Unhappy in house, sell after 1.5 years?

[WiltedBlossom]

Hi all,
New here but have been reading various posts. Just wondering what your thoughts are on selling a house that you just can't seem to feel happy in?

We've been here for a year and a half, and it's just not bright enough for me, I constantly find myself craving more light and sun. The house feels boxed in by the tall houses opposite and out back, which cast large shadows especially at this time of year, and the small living room window can't be enlarged due to zoning regulations, so a lot of the time it feels like living in a box.

The area is highly sought after so I think we'd be able to sell quite fast. Only thing is that we might never be able to buy again - there's basically nothing on the market, and what is out there is either no better, or totally unaffordable. So we'd be back to renting.

Not a single day passes where I don't think about getting out of here, I don't want to continue like this. I was happy in our bright rental flat before and felt at home there, and I'm hoping that I can feel at home again somewhere else.

Thanks for your thoughts or advice!

If the area is that highly sought after, why not rent out your current house to finance you renting elsewhere?
It makes very poor sense to sell up if you can’t envisage a way back onto the property ladder.

Could you make any sort of back porch with glass roof to sit in? Even with the overshadowing houses it would be lighter.
And could you put in roof lights every where possible?

Light paint. Large mirrors refecting each other to increase the illusion of space. Get a lighting designer in.

What period house is it?

If all this fails, it will still help increase the selli g price if you still want to sell.

I am in treatment for anxiety, several very challenging things have happened over the past couple of years so it has been very hard. This house situation is adding to the difficulty, unfortunately.
I know what you mean, I think buying a property will always be a compromise as budgets are limited and there is often not much available. It could potentially be a stepping stone, depending on how we decide. Hope you settle in a bit more soon too.

Could you reconfigure it to make it an upside down layout? I know someone who did this and their house has a lovely light bright 1st floor living room and kitchen diner, and cosy, dark ground floor bedrooms

We bought one house and moved in on 14 September and moved again on 21 March, literally 6 months later! There were lots of reasons but the bottom line was, we weren’t happy so we cut our loses and sold up. Set us back financially for a couple of years but moving out was the best decision we made. Sometimes things just aren’t right but think carefully first about what you can do to make the house better!

Yes, our rented flat was on the fourth floor and was basically a glass box! Totally different to here.
We probably wouldn't be able to afford to buy a property like that unless we moved way, way out into the sticks.
To be honest, I grew up in a house and it was always my dream to own my own house, but it's not all it's cracked up to be and I actually miss apartment living a lot.
Yes, you're right that nowhere is perfect and you have to pick your poison.
If we do move though at least I have a better idea now of what's most important.

I have considered this, might have to run the numbers again...

Of the upper floor and attic are bright, then consider making the attic or a room in the upper floor your lounge area.

Check out interiors of houses like yours on rightmove. See what you like.

I wouldn't move to rented. Change the door colour, sot in each room and think what's wrong, what would make it better. Nice smell as you come in, cheerful soft throws.

Get an interior person or someone you know and like to critique your house and make suggestions.

I'll have to run the numbers again to see if it could potentially work. Yes, I think if we do sell this place there is a big risk of being priced out of buying permanently in this area.

Although the back is north facing, adding big glass French doors or a larger window would impact the light in the room (without making it boiling in the summer). One thing we are adding is a wooden gazebo permanent structure to the garden as I need to be able to sit outside with my coffee in the rain to feel content. We had a metal gazebo but it was destroyed by the wind. It made such a difference to my mental health so we decided to invest in something more permanent with a fire pit table and blankets.

This time of year, the market is never great. Don’t rule out moving but maybe spring and only into a bought home, not renting.

Morning light dulux light reflecting paint is the colour if sunlight hitting a white wall. It's the only paint I use now and warmer than typical whites too.

unlight lamps are also a thing. In addition to doors that let light on or open out. It'll be cheaper to knock down an internal wall to let light through than move.

Make sure you take lots of vitamins D.

Housing market will be pretty stagnant now until March/Spring so so try sending.design changes in the meantime. :)

Thanks, we can't get planning permission for a conservatory or similar, but could potentially enlarge the rear (north-facing) sliding door, that's where the kitchen and dining area are. It would be extremely expensive though and I'm not sure we'd recoup that if we sold afterwards.
We have large mirrors, I'm not much into artificial lighting so I do what I can to work with the existing natural light.
The house is about 100 years old so we aren't permitted to make any alterations to the front (south-facing).

I had considered this but I just think it would be prohibitively expensive, we're talking a couple of hundred thousand most likely. By the time we'd done that we could probably just save up and invest in something else. But thanks for the suggestion!

Wow, so you know where I'm coming from then! To be honest I think if my husband felt the same then we'd do that, but he doesn't have the same issues with the lack of windows that I do. We've been looking with an architect at ways to potentially improve this place, but it's all very pricey and we unfortunately can't alter the windows in the room which bugs me the most (not permitted by council).

We live in a terraced house with very thick walls. Our dining room has a tiny window and is really dark - it's separated from the living room by a big arch. Does your front door go into your living room? One thing I'm looking at is replacing our front door with one that has glass in it, which would pull more light into the room. I've considered then putting an internal window or opening in the wall opposite the door so the light travels through the house. Or if your living room is off a hallway, could you have a glazed front door, a mirror in the hall and then an opening/internal window into the living room to bounce the light around?
You have my sympathies, I was miserable in my house for the first 1.5 years, it felt dark and gloomy after being in a first floor flat with big windows - I also had SAD which made the winter feel unbearable. I spent every night on Rightmove looking up alternatives and rentals! I've now been in the house 3 years and am so much happier. We have friends in the area, and are getting all the rooms decorated in our own style which makes it feel much more 'ours'. I'm also taking vit D every day which is helping me through winter! Hope some of this helps and I hope your house grows on you too!

Thanks, that's kind of what we've done - as I don't really like the living room, I've made a second living area in the attic, which has a large dormer window and is nice and sunny. It's two flights of stairs away from the kitchen and dining area though, which makes it a bit impractical and so far, I suppose for that reason, we haven't really spent time there as a family.
I like your idea of getting specific suggestions from friends, might do that too.
Yes, I am not keen on going back to renting and will only do so as a last resort really, if we can't make this place work.

I know you said the back has a large glass opening, what is at the front? Is there a garden or is it straight onto the road? If you have some space at the front why not put some reflective material (glass?) facing your house. That could make the front room lighter.

This is exactly the advice I would give. Architects in particular can be very creative.

I hated my current house for years. We’ve been here 11 years now and I’d say only min the past couple of years I’ve liked it! We’ve put up more artwork, it feels more lived-in (needs a coat of paint!) I prefer it in the winter though as it’s warm and cosy, in the summer it’s too hot and our neighbours are loud in the garden.
We will probably lose out financially when we do sell as it hadn’t really increased in value like I thought it would. If we’d have made on it we probably would have moved again already.

I think you’d be mad to sell and move into rented with no hope of buying again. Do you love the area? Is the rest of the house suitable? Could you keep your sitting room for the evening and paint in warm, creamy colours, hang art and put nice furniture in. Do you have room to make a living area at the back for daytime? Or use your loft during the day? It seems a shame to chuck everything up when it just seems to be the room at the front of the house which you dislike? Is it possible you are projecting onto the house other things? Maybe put up a floor plan/pictures so people can see the space and give ideas.

That was the only thing I thought as well - with north-facing at least you never have to close the blinds and it won't heat up in summer, while still adding light and openness. But yeah, pricey though so let's see.
Your planned gazebo for your garden sounds really nice, enjoy it!
Yes, if we do end up going the route of selling then it would be in spring at the very earliest. My husband is not willing to buy something else straight away, so we'd have to rent at least for the time being.

Thanks for the tip about that paint.
I mentioned in another reply that I sometimes use our TV as a lightbox.
A friend of mine from Finland said that there, even the cafes put light therapy lamps on the tables at this time of year, I don't have one yet but might get one too.
Yes, we're looking into removing additional internal walls, thanks.
I take between 2000-4000 I.U. of vitamin D per day.
Yes, don't think we'll be making any big plans in the next couple of months but it's just been bothering me for so long, and especially now the darker time of year has set in again :(

Don’t go back to renting. Wait it out and do what you can to make yourself happy there.

Thanks for your ideas. Yes, when you enter the house there's a little entrance area which has a guest loo on the right, then the living room is kind of slightly ahead and to the left. We're thinking of knocking down the little wall between the entrance area and living room so that we get the light from the glazed front door coming in to the living room better. It's not quite the same as another/bigger window directly in the room but certainly better than nothing.
Thanks for sharing your story too, it all sounds very familiar to me, I'm still in that frustrating stage of frequently checking out rentals etc. online, probably doesn't help I suppose!
Ah yes, I'm also taking vit D.
So glad to hear that you are much happier in your home these days and that you are putting your own stamp on it, that's great. Let's see if I can get to that point too, it would be for the best!

Thanks, the front has a small paved yard and a couple of bushes, I did look into products from a company called Espaciel, which makes reflectors like you describe, didn't buy at the time but may take another look. I suppose as long as it doesn't irritate the neighbours or something by shining in their eyes, lol.