Starting again - what would you do differently?

My advice would be to resist the temptation to buy 'stuff'! There speaks the voice of someone who tries, but fails, to declutter . . . . .

I have one of those collapsible washing baskets. Purchased deliberately for moving to my flat. In the house I had a washing basket with legs (from Lakeland), brilliant for hanging washing outside without having to bend -but a took a lot of room in storage - did not matter then as I had a Utility Room. Gave that it my SiL when I moved - and got this collapsible one. This is wonderful, Opens to full size basket, but stores in tiny place under kitchen sink.

JackyB I have had a thermomix for approximately 10 years, couldn't be without it!!

I would have knocked the wall down between kitchen diner and formal dining room when we renovated, as since the children have flown the nest it is seldom used.

Sharper, cleaner. Less STUFF. Fireplace taken out and wall where it is now skimmed.

No carpet. Floorboards finished in a light colour.

Kitchen / diner made into one, to get rid of the sharp break between the two.

I'd also turn the two small bedrooms upstairs BACK into one big room and have my living room upstairs and turn the downstairs (smaller) room into a bedroom.

Loft conversion with a loo and sink up there too.

All wishful thinking.

I'd still have pristine white walls, but would get rid of the now massively overdone grey and go for black and white.

Buy less, spend more.

I'm a secondhand rose. if I had to start again I would be back fossicking around junk shops and buying from auctions as I did first time round. Cannot change my house, even if I wanted to. It is Listed.

I have very few gadgets: only a Kenwood Mixer and a Soup maker. I am a bit of a deaths head at the feast on this thread, I am afraid.

We have a Victorian home and a modern second property.
I have loved the different styles and have gone for clean lines and minimalism for one and very classic for the other.
I am working my way toward a thermomix? best risotto I ever had made in a friends. ?

If I had money to buy what I wanted I'd choose a Dualit kettle and toaster but would buy only white plates and other crockery if I had children so that if they got broken they can be mix and matched.
I'd look for some of the lovely le creuset mugs in lots of colours. I'd (as others have said) buy less stuff on the whole (I would not buy the huge number of tablecloths and napkins I've inherited, for example) but would instead buy good quality items made to last.

We did just as your son is doing JackieB, many years ago by the way.
We bought the absolute basics and it gave us such freedom- at least initially!!

I would not have had the washing machine plumbed into the kitchen .

When we bought this place we moved from a house with a utility room, and the children were young (7 and 5). I was fed up with trying to keep an eye on them while I sorted the washing, and decided to knock through in here and have a large kitchen with the washing machine and drier in it, so that I could have them around me. They have left home now, and 3 years later they were old enough to leave in another room anyway, but I am now still stuck with the laundry arrangements as they are. I hate having socks on the kitchen table, and people emptying the machine when someone else is cooking.

Oops - 3 and 5, not that it matters.

I have had bad luck whenever I have splashed out and spent more in an attempt to get better quality and so these days I stick to reconditioned and that stuff seems to last me longer than new!

Tip:
DO NOT BUY for a room you haven't already started. Once its replastered/repainted etc you might change your mind about how to use the room so as tempting as it is, dont commit/buy till the bare room is ready.

There are lots of good reclaim stores about.

Beware of dodgy washing machines: if moving here from abroad they might not be aware of the tendancy of some brands to catch fire! Likewise, dont wire your washing machine in: be able to unplug it at bedtime

As an American having lived in England, I loved your washer/dryer combination. I had never seen one before. I would plumb it in the kitchen with plenty of shelves and cabinets around it.

Notspaghetti,

My dualit toaster is still going strong after 20 years. The kettle died after 5 years and was replaced by one that lasted just 3. Apparently they are no longer British made and the guarantee is not so long.
I have a good old fashioned whistling kettle now!

Txquiltz, I had a washer dryer it did neither job properly.
I would never have another.

I agree about washer dryers. I had one once and found there was always a queue of washing waiting to go in and the dryer didn't if you see what I mean.

I would like a large kitchen/diner, knocking the wall down between the present kitchen and dining room.
But then I'd have to find some where to put the piano and resite the fridge etc. Too much hassle, not going bother when it's only me now.

If completely gutting a house be aware that the gov is phasing out gas so it may become increasingly expensive. Look into alternatives. Infared are particularly good for old british period properties with damp walls because they heat the walls not the air in the room.

Have a Dualit toaster specifically to buy British. Works no better than a cheap foreign one for twice the price. Have a Dualit kettle? Nice and solid but slow. DON'T buy an LG washing machine. Broke after only 3 years, and would have cost as much as a new one to fix our particular problem, so we bought a new, cheap one. The men who delivered the new one were agog when they saw how new the LG looked.

I had to go look up to see what a Thermomix is

£1,500 on Ebay.. what on earth does it do? everything?

I would like one of those boiling water taps

MOnica
You used the word fossicking, it’s the word we use for our Jack Russell in hedgerows! Only heard this word by chance when in Cornwall a few years ago, lovely word!

Start off with buying the basics - they can be replaced later if need be. I have found that the ones from supermarkets are just as good and as longlasting as big branded ones apart from toasters - doesn't matter if you by branded or supermarket, they all misbehaving after about a year !!
When I came back from Australia, I basically had shipped over things that I couldn't fit in the suitcase. My son was a baby and I so wish that I had at least arranged for the chest of drawers that had been in his nursery - would have taken several weeks to get here, but I would have saved money buying a replacement and a lot of the items that I had packed in boxes would have fitted in the drawers, so there would have been fewer boxes to ship!

Just looked up what a Thermomix does - just about everything but sing the National Anthem , by the look of it!!!