Sunday 19 February 2012

Am I daft?

We have outgrown this house; primarily because of the childminding.  My lounge is a playroom, dinning room..a lounge, of sorts.  The lounge is tiny too and I have deliberately kept furniture to the minimum to maximise floor space.    I find myself longing for a space that is more adult orientated.  I rarely invite friends over because we sit in a room that is dominated by children; indeed until recently there was no other seating, except a bean bag.  I have replaced that recently with a chair. 

I may have a solution, it is dependent on a number of factors, nonetheless I am considering asking my landlady for permission to build a conservatory on the side of the house.  At the side of the house there is a huge amount of wasted space.  These houses have very long drives, however, the drive as it goes up against the house is quite narrow and only a small car could fit there (especially as my neighbour's drive alongside,has a raised concrete slope down to my drive, which further limits space for opening car doors).

My landlady has indicated that she's happy to keep me as tenant for as long as possible, I would need to have a conversation to pin down her future plans, as obviously, if I go to the expense of having a conservatory built I will want to know I'm going to be there long term.

And long term this house is pretty ideal: it's in a great location for my business, a nice quiet area, a nearby park, easy walking distance to other amenities, walking distance of schools for pick ups.  The house itself, while small is a good size for Rye and myself.  And if I did have a conservatory built, thus my lounge becoming a "proper" lounge, I would be very tempted to let Rye have the bigger bedroom and I'd sleep in the smaller bedroom.

I keep wondering if I'm daft to consider the expense over moving to a larger property.  There are several reasons why I'm hesistant to move:

1.  Many landlords do not allow businesses to be run from their properties.
2.  There is the unknown of a new landlord/lady.
3.  Agency fees
4.   Probably need to move again after a few years
5.  Unknown factor of neigbours.  My current neigbours are pretty good.

The other alternative is a large insulated shed alongside the house.

So am I daft?  I can't decide.


2 comments:

Sandra Ann said...

It's a difficult one as conservatories as you'll no are not cheap. Any chance the landlady would meet some of your costs, just so you're not totally out of pocket?

San

Joxy34 said...

No I don't think so, she's a single mum too, she lets me rent the house at a slight discount as it is.

I think I've pretty much decided against it, it would take a very large chunk out of the money that I'll be receiving. So I will be moving at some point, and actually a 3rd bedroom would be handy and give me other options in the future... for instance if I do ever decide to do fostering, then I'll need a spare room. And something I was discussing with a friend, how gutted would I be, if after spending that money for conservatory, after 6 months or something I decided I still needed to move! So yeah. Will be moving on.