buying older home - renovations and redecorations chat

[Vinniecat]

Exciting times. I do agree about living in it first though because if I could go back I would definitely change the layout of our house. You are right about carpets holding smells though.

[Alien]

That's my worry about wallpaper too to be honest. The house was not lived in for year and old lady lived there before. Its big and she may have struggled keeping it clean at the end although the house is very clearly looked after and loved home. I am not sure how far good airing daily for a week will go.

We thought about starting with the spare room as that's where the stained carpet is and could be source of the smell.

[Alien]

It will be hard to resist to try to rush through everything and get it done but I would love to wait, see the how the light impacts the house and how we settle in.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

OP. I think you have hit the nail on the head with the spare room. Nice easy carpet to dispose of. Not too much paper to strip and a fairly reasonable cost wise room to start on.

Plus you can experiment with the colours that you may decide will look good throughout the house.

Just a thought.

[parisdisneyfan]

Originally Posted by Alien

There is smell of stale in the house. That's why we thought carpets should go as they hold smell

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Must be the in thing as we too have just moved into a 46 year old house last month. It smelt awful, was dirty and clearly become too much for its elderly owners. Luckily all the carpets and walls, although not our taste, are neutral -ish colours. We had to go for getting the actual physical things fixed first ie roof and drains, front door and now boiler We did know about it all though! We used a ton of shake and vac and also aired it every day for the first couple of weeks. We looked at lifting a couple of carpets but the floorboards are in a shocking state so decided not to, and save our feet rather than our noses! I do still notice the smell if it has been shut up all day but not so much if it hasn't. We have now decided to wait until the new year and then get stuck into it. Enjoying the views most of all at the moment!

Originally Posted by marypoppins38

Have you tried lifting them to see what is underneath? If its wooden boards you could sand and wax quite cheaply until you decide what to do. You could also be really lucky and find its parquet!

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There is some parquet in our hall but the carpet is nailed down so decided to leave it until we do the hall way, hoping it will be restorable.

Good luck with it all, we are hoping it will be worth it

[marypoppins38]

Alien, if you think the smell is coming from the carpet in the spare room then definitely pull it up, give the house a good airingand see how it is after that.

[wifey]

Try steam cleaning everything that’s soft furnishing. Then see if the smell returns. Inspect the flooring underneath the carpets they could be salvageable. If they are you could restrain them after a quick clean and throw some sheepskin or woven rugs that are then part of the colour scheme of the rooms. Like others aid the old lady who lived there before may not have been able to keep on top of everything. Some vintage wallpapers are now worth a fortune so maybe keeping a feature wall of that and changing the rest could work too combining old and new ( as long as it’s not wood chip&#128521. The house may benefit from keeping some original features. Try to keep that in mind. Have fun no matter what you decide to do , it’s now your home and it should reflect some of your own tastes too.

[Alien]

Originally Posted by parisdisneyfan

, we are hoping it will be worth it

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It may hit the duration and frequency of Orlando trips for sure!



I hope so too. I may rename the thread so we can keep some renovation/redecoration chat going

[tigger48]

OP I’d echo the advice already given. The previous owner may very well not have cleaned or heated the house properly for a while and this may contribute to the stale odour. Personally I’d carpet shampoo (vax) everything, twice if necessary! Then I’d live in the property for a while. We purchased our forever home c8.5years ago. We rewired (horribly messy) and did the dirtiest jobs before moving in. We always knew that we would remodel at some point but our initial thoughts proved to be very different to what we have now completed phase 1 of the extensions desired. Your forever home will likely be a marathon not a sprint so take your time to decide how you’re going to change and live in it. Exciting times!

[parisdisneyfan]

Originally Posted by Alien

It may hit the duration and frequency of Orlando trips for sure!



I hope so too. I may rename the thread so we can keep some renovation/redecoration chat going

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That would be good, could compare notes I wish our place was solely decorative that needed the work Boiler made its displeasure at being pushed down the list known and felt