Welcome to our journey of turning our first house into a home. Over the coming months I'll try and keep this updated with the details of everything that is going on with a load of pics. I find reading other peoples projects interesting so I thought I'd share my own.
Background:
My wife and I got married on 6th June '09 and had been trying to buy our first house since the turn of the year. After problems with the first house we finally found another and our offer was accepted at the end of February '09. We should really have had the keys before the wedding but due to some issues with the land registry we were continually delayed. 9 months, 3 mortgage offers, an extra £11,000 on the deposit, 1 wedding and 1 new (ish) car later we finally got the keys on November 26th '09!
The one saving grace of having to wait so long is that thanks to the in laws putting us up rent free since the wedding and us both working hard, we have managed to ferret away a nice pile of cash to make the house our own even after having to cough up the extra deposit money and buying the wife an '07 Feista after her crappy Daewoo Matiz (don't look at me, I told her not to buy it) finally gave up.
The House
The house is located in a small village/town called Hooley shortly before you join the M23 (if heading out of london). Built in the 1950's by the local authority in a quiet part of the greenbelt, the house is a 3 bed semi with a drive, decent sized rooms and the ability to park the car in the back garden should we so wish. It comes complete with the outside toilet! Thanks to the recession and house price fall, we managed to get the house for £218,000 which we, and just about everyone we know, thinks was a great price for the area.
Piccies:
Our Plans:
With 9 months to plan some of the things we wanted to do, its nice to finally get the chance to put them into action! Despite it being our first house, there are several things we have set out as being important to get done before we move in. Again this is afforded by the in-laws putting us up until the new year and having the money ready to do it.
The kitchen is is such a state that it is the main area of concern. The Boiler has been mounted on an internal wall some 8ft from an outside wall, there are 3 doors, 1 window and 1 brick larder in a 10ftx10ft room. There just isn't any space to do anything reasonable in its current format. We are getting the arch through to the dining room (sallmon pink, patio doors) filled which will at least give us 2 full walls for units/appliances. We are also getting the boiler moved to a slightly more sensible location.
The living room & main bedroom are a far less daunting prospect. New wallpaper, some paint and new carpet in the living room and we are happy for the time being. All other areas of the house will be done once we are moved in.
The other things that need to be done are a kitchen rewire, a new CU, extra sockets in all rooms including ariel and network points. We also discovered that the water tank in the loft is the original galvanised one which has rusted up!
Background:
My wife and I got married on 6th June '09 and had been trying to buy our first house since the turn of the year. After problems with the first house we finally found another and our offer was accepted at the end of February '09. We should really have had the keys before the wedding but due to some issues with the land registry we were continually delayed. 9 months, 3 mortgage offers, an extra £11,000 on the deposit, 1 wedding and 1 new (ish) car later we finally got the keys on November 26th '09!
The one saving grace of having to wait so long is that thanks to the in laws putting us up rent free since the wedding and us both working hard, we have managed to ferret away a nice pile of cash to make the house our own even after having to cough up the extra deposit money and buying the wife an '07 Feista after her crappy Daewoo Matiz (don't look at me, I told her not to buy it) finally gave up.
The House
The house is located in a small village/town called Hooley shortly before you join the M23 (if heading out of london). Built in the 1950's by the local authority in a quiet part of the greenbelt, the house is a 3 bed semi with a drive, decent sized rooms and the ability to park the car in the back garden should we so wish. It comes complete with the outside toilet! Thanks to the recession and house price fall, we managed to get the house for £218,000 which we, and just about everyone we know, thinks was a great price for the area.
Piccies:
Our Plans:
With 9 months to plan some of the things we wanted to do, its nice to finally get the chance to put them into action! Despite it being our first house, there are several things we have set out as being important to get done before we move in. Again this is afforded by the in-laws putting us up until the new year and having the money ready to do it.
The kitchen is is such a state that it is the main area of concern. The Boiler has been mounted on an internal wall some 8ft from an outside wall, there are 3 doors, 1 window and 1 brick larder in a 10ftx10ft room. There just isn't any space to do anything reasonable in its current format. We are getting the arch through to the dining room (sallmon pink, patio doors) filled which will at least give us 2 full walls for units/appliances. We are also getting the boiler moved to a slightly more sensible location.
The living room & main bedroom are a far less daunting prospect. New wallpaper, some paint and new carpet in the living room and we are happy for the time being. All other areas of the house will be done once we are moved in.
The other things that need to be done are a kitchen rewire, a new CU, extra sockets in all rooms including ariel and network points. We also discovered that the water tank in the loft is the original galvanised one which has rusted up!
I have heard that coloured suites are set to make a comeback 
