Simplifying by moving to a BIGGER house??? UPDATE #24, 32 - Page 2

[sapphire_chan]

You won't necessarily need to go bigger to simplify. We went from 1200+garage to 950 and because the layout is better we make better use of all the space.

Since you've got a specific space need--dc having own space--that can't be addressed by remodeling, and you need a decent-sized yard, I'd go ahead and look for a new place.

[srs]

We just moved and doubled space as well (about 900 ft to 1800 ft for a family of three), and I was also worried that it would create more clutter, but so far it has been much less and I have felt WAY better about being able to clean and put things away. IME as long as you don't feel a need to fill the space (which is sounds like you don't, OP) then it's a good thing.

[Penelope]

We were 4 people in 900sf and moved to a ~1400 sf house - it was *astonishing* how roomy it felt. We ended up with more stuff, sigh, but part of that was because when we moved in ds was a baby and when we moved out he was 4, so his toys and dd's toys increased in size and number.

But the ability to have tidy, peaceful adult space while the kids have creative, toy-friendly kid space is really nice. In our old place there was no way to leave a project out for later or have an ongoing game with stuffed animals or anything like that without it totally dominating our central living space.

Our current house is another story altogether...

[smeisnotapirate]

Ok, we put a bid in! We're writing up a contract tomorrow evening with our realtor. The house is in fair condition, and I have lots of pictures. It needs a new roof and windows, and the current owner is replacing the chimney at his expense.

I'm going to tag projects and improvements. Be back when that's done.

We may get our land and farmhouse!! :

ETA: Done! Make sure you move your cursor over the pics and see my commentary.

[minimunklemama]

Cool house but it sure needs A LOT of work.
it has cool sinks,i love them!!

We looked at one very similar here when we were buying but they wanted 600K for it!!!it needed at least another 100k in repairs/updates.
What did you pay for this if you don't mind me asking.I am always interested how the prices differ across the country.

[hillymum]

Cool house!! Are those asbestos tiles on the outside walls?

[eclipse]

We're in the process of moving from a 1000ish squrefoot three bedroom apartment with a teeny yard/patio to a 2500 ish sqft 4 br,2.5 bath, +office/den, small playroom, and a yard. I really, really feel like we'll be less cluttered and be able to live more simply there. Right now, like some of the other moms, I'm really overwhelmed by cleaning because there's just not enough room to do it properly without knocking into things. I'm homescooling two of my three kids, and there's never room to do the projects we want to do properly, no space to leave things out that are currently in process, etc. I feel like every inch of space is taken up by something, and we've done major decluttering. Bot - I don't have a real didning room here, just an area off the tiny kitchen that fits a table that's not even big enough for us to all sit at at the same time, and also holds our washer and dryer and our dishwasher. It's just really overwhelming to see STUFF everywhere I look. I'm setting up the new house just like I like it and, while we've gotten some new furniture, it's not extra furniture, just replacing furniture we're not taking with us. Just the yard itself is a huge improvement. I was out at the new house yesterday actually playing outside with my kids. I can't do that here because our patio is so small that if the kids are out there, I can't be out there, too. The bonus to it all is that since I'm moving to another country (currently in San Diego, moving to Mexico just south of the border), it's $300 a month cheaper, and I'll be able to afford a housekeeper if I get overwhelmed with cleaning a bigger house.

[smeisnotapirate]

Originally Posted by minimunklemama

Cool house but it sure needs A LOT of work.
it has cool sinks,i love them!!

We looked at one very similar here when we were buying but they wanted 600K for it!!!it needed at least another 100k in repairs/updates.
What did you pay for this if you don't mind me asking.I am always interested how the prices differ across the country.

The house sold at auction 2mos ago for $53k. It was last assessed for $211k. The seller is trying to sell it for $115k now. We're offering $115 if he fixes the roof and chimney. He's still making buttloads on it, so we hope he takes the offer.

We haven't bought it yet - we're writing up our contract in an hour or so with our realtor, and yes, it needs lots of work. This will be our forever house, though, so we're excited to have the land and the house that can fit our family (no matter how many kids or extended family/friends we decide to house ).

Originally Posted by hillymum

Cool house!! Are those asbestos tiles on the outside walls?

Yup. They're actually in spectacularly good condition - we were surprised.

[vm9799]

that house has some serious potential to be awesome! but wow, it's going to be A LOT of work! : i would be replacing just about everything but those amazing sinks! what a great find! let us know if you get it!

[smeisnotapirate]

Yeah, we probably will be replacing just about everything but the bones of the house, little by little. I'm very fond of the house itself, though. It was built in the 1830s! How cool would it be to have a lovely, restored 19th century farmhouse???? It'll take us years, but we LOVE home improvement projects.

Here's a bit of the work we did on the kitchen in the place we're in now:
Before
Before
Taking off the wallpaper
Removing 8 layers of linoleum

After:
http://picasaweb.google.com/smola04/...71286873522290
http://picasaweb.google.com/smola04/...71720665219298
http://picasaweb.google.com/smola04/...72648378155458
http://picasaweb.google.com/smola04/...74181681480498

[WeasleyMum]

Originally Posted by smeisnotapirate

Yeah, we probably will be replacing just about everything but the bones of the house, little by little. I'm very fond of the house itself, though. It was built in the 1830s! How cool would it be to have a lovely, restored 19th century farmhouse???? It'll take us years, but we LOVE home improvement projects.

Here's a bit of the work we did on the kitchen in the place we're in now:
Before
Before
Taking off the wallpaper
Removing 8 layers of linoleum

After:
http://picasaweb.google.com/smola04/...71286873522290
http://picasaweb.google.com/smola04/...71720665219298
http://picasaweb.google.com/smola04/...72648378155458
http://picasaweb.google.com/smola04/...74181681480498

Are those IKEA cabinets I see?

[smeisnotapirate]

Originally Posted by WeasleyMum

Are those IKEA cabinets I see?

I wish! They're actually from Lowes. We don't have an IKEA closer than Philly.
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He signed the contracts!!! :

We have our inspection coming up soon, and I'll be dropping off a check tomorrow morning. We may own a house with LAND!! :

[thriftyqueen]

Congrats! I hope it all goes as planned.

[~Megan~]

This is why I want to move. We have decluttered as much as I want to declutter and there is just not enough room here.

Lordy, what I'd do for an actual laundry room!

[Justmee]

Looks really nice (well nice potential!!). Enjoy your new home

[minimunklemama]

Originally Posted by smeisnotapirate

I wish! They're actually from Lowes. We don't have an IKEA closer than Philly.
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He signed the contracts!!! :

We have our inspection coming up soon, and I'll be dropping off a check tomorrow morning. We may own a house with LAND!! :

yay,congrats

[ParisApril]

Originally Posted by Biscuits & Gravy

We just moved from a 1100 sq ft 3 bedroom to one that is (I think) about 2400 sq ft. I have boxes of things to get rid of despite the giant leap in amount of living space. You know what helped? Living for months with a huge amount of our stuff in storage. We realized how much crap we had that we do not need. I feel cluttered and overwhelmed with it all in our house again, and I can't wait to purge it. So my answer is absolutely, you can simplify by moving to a bigger house. I do not feel any need or desire to fill up the extra space with more stuff. I feel the opposite way. I want my space to be space!

We stored a lot of stuff during a move between houses. We moved to a smaller place though. When we unpacked we ended up giving away a bunch of stuff.

I think that in todays world we can collect things so quickly. You go out in the morning not expecting to get anything and can come home with tons of stuff if your not careful. I end up giving at least one bag full of things to the goodwill a month. Much, much more at spring cleaning and before and after Christmas as well.

We live in a small place with two kids and a big dog. Our layout is ideal and we are very good at organizing things.

Ultimately you have to do what's best for your family. Heck if I could knock down my neighbours house and steal his yard I would. I would love some more land but am very happy with my location and my house right now.

[ani'smommy]

We are four people in right around 1000 sf and while we love where we're living -- in a co-housing community, it is just plain too tight. We paid 144k for this place. We live on an upper floor and have no yard of our own.

We are going to be buying a place almost double this size with a YARD. In our area we can get a place for about 120,000 with 4 bedrooms, finished basement and a smallish yard.

I think some people can be really happy with a smaller place, but after living here, we kind of realized that we aren't. DH is ADD and needs space of his own with no distractions to do his writing and studying and the kids are just right on top of each other here -- always in each other's stuff.

[smeisnotapirate]

Originally Posted by ~Megan~

This is why I want to move. We have decluttered as much as I want to declutter and there is just not enough room here.

Lordy, what I'd do for an actual laundry room!

I know! We reached a point where we were making decisions like "hmm... if I get rid of this COUCH that we use all the time, I can fit our PIANO that DH and I use to make our living........" It's like we can do ONE thing in each room, because we're talking about one 13x16 room. It can only have one function, and we only have 5 to begin with. And there's lots of wasted hall space in the house we're in now.

Originally Posted by RachelEve14

Looks really nice (well nice potential!!). Enjoy your new home

I know, it's pretty atrocious. We have our inspection coming up, and as long as it's ok (we know it'll be pretty bad), we're golden. I just have to keep reminding myself that the house has pretty much not been touched since the '70s. But it's been standing since 1831, so we're excited to give it a chance to be beautiful again. :

Originally Posted by ani'smommy

I think some people can be really happy with a smaller place, but after living here, we kind of realized that we aren't. DH is ADD and needs space of his own with no distractions to do his writing and studying and the kids are just right on top of each other here -- always in each other's stuff.

I have ADD as well, and it's the clutter that bothers me. Here, on every day off, I spend the day shuffling stuff from one room to another, trying to find a place for everything. It's maddening, actually. I totally sympathize with your DH.

[phatchristy]

OK, you did get a home inspection, right?

I'm only asking because a friend of mine purchased a fixer upper...didn't have an inspection and wound up having some rather catastropic problems to deal with. And....MOLD. She wound up with a sick house taboot.

Getting an inspection will let you know what you're dealing with. That looks like a very poorly maintained home, you need to know what you're dealing with before purchasing.

Sometimes too you have to know if it's worth it, my brother had purchased a house, then put a lot of $$$ into it. After all was said and done it would have been cheaper for him to buy a house already fixed up. But, on the flip side, he didn't have that money back then! It was more of a 'pay as you go' sort of situation. LOL

But, you're right, with that land sure there could be a lot of potential! And, if you get it for a good price you can afford to spend the $$$ to fix it up!