We moved house! It only took 10 months of toing and froing, we got the house, we lost it, we lost our buyers, we got new ones, got the house back, lost the house, the house went to auction, we won the auction… phew… what a stressful year. We’re a couple of months into living in our new home now and we’ve already made some major changes and improvements. If you followed along with our first home renovation you’ll know that this isn’t our first time doing a live-in reno. This time we’ll be doing it with TWO children instead of one… Wish us luck!
We’ve settled in nicely and both the boys have adjusted well to living here. Zach even started sleeping through the night the day we moved here (after 10 months of constant night feeds!) so I think it’s safe to say we all love this house. Living in a village is what we’ve always dreamt of, and with school applications coming up soon for Theodore we wanted to get somewhere we could see ourselves settling down in for the remaining of the boy’s school years.
We fought so much for this house. In total, we lost and gained the house 5 times. Honestly, I think the owners were getting sick of it in the end (with both of us being self-employed finding a mortgage proved difficult, which was causing us to take some time). So eventually the owners decided to put the house up for a modern auction in March, in which I was the only bidder and actually got the house back £11,000 cheaper than we were originally buying it for… But at least we were safe (once a house sells through auction and you sign the papers no one can pull out without receiving a hefty fine).
We decided to leave our old home before the completion of this new place went through as we could not afford to lose our second buyer who had been holding on since November. So a week after we won the auction we left and completed on our old place so the new owner could move in. We then spent 4 solid weeks at Brad’s parent’s house with the two boys, which was interesting, to say the least!
Finally moving day rolled around and we spent the last week of April unpacking boxes in our new home. I cried with relief for about a week. Fighting for this perfect house that ticked every single box from July 2020 till March 2021 was so tiresome and stressful, and we definitely encountered a lot of heartbreak. Our important checklist for a new property was:
- In a village
- Close to an excellent primary school
- At least 4 bedrooms
- Space for a playroom
- A drive that fit at least 2 vehicles
- Utility Room
- Garage
- Downstairs and upstairs toilets
- All in a cheap house that needed renovating
And this house fit the bill more than perfectly. It had all that and even more! But we knew there were no other houses on the market that even remotely fit our long list of needs, which is why we so desperately hung on to trying to get it.
Now for the interesting bit, the part people really came for, pictures!
This place isn’t in as bad condition as our first renovation but boy it’s got a lot more work and moving around to do. It’s sort of a maze. Picture your standard 3-bed semi, plonk an unfinished two-storey extension on the side, but imagine that extension is it’s own living quarters… yeah? that’s our house.
Our plans include removing the porch on the annexe side of the property. Making the house flat and symmetrical by putting in a new same sized window. Eventually, block pave the driveway.
Back of the house. You can see the annexe extension was built to come out longer than the rest of the house.
Kitchen in the main house.
Living room in the main house. Obviously been recently decorated so will most likely be the last room we touch.
Strange scary downstairs shower room thing? Mouldy as hell.
Living room in the annexe side of the property.
The original kitchen of the annexe had been changed into a beauty room. Our first project is removing the front porch and turning that annexe kitchen into a playroom. Knocking through into the main house hallway for a door, maybe adding a display cabinet with glass doors for decor. The garage will also be completely destroyed and then spun 90 degrees, pushed to the back of the property line and rebuilt.
Upstairs family bathroom of the main house. With bath behind the door.
Master bedroom of the main house.
Bedroom two of the main house.
Bedroom three of the main house.
Bedroom in the annexe.
Landing in the annexe. The window between the annexe landing and main house landing still exists. With two separate staircases, and no access to either side from upstairs.
Bathroom in the annexe, which includes a bath.
Garage and second driveway at the rear.
Inside garage.
So, the house is a bit all over the place. Our main mission is to turn it into one large house instead of two separated ones. We will knock through the back of the whole property between the main kitchen and annexe living area to make a kitchen diner. The original annexe kitchen will be turned into a playroom. We plan to knock through the upstairs so all of the 1st floor can be accessed by just the main staircase, thus making it a proper 4-bed property. Everything everywhere will be replaced. Most things are damaged like skirting boards and door frames.
Our first project is removing the front porch and turning that annexe kitchen into a playroom. Knocking through into the main house hallway for a door too. The garage will also be completely destroyed, and then spun 90 degrees, pushed to the back of the property line and rebuilt.
We post regular updates on our home Instagram account ourliveinreno so if you would like to keep up with the renovation you can see it all on there.
