Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

What are your home/property aspirations for 2024?

55 replies

KievLoverTwo · 16/12/2023 22:56

I'll start.

To be homeowners; we have a collective age of 89 so it would be quite nice for that to happen some time very soon. The reason we haven't done it before now is because we were both single, not earning much, and living in the SE.

For said home not to have demonic heat fluctuations, nor to be full of flies for 3/4rds of the year.

To get out of the county we currently live in, and either closer to the county my heart has been taken by, or the one that's more practical for the other half's career.

OP posts:
Yemelade · 17/12/2023 22:46

This is a good thread 😊

Our plan Jan-April of 2024 is to finish off some home DIY and pay for our fascias and uPVC guttering around the house to be replaced as it's snapped and leaky and mouldy. We need gravel for the driveway we built, and want to touch up the paintwork indoors and give the front a spruce with some plants to increase kerb appeal.

In April we want it to be on the market, and we want to be in our next home ideally before the weather turns cold again later into 2024. The home we are in now we've been in 6 years and was a bit of a massive fixer upper (every room has been replaced pretty much, brand new rejigged kitchen and bathroom etc so we've increased our equity substantially as also bought in an up and coming area) so I think we should be able to sell at the figure we are hoping to. Whether we can in this market though is anyone's guess! Our next home will likely also be a fixed upper and I'd ideally like it all done and finished in our first year given that we will have the funds to do it quickly this time. Our current home has taken the whole time we've lived in it!!

daffodilandtulip · 17/12/2023 22:51

2024 will be the year of boring but necessary jobs. The upstairs windows are all blown, they will then need new blinds. The hall/stairs carpet is worn and that leads to painting the hallway. The outdoor patio area needs grouting (or whatever you call it for outside tiles).

puffylovett1 · 17/12/2023 23:05

Finish the bootroom, snag the kitchen. Renovate the downstairs toilet, clad the extension. Maybe do something with the bottom of the garden.
take an actual blinking holiday from the fecking 10 year Reno that still isn’t bloody finished! And it’s only a 3 bed semi!!!

Original poster
KievLoverTwo · 17/12/2023 23:24

Yemelade · 17/12/2023 22:46

This is a good thread 😊

Our plan Jan-April of 2024 is to finish off some home DIY and pay for our fascias and uPVC guttering around the house to be replaced as it's snapped and leaky and mouldy. We need gravel for the driveway we built, and want to touch up the paintwork indoors and give the front a spruce with some plants to increase kerb appeal.

In April we want it to be on the market, and we want to be in our next home ideally before the weather turns cold again later into 2024. The home we are in now we've been in 6 years and was a bit of a massive fixer upper (every room has been replaced pretty much, brand new rejigged kitchen and bathroom etc so we've increased our equity substantially as also bought in an up and coming area) so I think we should be able to sell at the figure we are hoping to. Whether we can in this market though is anyone's guess! Our next home will likely also be a fixed upper and I'd ideally like it all done and finished in our first year given that we will have the funds to do it quickly this time. Our current home has taken the whole time we've lived in it!!

One year is very ambitious! I feel tired just thinking about it. Will you be living in it whilst doing it?

OP posts:
Yemelade · 17/12/2023 23:46

Our biggest challenge previously if I'm totally honest was saving and finding the capital to do work. Then, doing it slowly over 6 years has been tiresome with little opportunity to just enjoy it. We will be living in it when we renovate the next one too and will try and get everything done within 4-6 months. Don't have any kids yet and I've just reduced my hours at work after a recent promotion so I'm oddly not too concerned about renovation disruption as at least there will be an end in sight. We won't be doing any extensions, it will just be kitchen/bathroom and replastering more than likely, the rest like decorating etc can just be done in dribs and drabs 😊

RainDropsStorm · 17/12/2023 23:55

@puffylovett1 I read your post and did wonder if you were Angel from Escape to the chateau. Then you said a three bed semi 🤣

Lots of luck for 2024 and I hope you manage to get it all done.

It would be good to keep this thread going and see how we get on in 2024.

Original poster
KievLoverTwo · 18/12/2023 00:16

Yemelade · 17/12/2023 23:46

Our biggest challenge previously if I'm totally honest was saving and finding the capital to do work. Then, doing it slowly over 6 years has been tiresome with little opportunity to just enjoy it. We will be living in it when we renovate the next one too and will try and get everything done within 4-6 months. Don't have any kids yet and I've just reduced my hours at work after a recent promotion so I'm oddly not too concerned about renovation disruption as at least there will be an end in sight. We won't be doing any extensions, it will just be kitchen/bathroom and replastering more than likely, the rest like decorating etc can just be done in dribs and drabs 😊

Some of the refurb costs I have seen mentioned on MN this year have made my stomach clench up in fear. Maybe it is easier when you have equity?

We also only have one income because I have M.E, which is quite annoying.

OP posts:
Ruthietuthie · 18/12/2023 00:20

Re-do the awful third floor bathroom. That would mean that we had a real space for guests up there. (The guest bedroom is there, but the only useable bathroom is the one off our master bedroom, which is less than ideal).
Also want to re-paint all the scuffed skirting boards. In a perfect world, I would strip these and start again, but the fact that there is 150 years worth of paint on them, much of it lead paint, makes that a very big task.
Tidy EVERYTHING in Marie Condo style, so everything is easier to clean.

Ambi · 18/12/2023 07:17

Receiving the quotes from the tradesmen also made us recoil. We paid £15k for just plumbing which was a decent new boiler, moving the boiler from the kitchen to the loft, 11 new radiators and new piping throughout as we were on an old one pipe system which was inefficient. It was a lot of work but I think he took a decent cut from that.

tealweasel · 18/12/2023 09:44

Get into our new house (we've exchanged and completion is set for start of January so this should be achieved unless we have a total disaster!) Fit built in storage in the living room alcoves and shelves in the kitchen ones within the first few months. Paint the living room, master bedroom, spare room and our son's room (at the moment they're all a bit neutral for my tastes). Optimistically we'd like to remove the fake grass lawn and replace with real turf before the Summer, but no idea what's under the artificial grass or how easy/cheap that'd be to do so this one's a watch this space. I'd also like to fit shutters in the living room but think that'll be a 2025 job.

LadyDanburysHat · 18/12/2023 09:54

2024, more overpaying the mortgage while on a low fix.

We moved into a house that had been painted white everywhere to sell it. So we have been adding colour. So 2024, hopefully dining room and my office will be no longer white. We also want to fix our decking and fencing.

Yemelade · 18/12/2023 10:42

I'm also a bit concerned with rising Reno costs! A colleague at work ended up tripling her budget for a kitchen extension. It's bonkers. However, I'm hoping we'll be in a pretty good place and had planned to go on holiday, start a side hustle from funds etc in addition to work on the house, but if the house budget needs to be increased and prioritised we're happy to forgo those things. I just hope it all works out in the end!

We bought an absolute state of a property in Jan 2018 in Newcastle. All houses at that time in the area were about 120k in average condition. We managed to purchase for 65k. Our outstanding mortgage is about 50k now, and houses on the street (that need work doing to them and smaller than ours) have been selling for 140. Ours is completely done and is a corner plot with larger garden. Brand new kitchen and bathroom, extra shower space, and a drive now. We're hoping to put up for 150-155 (unless an agent tells us to list higher) and see what happens. We get leafleted all the time from property agents and some homes 0.2-0.5 mile away from us (though not in our street) have been selling for 160-180 so I have my fingers crossed it all works out! We'd need about 90 to come away without a loss but ideally need above 130-140 to be able to do works to the types of properties we're seeing. I'm not looking forward to the stress of it all that's for sure!

SollaSollew · 18/12/2023 12:08

Mid-2024 was supposed to be a move from the SE to York for us, dd has just received an offer for the secondary school we love and would be perfect for her and we've completed the final jobs (other than a last paint touch up) to make our current house ready to go on the market. Then my lovely Dad passed away last week which was one of the big drivers for moving "home" so now I am not sure what to do. My Mum still lives nearish by (they are divorced and he was on his own) and there are many other reasons to go but the dream has taken a big knock. The idea of moving and taking on another renovation (which was the plan) feels a bit overwhelming at the moment. I think I'll have to come back after Christmas and update.

pinknsparkly · 18/12/2023 12:37

Mega declutter, unpack the final boxes from when we moved in 18 months ago, decorate/furnish/set up daughters new bedroom to allow son to move into the nursery (decorate that for him), decorate our bedroom and get a wardrobe, and put some blinds up to replace the bedsheets we currently have 😋 I'm hoping to have done the majority by spring🤞 long term, I want to replace kitchen flooring, get decking in the garden and order a new sofa which I hope is also achievable by the end of next year (I'm currently on maternity leave so the cost implications may mean waiting until I return to work). Great thread idea!!

UnfriendMe · 18/12/2023 19:34

To finally exchange and complete on our new house and then to find furniture. Can anybody recommend a site/place with good quality, modern furniture? There are sites like homary which seem to have good stuff but I wouldn't trust anything that ships furniture from China.

Flubadubba · 18/12/2023 20:13

To see how viable knocking down an expired workshop and lean to would be, and whether it could be replaced with a new dining room/utility/downstairs loo.

NorthernChinchilla · 18/12/2023 22:09

Finish off the little gaming room/office for DS- need some new floor boards, skirting and door frame.
Then get carpet on the landings, which will mean me painting the stairs...

Get prices for some new windows on upper floors, new internal doors and more insulation, and start saving. Oh, and shelving. Lots and lots of shelving for a million books. Then we can sort the garage. That's 2025 onwards.

Done loads this year, just want to get those bits finished off next year- the carpet in particular really bloody bugs me, all bits are clearly 30-40 years old and peeling up!

staycaysandvacays · 19/12/2023 10:30

UnfriendMe · 18/12/2023 19:34

To finally exchange and complete on our new house and then to find furniture. Can anybody recommend a site/place with good quality, modern furniture? There are sites like homary which seem to have good stuff but I wouldn't trust anything that ships furniture from China.

Neptune, Soho Home, Made (now at Next)

PermanentTemporary · 19/12/2023 10:40

Jan: To complete on dp's house sale (but am much more chilled now he's exchanged and can move in). Then we have money available. So...

Fix leak in back room roof and insulate it - we are barely using the room because it's so cold. Big expensive project.

Solar panels and a battery - we have a quote in place for that.

Possibly a ground source heat pump but I want to talk to more people about it. Again our insulation may not be good enough. Might be a longer term project.

New bathroom. We've had one firm tell us we can't fit both a walk in shower and a bathtub in, and one firm say we can. Awaiting designs...

That would be about it until the windows go...

greekeconomist · 19/12/2023 14:01

Just moved into a new flat which had clearly been painted white everywhere to hide all sorts, not least the propensity for black mould in the uninsulated kitchen / diner.

So 2024

  • decorate my boys bedroom so it looks more homely
  • sort out heating, over a few months so I don't have to worry about faffing with the E7 tariff until next Octoberish
  • decorate balcony with nice stuff instead of the concrete wasteland it is now
  • smash off / up fugly bathroom wall and floor tiles, replace with nice cushioned warmer lino and wallpaper and nice new tiles round shower / bath
  • replace kitchen which is very much a bodge DIY job and has hideous flooring
See that's only a handful of things, how hard can it be. Suspect some will be 2025 and beyond jobs as one salary doesn't go far!
wereonthemarket · 19/12/2023 14:10

To sell our house and move into a smaller, easier to manage home with a much smaller / no mortgage.

ImTheOnlyUpsyOne · 19/12/2023 16:01

If money was no object I'd like to....
Get a concrete garage up for DH's hobby

Refurb bathroom

Decorate my bedroom, which needs wardrobe and flooring

Carpet and paint hallway and stairs

Re-tile kitchen and hallways floors

Add conservatory

New kitchen

Decorate living room with built in storage in Alcoves new carpet, new fireplace

Insulate our integral brick shed to make it an office space/mini snug

Front driveway to be done, nice canopy over the door and fancy light outside

So not much 🤣🤣🤣 realistically we'll probably be lucky to get through the first 3 things on that list for 2024

Gottoloveatakeaway · 19/12/2023 18:02

We want to move, considering Salisbury atm. Want to be close to centre rather than stuck in suburbs

HOL2024 · 01/01/2024 23:46

We’ve just sat down and gone through the 2024 list!

New composite front door
Replace kitchen window
add an electric radiator to the cloakroom as it gets so cold in there
Add an extractor fan to the bathroom as there isn’t one

we’ve lived here 6 years and the list just keeps growing 😂

Mombie · 02/01/2024 00:20

wereonthemarket · 19/12/2023 14:10

To sell our house and move into a smaller, easier to manage home with a much smaller / no mortgage.

We want to do this too. We have been toying with the idea for a while now because we have put so much into our current home but it seems never-ending. DH is finding it harder to give up this house but I’m ready to be mortgage free.