hope it all goes well – tough call but I’d swing to the very small / lack of sleep is a killer but compared to the time consumption of toddlers you’ll get more sorted when junior is snoozing away

only tip is really keep on top of solicitors = they are like plumbers who don’t bring tools to a job and then disappear to do estimates – when they say we’ll follow that up it means we’ll follow it up when you remind us we haven’t – keep checking they are doing stuff – be a (nice) pain

Should be done in 6 weeks if no issues. But you’ll have to be on the phone chasing, reminding and chasing, reminding everybody 🙂

Good luck!

Thanks guys.

The vendor (hate that term) is very keen to move so hopefully things will be quick ish. I’ve instructed our solicitor to get on with the searches now, I guess that takes a couple of weeks?

I think the general plan will be move in and spend a month or so frantically decorating in time for Christmas/impending sprog!

Even if all parties are keen to move quickly and the sols are on the ball there can still be unforeseen delays. We sale agreed 10 weeks ago and it looks like it will be another few weeks before completion. And that’s with my Mrs doing the conveyance!

Good Luck!

Belated update:

Well, we did it!

We moved into our hovel/house 3 weeks ago tomorrow!

Unfortunately we have since discovered that every carpet needs replacing and every room decorating (it looked ok when we viewed it but it really isn’t!). More worryingly we discovered that the bathroom floor is rotten so the entire bathroom needs ripping out, floor installing and a bathroom putting back in (it needed replacing anyway but we hadn’t accounted for ££££ cost!).

So, we’ve been living out of the tiny conservatory whilst the rest of the place is decorated and fixed up by me during every second I’m not at work.

9 weeks to get the house sorted before Mrs RRR pops!

Erk. Words of advice?!

Get some mates round

Just get on with it. Life is mostly slightly harder with kids in a trillion different ways, but for all the right reasons – and the rewards are exponentially greater to.

8 weekends to date without the luxury of not decorating between 8-6 has resulted in really nice progress to date (see my Mr Darcy thread) but at times was an organisational nightmare.

Decide/prioritise.

Do one room at a time and finish it before starting another area.

And get some mates round.

Good luck.

Decide/prioritise.

May I suggest the master bedroom.

At the end of the day close the door on the rest of the house. Have the last room you see and use, looking and feeling nice and how you want it.

Rememeber that RRRJnr will be in here, (hopefully sleeping) with you for quite a while.

Well, the stairs lead into the front room so we kind of have to do the landing/front room at the same time.

We want to get carpets fitted in those two rooms but then again the bathroom floor gets ripped up on the 9th.. Hmm

Mates eh? Meh – all too busy or far away!

Unfortunately we have since discovered that every carpet needs replacing

When you get new carpets, don’t get underlay, grippers etc from the carpet shop. Get it from these guys, It will save you a lot.

trade priced

I did this. The house was a complete/100% renovation project. Basically 70yr old lived there for 40yrs and did nothing to it before dying in the property.

MrsH gave birth and we immediately took the keys. What followed near-killed me with bloody stress.

Don’t buy a renovation project if you are having a new baby. You wont have the energy to work, do the work and do the baby work all with 2hrs sleep.

Whereabouts in the world are you mate?

Can we organise an STW team to assist?

RRR – you don’t want carpet… http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/thankyou-mr-darcy

scud – Member

Can we organise an STW team to assist? Great idea. Wouldn’t it turn into a mass daily mail debate in RRR’s new living room?

It’s a bit late for the “don’t buy a project” advice but thanks! 😀

I’m based in a small ghetto/village squashed between Sheffield and Chesterfield – Unstone.

Not the best place in the world but first time buyers and all that :-/

So… Do we risk getting whole house carpeted in one go before we can decorate the rest of the rooms or risk waiting until we’ve done all the decorating but might not then be able to get carpets as it’ll be close to Christmas (mad rush on apparently). Also.. Will bathroom fitters destroy everything anyway.

Also also.. To fit new doors before carpet or no?!

Erk

Ok heres what I did.

I borrowed a sledgehammer and a crowbar from Crispy’ on here.

Then I ripped the whole place out and took everything away to the council tip in a old* hired Transit van (*has to be old as you’ll be scarring the interior floor etc).

We designated two bedrooms and one (rear) living room to ‘live in’. So I went at those with gusto. The rest of the house was left bare plaster etc etc ‘for future conversation’.

I left the floorboards bare until the end and only used our rugs.

Why? Workmen need to come in and out – it ruins carpets.
We needed a new boiler and all the radiators replacing.

Etc etc

Your plans may change. You might actually look at a floor and think ‘wow with paint (yes you may paint it) or varnish that’ll look great’.

The last thing I did was lay any carpets. Theres just too many things to stain or spoil them with.

personaly would paint first carpet last,buy some cheap rugs in the mean time never know you might come to like floor boards and yes bathroom fitters will make a mess 😯

Thanks Hora

Alas it is unlikely I’ll look at the 80’s fibreboard floorboards and think “they’ll varnish up a treat!” 🙂

It would make sense to get the carpets done last but I guess it depends on whether carpet place can do it so close to Christmas ..

You don’t “need” carpets – get the messy stuff done first, and carpet at the end. Like fatsimon says, cheap rugs (+ slippers!) will do for the moment. (And baby won’t be crawling for a good while yet, you’ve got loads of time to sort that out…)

I’d say new doors could wait, too.

Plus what if you decide to strip the existing doors etc etc?

I’d say your guest bedroom(s) are the last things that need anything doing to. Keep them as paint/storage until you’ve tackled the rest.

It would make sense to get the carpets done last but I guess it depends on whether carpet place can do it so close to Christmas ..

Any real problem in waiting til January? Be nice to get it all done, of course, but I’d rather wait a couple of months than spend the next 10 years looking at a stained carpet cos I was in a hurry when I got it fitted.

I still havent sorted out one fireplace 3yrs on….just blocked it up!

Don’t get carpets, they’ll be augmented with food, vomit,, poo, crayons and plasticine over the next few years

Well…

Mini RRR turned up on the 30th Dec and 2 weeks early after the Mrs RRR was admitted for a week just before Christmas.

I can confirm that NHS Christmas dinner is in actual fact several orders of magnitude worse than you might think it is.

We now have a living room, a sort of bathroom (we paid wickes ££££ to install a new bathroom and they in return provided 12 weeks of stress, no less than 3 leaks and a resultant destroyed kitchen), and 2 bedrooms. Only sproglet’s room and a landing to complete…

I have noticed grey hairs are appearing though :-/

Apologies as I’ve not read the whole thread. We sold our house last year to a couple expecting very shortly. We went with their offer even though they weren’t the highest bidder. The high bidder was a buy-to-let investor (aka scum in my view)

Go for it

Edit oops, just seen the age of the thread!

Congrats RRR.

Hope the rest gets sorted easily.