Hoping some of the wise mumsnet folk can talk some sense into me…apologies for the length of post…
Currently living in a 3 bed Victorian townhouse in London - moved only 3 years ago but life has changed a lot since the move as we now have a very rambunctious toddler!
When we moved we thought the house would need minor cosmetic work only- a lick of paint here and there- it was also our first purchase. We ended up doing a lot of cosmetic stuff to make it lovely- all new fancy looking (although second hand) radiators, lots of replastering and replacing some dodgy ceilings, built in wardrobes and shelving, all new lights and shutters, new carpets, it worked out to an eye watering sum. We love the house but there are some ‘issues’
The problem is 1) the garden is a
small courtyard garden with a crumbling deck at the back and lots of the sides taken up by massive (overgrown) flower beds- meaning there’s not much usable space for DS to run around- and he is a BUSY kid.
2) the kitchen is a bit of a mess- the downstairs layout is weird meaning that the downstairs loo takes up loads of the kitchen. It’s fine but it doesn’t work for entertaining and with a toddler it would be so nice to feel comfortable having people over more as we are so tied to the house in the evenings.
3) it’s never going to be a ‘big’ house- it’s one of the smallest on the road and we wouldn’t have room for a utility etc
4) apparently this is normal for London but we have RATS. Only under the floorboards in the kitchen and dining room but we have had 3 worst control companies round and they all say it’s just Victorian foundations and not much you can do about it (eyeroll)
Important to say we ADORE the location- it’s just perfect- lovely huge green space at the end of the road and incredible neighbours who we are really close with and have kids the same age. Close to station and shops in a blissful quiet enclave
My quandary is
- Do we do a side return and remodel the kitchen so we have that usable living space and then landscape the garden. It will still be a small garden but the space could me much more child friendly. The issue with this is the quotes we have got have been CRAZY. Talking over 150 to just do a 1x7 metre side return. Would have to wait to do the garden as this would be all our money gone!
Life is very stressful- both work full time and other stresses going on so the idea of taking on a big project and living in a building site feels terrifying. Let alone unforeseen costs…however with this option we can rip up all the floors and basically rat proof it I think.
2)Do we move- we would stay in the immediate area and things don’t come on often but they do sometimes- just down the road the houses are much bigger and this could suit us better if we (hopefully) have another DC and then we have two nutters running around. Some houses round here have HUGE gardens too. With this option we would need to spend at least another 200k on the value of ours (maybe 250k) and then we would have stamp duty and fees on top. It would mean remortgaging at a time when we are already stretched paying insane nursery bills BUT this could then be the home for the forseeable future ( amazing primary schools but secondaries not so much so may have to move for that). My concern with this option is we just wouldn’t have any money left to make it ‘ours’ - all the touches we did on our current house we wouldn’t have the dosh to do.
- Do we just landscape the garden so DS has that space. It’s great having the green space at the end of the road but sometimes you want to get on with the washing or whatever and have him playing somewhere safe. My concern with this option is that everyone says don’t ever do your garden before building work because it will get wrecked - so would be committing to not really doing that and also is it a waste of money in that it won’t make a huge difference and then we wouldn’t have enough to renovate or move potentially.
I have honestly been agonising over this for 80% of my waking hours for the last 6-8 months… hoping someone clever can help!
TYSM