Enough's enough!

Hang in there Sheal

Since moving to this house we've had a loft conversion and a rear extension built. The rear extension was due to take 6 weeks and took 4 months! :D I nearly went grey, no actually I did as I lived in the kitchen with 2 tiny kids for months. I had to watch my garden trampled to mud in the process...

But now its all done we love our little home.

 

My son has just moved house to an older property and has been quoted a price of £4000 for redecorating/walpape stripping included for the whole house - 3 bedroom bungalow. Could be a long time before completion.........he's not asked for a room here as yet.

 

At our last house I was going to paint the stair way and landing walls in white, but I find white a bit boring. I had some red paint left over, but red was just too bold. I decided to go for an off-white, very, very pale pink. I mixed no more than one cup of red into a whole bucket of white. I had no more white left to whiten the mix further so had to live with it. I made our house look like a Barbie house. The wife liked it though.

 

These are the last three rooms to be done. They've all had the same treatment, gutting and new ceilings. We had to have a new flat roof for our extension last year too. We've also replaced all the rotting wood and gutters outside. It's cost us a fortune in the seven years we've been here and we're not finished outside yet.

Having said all that, my husband came home with info on a property yesterday, that he spotted. It's perfect and has more than an acre of ground. It's also in a peaceful situation. The problem with this is, we've always moved house on a whim and if we go to look at it........well who knows!

 

Sounds brilliant. I sometimes think that the best decisions are made on a whim, because that heart reacts faster than the brain, and the brain has this terrible habit of 'thinking', and when thinking happens, doubts and things start to creep in, then before you know you've hesitated too long and missed out.

Follow your heart and you wont go far wrong.

 

Clueless, I followed my heart today as you said and wished I hadn't.

Went and looked round the property today (it's empty) from the outside. It's sitting amongst farmland, it's quiet with two neighbouring houses at shouting distance, cows for neighbours too and the views are fantastic!

I've got some serious thinking to do, we've spent a shed load of money on our present place and that would all be wasted. Totally confused!

 

The money spent on your present house would not be wasted as it would up the price of your selling it, would it not

I have no idea where your present house is or its views, the possible new one sounds fantastic and more than an acre of ground to play with

Take your soil testing kit with you, an acre of Alkaline ground with an inch of top soil on bedrock could be difficult :-)

Does the IOM take incommers, very interested

Jack McHammocklashing

 

Wow that is a dilemma... I would kill for a acre and some shouting distance and some cows! We have been in our house 7 years and we stay because we love it, we've spent a lot of money on it and for now jobs and schools keep us here. But we have a longer term plan to go and get the property you describe with the acre. But it's all in the timing... I want it now but I have to wait. I think you may know in your heart if the time is right for you?

A few years back we put this house up for sale and at the last minute I changed my mind! I knew I hadn't found somewhere I wanted to live more. The house we turned down was amazing (garden!) but in my heart I thought no it's just not quite the right move. We've moved on a whim before and it worked out that we put it on the market within a year of living there.

I don't regret the improvements we have done as though they have cost, we have enjoyed them (in the end!) and they will make a big difference when we do sell.

Your heart and your head usually tell you the right thing to do but they can argue!

 

Thanks all, the decision has been taken out of my hands. My husband rang the agents today and found out it has an agricultural tie on it, so it's a non-starter for us. I'm not prepared to start farming just to buy a house.

Jack.........the island does take in newcomers, but if you need to work you will need a work permit issued by the government. They have just 'clamped' down again, a Manx worker has to be employed (if they are suitable for the job) before anyone else. If you're retired it's not a problem.

 

Back again! So much for my three to four weeks estimate on my renovation work. Seven and a half weeks on, I have my place back to myself. I've been working alongside the builders, stripping, sanding, filling and varnishing all the wood work. The only white paint in the bungalow now is the loft hatch! My doors are being taken away a few at a time to be re-furbished, they are solid wood so worth hanging on to.

So, now I'm on a deadline. My new carpets are due to be laid on Wednesday and I'm determined to be ready. One double and one single door frame to go. I've had to partially plaster my linen cupboard today (I'm so glad I built removable shelves in there) and a paint out tomorrow.

Tuesday, I've allotted for one big clean up of the three rooms done. Dust, ohhhhh the dust! On every horizontal surface including inside cupboards, even though doors were sealed up. The rest of the place I will tackle from Wednesday onwards, a total spring clean or should I say autumn clean.

My house and my sanity are starting to return..........never again!