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

It's a lovely house for £135k. If it smells of pets, the carpets and underlay will need to be replaced. Do that, paint throughout, remove the plastic beams and I think you will have a lovely house. The lead windows might be dated but it is clearly a house of its time with the dark wood and leaded windows so in my opinion they are fine. I think with some good choices of paint and soft furnishings, you could make it utterly beautiful. The kitchen is fine for now and you can hang heavy curtains over the door to the conservatory to keep out the drafts for now.. it might need some serious work in the future. If you buy it...I hope you are happy in your new home.

I renovate btl houses all the time you can get some bargain pre used kitchens on eBay if you are prepared to hire a large van, take kitchen out of house and transport back to your house and install.

I like it. And tbh you could live in it as is? I would definitely get rid of the beams, recarpet, paint and box in the porch/ stairs (fire hazard and the lounge will be freezing). Also sort the heating out and prune the shrubs. I reckon you could paint the kitchen and it would look ok. Then I’d save money and redo the kitchen, sort out the conservatory and do the windows eventually.

I see that your dh likes the dark wood but I'd get rid of all that, rip up all the carpets. New kitchen and make it so that I could have a door on the kitchen for safety. Kitchens should have a door if at all possible for fire containmen. An ex was a fireman so probably why I noticed.
I'd steam clean the paving areas in the garden to see how it all looked when done as it will cost loads to lift and redo the garden.

I'd leave the kitchen for now and focus on removing the Tudor features.

The first thing I would want to do is to reinstate a hallway rather than having the front door open right onto the living room.

I would also want to consider structural alterations before installing a new kitchen as it's really small.

The dark beams are awful so need to go. Painting the rest of the wood white and painting all round, along with new carpets would not cost too much.
The kitchen is modern - what is wrong with it? I would keep it until more funds available. The bathroom is much older, looking at the style though still looks in good condition.
I think the windows are ugly but again would not need replacing urgently if in good condition.
Is there a lot else in your area that you can afford? As a southerner, it seemss so cheap I think it is a great bargain.

What a lovely house!
I would paint the kitchen cupboards and put laminate down.
Rest of rooms don't look bad. Probably would want to do something with the fireplace and remove the plastic beams.
Nice garden too.

How is the front window constructed? It looks suspiciously like a UPVc porch that's open to the living room rather than a solid structure (and you can see from the other houses that have sold in the close that it's a later addition). You need to consider replacing that as if it is UPVc, it won't be adequately insulated.

Lots of potential. Congratulations and enjoy.

Just be really careful with the trees in the back garden - you are viewing in winter / spring when they aren’t in full bloom, come summer that could be a very shaded house and garden. I say this as we made that mistake! Good luck x

I like it and some of these comments are ridiculous. It looks in reasonable condition just with some slightly unusual taste.
What age is it?

I'd spend as little as possible initially until you get a feel for it. Carpets yes. I'd try and pick up a cheap off cut of lino for kitchen until you decide what to do properly.
Take off the strange plastic beams. Ready mixed plaster is great and sands easily for making good.

In the longer term, it may need new windows (get a local joiner the fit and order - cheaper than double glazing companies usually).
I'd do away with the utility room. It doesn't look very big and might be nicer as one unless it is an extension and won't knock through easily.

Bit of decorating upstairs will soon improve it.

I think you need to get used to the light and whether it is draughty in it's current form before thinking about new kitchens etc. It looks perfectly serviceable

I took one look and thought 'money pit'. You could pour money into updating it, so much needs doing. My immediate pet hates, after the plastic beams was the artex ceilings and the windows. I'd want to resurface the front garden area & get rid of that tiled step but that could be done later. Luckily the interior walls are probably in good condition due to age and will look great with new paint. Personally, I'd blitz everything with white after changing the windows. I agree with others though, 50k+

Well this has actually been brilliant thank you 😁
Honestly from both sides of the argument.
It has helped us make the decision that we’ll leave it to be somebody else’s project because the reality is as Morven said (bluntly 😁) we don’t have the time, budget or experience for this. It’s a nice idea but not realistic.
Thank you though it really helped.

Total derail OP but do you happen to know what it says on the shower curtain?

@Jijithecat my guess would be it says 'get naked' which seems to be a theme for bathroom accessories and the like

Don’t listen to the 50k+ crew. Unless the survey throws up a problem, you should be able to make the house comfortable on your budget and The kitchen is ok, the tiles are nice and you could either take a previous posters advice and have a look on eBay, or just change the doors perhaps. A new floor in the kitchen will cost you next to nothing given the size of it. The fake beams and partitions are easily removed - perhaps replace with a modern ‘verrière ‘ to keep the light, but give you a proper entrance. As for the dreaded artex, best solution is to cover it with a plaster skim. Removing it is messy, time consuming and frankly not worth the effort. It’s a nice enough little house for the price, the garden looks nice and personally I wouldn’t remove the trees unless they are causing a problem as they guard your privacy. Good luck!

I have no idea how anyone could spend 18k on a kitchen that small! We recently did ours - it is double the size with solid wooden doors, quartz worktops and good quality appliances and we spent 23k total including all fitting...

@Jijithecat

Total derail OP but do you happen to know what it says on the shower curtain?

Honestly I’ve no clue but if I was to take a punt I’d agree with haudyerwheestfella. It appears to say Get Naked.

Right decision.

The conservatory is a nightmare in itself- will just leach heat out the roof and it looks like it is single skin of bricks to will not be insulated walls or roof. Freezing.

All the windows and frames need changing- hiseous.

There us no garden just crazy paving - cost an absolute fortune to landscape or replace all of that.

Artex /woodchip all over downstairs

Looks like it has never been taken care of.

Kitchen area could be extended but small extension plus kitchen at least £50,000

Carpets

Put wall back in hall?

Good call to leave it.

@AgadorSpartacus

Well this has actually been brilliant thank you 😁 Honestly from both sides of the argument. It has helped us make the decision that we’ll leave it to be somebody else’s project because the reality is as Morven said (bluntly 😁) we don’t have the time, budget or experience for this. It’s a nice idea but not realistic. Thank you though it really helped.

Another poster linked to Rightmove showing other houses in that road, they seem to be leasehold rather than freehold? I'd want to avoid it for that alone to be honest.

There's a lot of work in that house, bearing in mind there's always further issues/jobs that aren't immediately obvious that need to be addressed. I think it would be nicer if it was given a proper hall with the stairs in (and stairs in the living room always reminds me of dolls' houses).

No way will it cost 50k to renovate! Like other posters, I’d say just paint the rooms, replace carpets if they can’t be cleaned. And you can hire a carpet cleaner cheaply, and then whatever else, kitchen etc at a later date.
I think the house is great.