular basis. We renovated our old house with a 2 and a 3 year old, it was quite stressful but rewarding once its done.

Our house needed quite a lot of work when we bought it. My DH is self employed but did all the DIY himself at weekends. It took about 3 months to do 1 bathroom!

I would totally do this if it meant I could have a family home.

Do the important bits first and the cosmetic stuff last.