All the Stuff in the World...

[katexxxxxx]

With ravenrigan trying to move down here out of London, and looking for houses, I spent an idle sleepless night (thank you fibro and IBS combined!) looking at 4 bedroom houses in this area.  I could move.  But to get the size of house I want, I'd end up in one of those 1970's housing estates, or just round the corner from where we moved out of.

Comments

[heraldis]

I've read the comments on your crosspost, so I can see staying is the right thing for you :) With the best will in the world, I wouldn't even consider moving for GMNT to get a bigger room; by the time you move it'd be A-level time, and a few years (at the most) after that he may well be moving out anyway.

Sounds like you're doing everything right! My only advice would be to ensure that GMNT always has a quiet refuge for study, whatever work is going on, and that you double the timescale you work out, plus a bit :)

[katexxxxxx]

The disruption to hi studies is the biggest hurdle I can see so far. Exact timing will depend on when Mum's flat sells, but I'm getting quotes and feasibility studies done in preparation.

[sartorresartus]

J won't be in the house for many more years. As soon as he goes to Uni (or whatever he decides) he will only be camping at your house. making him a suite of rooms upstairs will get you a larger sewing room by and by

[katexxxxxx]

There are so many good reasons to stay here

[gillo]

We had that extension done into the loft in Sunbury, remember? The house was watertight throughout. Granted, we didn't have dormers, just Velux, but I've watched them building dormers on a house on the way into Coventry and it was clear the house was watertight throughout. Zey haff zeir meffods...

Also, the layout of the house helps. The builders will come straight in through the door and up the stairs, so all the downstairs rooms will be untouched. Noise may be an issue, but JJD can do homework out in the conservatory, at a pinch, I should think.

The ageing thing is an issue, I agree, with Kate's fibro, but if this makes the house more saleable, which it will, that only leaves it as much a problem as it is now, I think.

[katexxxxxx]

Yes, indeed. I have been researching staircases, and I think, with a double kite return, we could get away without having a space-saver stair. If we took the door alcove off J's room, we could do it with ease, with the stirs going across the window.

Gosh! - go me with the stair jargon! :D

[femsc]

I can quite see why you don't move, and I completely agree. If I lived in your house it would take nothing short of an army of bulldozers to get me out. Simply moving for the sake of it wouldn't be an option

[katexxxxxx]

We are allowed to extend to the rear, but can't do much more than the conservatory because of the drains. For that reason also, while we could build an office in the garden, we couldn't put drainage in... Going up is the sensible move at this point.

I might just repost all this to T'Shed, and see what folks there think, including the Royalty. Guy has been here and knows what the house is like. The GMNT being a couple of years from vac residency only and then moving altogether is a good reason not to try to do more than we are thinking about. That and making the house impossible to sell because it would be out of character for the row...

[gillo]

Frankly, I think it would be a very good investment; you would get your money back on a sale and it would make the house much more comfortable for you in the short term.

Minor quibbles. JJD will be moving out before very long, to university or wherever - within a decade you may not need the extra room for him. OTOH, for two of you, both often working from/at home, the space would be welcome even so. It will be hell to live through. We did, in Sunbury. And planning to do too much yourselves could lead to Terminal Non-completion.

I'd definitely go for it. Your Mum would approve. And a room in which the GMNT could stretch out in both directions has to be a bonus!

[katexxxxxx]

We are definitely aware of the terminal non-completion thing, which is why we are looking at it from both a shell and a completed conversion point of view. If we can afford to do that, I think we'd like it to be completed. Though laying laminate flooring and painting walls is fun...

[virginiadear]

This is quite exciting! I shall follow this with great interest.

[katexxxxxx]

I'm still hoping it can be more than just a dream.

Yes, You <i>Can!</i>

[virginiadear]

""If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them." ---Henry David Thoreau

Find a way, or make one. ;-)

Re: Yes, You <i>Can!</i>

[katexxxxxx]

Once the castles in the air have shed their rain, what you are left with is reality. For £40,000 we could do something pretty spiffy. For £25,000 we could do the basics and complete the decorating ourselves. As the GMNT would like to design his own room, I don't have a problem with handing him a budget and a paintbrush and letting him loose... If it's too outrageous to sell in five or six years time, white paint is cheap.