What would you do with this house?

[AgadorSpartacus]

We are considering buying this house based very much on the location and that we (mainly DH) loves the quirkiness. If our offer is accepted we’ll have between 14,000 and 20,000 to make it liveable (it also smells like pets). The beams above the alcove to the kitchen and all round the kitchen are a strange plastic that we think we purposely put in by previous owner as decoration. I’d like them removed but worried about cost. I do want a new kitchen to be honest.
What would you do with it? The beams and the house generally? www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/121150577

Doesn't look like garden gets much sun with all those shrubs and trees as all the slabs, path etc are quite green. It's a nice sized property and looks like it could be modernised relatively simply (based on the photos).

Mmm I'd probably have to do a fair bit to it to live in it personally. Paint, new kitchen, new flooring, window furnishings, fans, doors, lots of gardening work.

Honestly I think you’d need well over double, maybe triple your budget to make it liveable. Personally I’d find something else that didn’t require as much work.

So depressing how cheap that is compared to the SW! Looks like it has lots of potential though OP!

Unless you are both professional tradespeople and decorators- I’m afraid budget won’t touch the sides

It's livable now, but the decor is horrible.

I think my first priority would be the kitchen tbh.

You could sort that out with the budget you have and do the rest as and when you have the money.

Maybe put a bit aside for paint and get the house painted a decent colour.

I wouldn't make any decisions about the money until you get your survey back - there may be an obvious place to start from that.

I'd look at keeping warm and dry first - windows, boiler, loft insulation - especially with rising energy costs. If all done to a good standard, then I'd probably replace the kitchen.

Removing the beams and making good shouldn't cost too much if they are just decorative.

You can hire carpet cleaners yourself but when we moved in to our house we had a company come out & do it for us, it was under £200 for two bedrooms, landing and stairs and made it smell a lot fresher, so might be worth getting that done.

Plastic beams off and made good, white paint on door frames and stairs, get rid of the leaded windows, just the glass panes, should be able to get all of the glass replaced for £10k. Will make a massive difference to the light in the house and bring it up to date.

I actually really like it. It looks like a lovely secluded plot and the trees all around are nice. All the houses I've lived in have needed "work" but I think that depends on what matters to you. I'd be happy to move in and do bits and pieces as I went along, the kitchen are bathroom are both serviceable in the meantime and redecorating to your taste is easily done. You'd have enough to do the kitchen if that's the main thing that bothers you, agree the beams are a weird choice! I'd consider getting a tree surgeon in to cut back the trees where necessary so you maximise the sun outside. You could live there for a bit and then decide where you think your money would be best spent.

Gosh, unlike PPs I could easily live in it just as it is very comfortably and just do it up slowly over time!
What I’d do would be give every room a fresh lick of paint, new carpets to get rid of the dog/pet smell, and yes - get rid of those plastic beams!
Then whatever money is left, if it isn’t enough for the kitchen, keep saving till you can afford the kitchen you want. There’s nothing horrific about the existing kitchen, looks usable, maybe you could freshen it up with some paint in the meantime?

My first thing would be to get rid of any flooring that's not tile and do a general deep clean, if the house smalls of pets.

The decor I would live with and do bits when we could afford to.
I don't think your budget will revamp the whole thing in one go.

Live with the house for a bit and get a feel for your priorities?
Looks like a decent space though.
And yes - amazing price! That would be easily £4-500k here!

Thanks so much for replies. We’d decided that new carpets all through, decorated throughout, new kitchen, interior doors were a must then anything after that. The dark wood was why DH loved it so much (it really wouldn’t bother me to paint it all white). I’d always said I didn’t want a fixer upper but this is in a lovely location for us and not too far from work.

Op

You will not get change from £50k and that’s middle of the road finish

Just painting all the wood white would make a huge difference.
I'd leave the kitchen for now and box in the stairs. Having stairs go up from the living room is a PITA in terms of noise and smells.

All depends on how much you want to do yourself?

I would suspect removing the plastic beams would be easy, they won’t be structural so a crowbar and some force will get rid of them. New kitchen and flooring downstairs (which will help with the pet smell). As will frebreze and lots of open windows.

Then get a lot of that dark wood stripped (more expensive option) or painted white, it will really freshen the place up.

The fire looks nice and it is easy to remove the surround - either keep it plain or add a new one to your taste.

The conservatory is where I would focus my efforts, it looks like it will be cold. And loft insulations if not already present.

Longer term I would look that the front door to stairs, maybe putting in (possibly reinstating) a hall way or making a better porch area, that one looks cramped, which isn’t welcoming and whee would you put coats and shoes.

It is livable as is, you don’t need to do everything at once.

Meh some of this is doom mongering, new kitchen remove the plastic shit, carpet throughout and paint. You can likely do it on budget if you are a bit handy and can paint some rooms and woodwork yourself.

On a side note, those plastic beams are the oddest thing I’ve seen in a while.

That is so 1980s it should have a perm.

Yes to getting rid of the beams, I'd be tempted to get rid of the sort of half walls to the kitchen and make the 'diner' part of the kitchen, then you can have your freezer in it.

For now a lick of paint and getting rid of the beams would help.

The leading looks like it is the tape type so that can be stripped off.

Long term I'd be looking to put a toilet where the utility is and possibly using the conservatory as a dining room.

Have a look at some of the neighbours www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/pr7/cross-swords-close.html for layout ideas.

I wouldn’t spend to much though as you might find yourself in negative equity but little and often over time it could be a lovely house. Nice plot.

Plastic beams 100% will not be structural

Otherwise would contravene every building reg out there and you’d have far bigger worries than cosmetic

@Qwill

Honestly I think you’d need well over double, maybe triple your budget to make it liveable. Personally I’d find something else that didn’t require as much work.

I was going to say this.

It definitely has potential, but without remodelling / changing the space, I reckon you'd still need £50k just to refurb it, sort windows, paint, take out the awful beams ...

I think you could use that kind of money to get a house that needs less work.

@AgadorSpartacus

Thanks so much for replies. We’d decided that new carpets all through, decorated throughout, new kitchen, interior doors were a must then anything after that. The dark wood was why DH loved it so much (it really wouldn’t bother me to paint it all white). I’d always said I didn’t want a fixer upper but this is in a lovely location for us and not too far from work.

I can't imagine that's all possible for £13k, particularly with the increased costs atm

If it smells like pets, you’re probably going to have to take out the carpets and underlay and replace with your choice of flooring, so I would work out the cost of that first. As a guide, we recently re-carpeted 2 bedrooms, £800 for the big room, £400 for the smaller. Nothing, trust me, nothing, no matter what people recommend, gets rid of the smell of pet wee out of carpets, on a warm day.

I agree, that plastic beam stuff looks retro-fitted, so should come off without causing any major damage to the walls and ceilings. My H would do that himself, but he’s handy. You, or your tradesperson, will need to do some filling and sanding, possibly replastering, once it’s off. You could ask your surveyor to check it’s decorative rather than structural.

Once you’ve done those two things, I think there’s a good chance you’d have enough left in your budget for a moderately priced new kitchen, but the kitchen is functional and not awful, so you could wait and save, and put in a really nice one when you can afford it.

@implantreplace

Op

You will not get change from £50k and that’s middle of the road finish

Wow @implantreplace would you be willing to break this down roughly, how have you arrived at £50k? I think home renovation must be more expensive than I think it is.

@AgadorSpartacus

Thanks so much for replies. We’d decided that new carpets all through, decorated throughout, new kitchen, interior doors were a must then anything after that. The dark wood was why DH loved it so much (it really wouldn’t bother me to paint it all white). I’d always said I didn’t want a fixer upper but this is in a lovely location for us and not too far from work.

If you are savvy enough you could do that for £13k, especially if you decorate yourself and keep the current kitchen layout. The conservatory would take you over that, it looks as though it needs work but could be liveable for a while.

I’ve renovated several properties residential but also commercial.

Cant believe pps saying you’ll need double your budget /£50,000 plus to make it liveable !!! There’s nowt wrong with it!! It’s just dated 🤷‍♀️ . I’d live in it for a bit and work out your priorities , it’s only cosmetic work that it needs surely!
Going by some of these replies I’m beginning to see why there are so many people in the property boards complaining they can’t find anything !