One of the main things we’re working towards at the moment is owning our own home again. I’m approaching 40, and my husband is approaching 50, and after relocating 3 years ago, we both feel really ready to lay down some more permanent roots.

I’ve talked a lot about our current situation. We outgrew the house we owned when I was childminding but we weren’t in a position to buy another house. We decided to rent out our two up two down terraced house and rent somewhere bigger ourselves until we were in a more stable financial position. We’re still renting, but there is now a light at the end of the tunnel, and we’re hoping to finally sell up our rental property and buy our final home in around two years time. We’re saving money like mad at the moment in the hope to build up a really good deposit amount which means I’m spending all my spare time working on side hustles in order to make sure we can stash away as much cash as possible.

Over the last few years, whilst we’ve been renting, I’ve been growing increasingly frustrated about our lack of ability to actually put our own stamp on either of the two properties we’ve rented. Initially, it didn’t bother me too much, but more recently I’ve become really eager to put carpets down, replace the bathroom floor, and even stick a conservatory on the back of the house. Of course, none of these things are going to be possible until we actually do own our own home again. So, I’ve been pondering on exactly the type of house we’d buy, and the kind of alterations we’d like to make.

Buying our forever home

Whilst I don’t dream of buying a completely derelict building and spending months or even years working on it, I do think we’ll probably look for a bit of a project house. Whilst I love modern houses, we need space, and older properties tend to have bigger rooms which means we may well go for an older house.

Many older houses often need windows and doors replacing, so I’d head for a site such as https://www.threecountiesltd.co.uk/ where I can find stunning windows and doors that would fit the style of the property perfectly.

Light is such an important aspect for me. The first rental property we lived in was incredibly dark and it really did impact on my mood, so natural light is vital. I’d love a house where we could install a slim roof lantern to ensure that the house was light and fresh no matter what the weather outside.

I would also love to have a separate room to use as an office. Working from home at the moment means taking over the dining table every day, which isn’t ideal as I have to clear everything away if we want to use the table to eat or entertain family. Ideally, I would love to use a conservatory or even have an office built in the garden! A conservatory would need to have a proper roof though to ensure that the temperature remained fairly constant all year round. I’ve found a company that has some great ideas that would work perfectly for us – click to view listing.

Internally, I’d expect to need to carry out some decoration and perhaps update the kitchen and the bathroom. I would love to be able to buy a house at a knock down price and be able to afford to install our own taste of kitchen. The kitchen is often the focal point of the home and it would be ideal if we could put our own stamp on it right from the very start.

Do you have any dreams of the type of house you’d like to buy or what you’d do if you had the money to make home improvements?