What is the best, and the worst, money you have spent on your home?

Oh BBbevan I’m surprised you don’t like your potato ricer - I use mine every week. I like the way it produces finely mashed potatoes and other root veg for toppings on shepherds and cottage pies.

Our best was two patios in the garden which was sloping and solid clay so the lawn was either baked dry or sodden.

The worst have been must have gadgets - a potato ricer among them!

The best was our fireplace built of local stone by a friend.
He charged a fraction of the cost of hideous ready-made fireplaces that were available at the time.
I don't think there is a worst, just the usual gadgets etc.

My potato ricer has been used twice in about five years; it just takes up cupboard space but I keep it just in case.

Happy to have had a near miss - when everyone was telling us we should Artex the ceilings in our new house, but we didn't bother.

Block paved drive love it

Our house definitely needed updating when we bought it. We've done lots over last few years, new fireplace, kitchen, bathroom with separate shower ( great) oak staircase, demolished fitted bedroom units, wooden floors. The thing I hate is the shiny ceramic gas hob because of the cleaning involved. The old one just needed a quick wipe. The best buy was changing the louvre blind in the sitting room for a venetian. We bought the louvre one but it ruined the view from the window.

The best were getting all smooth ceilings done when I moved here, as I really don't like textured ceilings of any kind.

And my multi fuel stove which has given me so much pleasure and kicks out the heat. I only burn kiln dried hardwood btw...so no awful smell or smoke.

The worst was having an additional [tarmac] parking space put at the side of a drive. I thought the company was reputable but they didn't do a professional job although it looked ok.

I was just thinking my best buys have been secondhand and cheap, mostly.
It's only when I do the latest 'paint em up' job on them that i realise some are 30 years old and were pre loved before that.

My worst buys are all the things I buy to try and bodge things, because they often don't go to plan.

I dread to think what I've spent on glue, wood, sticky backed plastic and the like.

Well...... block paved drives, look lovely don’t they? We were pleased that our present house had one when we moved in.
The house is old and the drive had been all gravel up to then.
It’s a long drive and block paving gets both weeds and moss which need clearing out at least once a year.?We bought an electric weeding tool, but it’s still very hard work.Now we wish we had a very short drive.

I feel like the most useful things we have done are to put a tiled roof on the conservatory. Our garden is south facing and it could be unbearably hot in the summer and could feel baltic in the winter. It has really helped to keep the temperature even and we tend to use it a lot more
The other 'best' was removing the bath and installing a walk in rain shower
I think our worst buys have been gadgets, like the juicer, which we used obsessively for all of three days until we got sick of washing all the fiddly little bits, for the sake of half a glass of green stuff, which tasted terrible, but was really good for you ?
The fancy coffee maker, similar circs
I could go on...

I had forgotten about the potato ricer.
All mine did, the twice I tried, was to strain my wrist and to force the potato over the side.
It was a gift and a dire one.

Everything we have done in this house has been money well spent.
New boiler ( and it was re- sited) , new kitchen, got rid of airing cupboard and created new hanging space. Re-sited some radiators, some replaced by vertical ones, extra one in downstairs shower room.
Laminate floor in kitchen, parquet in hall. New stair carpet.
New windows and larger porch.
Joined to fit out spare bedroom as a study, keeping the bed.
Best thing though was paving and widening the drive, so my car is now off the road.

Worst thing is not getting more decorating done and now we are too old to do it ourselves. Getting someone in is on hold, but we have also too much furniture in the way.

Joiner not joined.

Best buys: plantation shutters, Karndean flooring throughout the ground floor and a log burner in my previous home.
Worst buy: my present house.

Oh dear!
That's a big one.

This is what worries me about moving.

I think that about blocked paving too Lemongrove. Lovely if you have energy to weed.

There was already a large conservatory on this house but the best money we spent was to have a solid roof put on it. It’s much cooler in summer, and a warmer in winter. The worst things were the floor tiles in the kitchen, and the tap I chose for the bathroom that looks great but is a bloody nuisance!

The best things here are the heated floor in the shower room (bliss on a chilly day), large dehumidifier in the laundry room (must be 20 years old, still going strong, bone dry washing in two hours) and grey aluminium double doors to enclose the porch (now much quieter and warmer).

My worst ideas were carpets that had to be replaced by solid flooring (pets and kids ruined them), the cotton blinds (that look nice but need washing too often) and the sun tube on the landing ceiling (it was brilliant until next door had their loft converted, casting us into gloom).

Having to repair/redecorate after a rewire is taking years. I really should have paid extra to have the walls made good!

I have regularly used and loved my potato ricer for years, the only way to achieve smooth mash. I was devastated to find last week that I had lost strength in my hands and wrists due to RA, and I struggled to use it. Might start buying in ready made, frozen or fresh.

My best and worse is the same thing-skylights in the vaulted roof. They are wonderful, let in the light for most of the day and great ventilation. But along with the light comes the full force of the sun. In really hot weather we end up pulling the blinds down and blocking the heat, and the light. Oh and the various insects that find their way into your house through the day exhaust themselves trying to escape the closed skylight at night. There is always a collection of dead wasps/flies and assorted insects on the floor under the skylight every morning.

My second best but also worse is the block paved drive. There when we moved in and is, seemingly sweeping acres of lovely, pristine blockpavedness, it looks fab. But we spend many hours over the spring/summer weeding the cracks. We've tried all sorts of things to reduce weeds. Sometimes I think taking the lawnmower to it is the best option.

Anyone got any brilliant tips for a block paved drive?

We left our block paved drive for many years, only weeding when it was absolutely necessary while we both worked.
Since retirement and then lockdown (in short succession) my DH cleaned it with diluted bleach water, hoiked out every weed from between the bricks, and filled in with more silver sand. It was back breaking work at times and he did it over many days - but it looks lovely now and has saved us a lot of money. We were quoted hundreds of pounds by traders who knocked the door offering to do it for us.
So sorry petunia I can’t offer any ‘magic’ tips but maybe other grans can,

Best - Having an outside cupboard converted into an inside downstairs loo. Was a lot more expensive and disruptive than I thought it would be but worth every penny. Don't know how I ever lived without one.

Worst - pine wardrobes and matching chest of drawers - mix of solid and veneers; never been happy with them - they were more orange than I'd realised (and the company then went bust). They've just got darker as the years have gone by; and are not very robust. Guess I could get someone to paint them for me but really, I just want rid.

Unlike the OP, my Sharps fitted wardrobes are a best buy. Well designed and fitted, they have made the most of every inch of two former alcoves. Money well spent.