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

Thank you seacliff, I have made a note for when we redecorate our lounge.

Jane they are excellent. Something like this picture, but we got ours done by a local blind company.

www.flydor.co.uk/unika

Roller blind fly screens sound like a good idea, I didn’t know they existed. Our little dog exhausts himself trying to catch flies or wasps.

Best - firstly the 2 storey extension my husband built himself, it was a tiny 2 up down cottage. Now we have a third very roomy bedroom and en suite. Downstairs I over ruled him and we have a large kitchen diner which we both now love.

Second best - roller blind fly screens fitted in bedrooms and some downstairs. Such a good buy. Hardly visible but as we are rural, they keep the flies and wasps out and enables us to have bedroom windows open at night without spiders or hornets getting in.

Worst ? Our expensive wood burner. It is fitted in a chimney and doesn't percolate heat around the house. Just makes the sitting room extremely hot.

Aldom I believe Vax have now brought out a similar thing and so have Karcher but my Bissell has been a Godsend. You do have to buy the bottles of special cleaner which are quite expensive but they last a while as you dilute the cleaner with water.

Way back in 1992 we replaced our yuk ORANGE bathroom suite. tiles and brown radiator with a white suite with gold fittings from Texas homecare. The whole refurb cost was around £600.00 including wall tiles and flooring. We updated in the flooring and wall fixtures in 2011.
I keep looking at it and considering a whole new fitting but it still looks pretty pristine.

Jane 43 Thank you for the tip about your Bissell Crosswave floor cleaner /vac. I've been thinking of buying something similar for my large kitchen /garden room with tiled floor. Will look at Bissell on your recommendation. ☺️

What a great thread, I have read through it all with interest. We moved to our present house seven years ago and are hoping we will be here for some time so have made a few changes and will make more in the future.

The best have been incorporated into a new kitchen 18 months ago. Before getting the design we moved the washer, tumble dryer and fridge-freezer into the garage to give more cupboard space In the kitchen. It sounds inconvenient but there is a door from the kitchen into the garage and we have a small built in fridge in the kitchen. We got rid of the under-the-counter cooker which was a pain to clean and had a new one housed in an oven unit which has drawers underneath the double oven and a cupboard above it so I no longer have to get down on my knees to clean the cooker. We got rid of the gas hob which we had to take to pieces to clean after we cooked on it and now have a wonderful induction hob. We also had a water softener installed under the sink which has cut down on the lime scale and made cleaning the bathroom and en suite so much easier.

Another best buy is my Bissell Crosswave floor cleaner which cleans and vacuums in one process so cleaning the tiled kitchen floor and laminate floor in the adjoining dining room is now so easy, it also has a function for rugs so I can clean the heavy traffic areas in the lounge regularly as well.

Our worst buy ever was an electric fire and surround we bought for the lounge. We looked at lots and were very taken with an expensive Dimplex Optimyst electric fire and surround. The flame was very realistic looking and we just loved it. The reality was that it was very temperamental and didn’t work properly after it was switched on for a few minutes. We tried everything, cleaning it, blocking off draughts but nothing worked. When we looked on the Internet the reviews were terrible, most people had the same problem as us and the Dimplex customer service was poor, people were having to pay a fee even when the fire was under guarantee and the repair didn’t last long so in the end we removed the fire part, kept the surround and bought a cheaper electric fire to fill the space.

Another great buy was a year old Honda Jazz automatic car which we had for 12 years and it always started first time, even after we had been away from home for seven weeks. We finally traded it in last year.

Like others, bad buys have been a juicer and a potato ricer.

This house also has a block paved driveway and we have found no easy way to maintain it, just occasional power washing, regular sweeping with a stiff brush, pulling out weeds regularly and putting weed killer on the weeds that don’t pull up easily. I recently read that you can get sand that is mixed with weed killer so next time we power wash it we will get some of that and see if it works.

Best buys: northeast facing conservatory, and I'm in the live in it club too!
Also underfloor heating in it.
Altered kitchen window to casement to give through draught when very hot.
Kenwood chef bought for £4 at school fete 20 years ago.
American fridge freezer.
Cream leather sofas £50.
Loads of second hand furniture.
Worst buys: spiralizer! (Not strong enough to turn the handle.)
Brand new cream leather look chair and stool (for conservatory). Two years old and stuff peeling off the arms.
I've got a bread maker but do use it from time to time.

Made a lot of mistakes moneywise. Employed a builder on recommendation of a neighbour to change garage roof and make it pitched also build gf extension. Roof leaks plus we have rising damp in extension and the builder is no longer in business.
Had bathroom redone 12 months ago by a large firm. The tiles looked great in a bright showroom but awful in our small bathroom which has little light. They are too dark and way too big.

Best buy has been two chairs bought in early nineties specifically designed for a bad back. Been recovered over time but still perfect armchairs.

The worst - getting the roof painted to prevent leaks, etc. cost over £2000 and we have a leak. The best having the drive redone with bricks. It had been tarmac, broken, cracked and very steep. It's still steep, but nothing to what it was. £5000 well spent.

Like many others love our conservatory which OH did himself about 19yrs ago. It is cold in Winter and hot in Summer though, even though our garden faces North East!

I'm really pleased that we invested in a water softener, surprised no one else has mentioned those. We live in a really hard water area and I was always scrubbing away at limescale and now it's amazing to just have to do a quick wipe over.

Also love having a really large larder fridge and freezer which are bolted together to look like one unit, I can never understand why those American fridge/freezers have such a small freezer.

Worst thing is probably our ceramic kitchen floor which is kind of off white on the surface, but as soon as you break something on the floor you see the dark colour underneath which I am always putting dabs of Tippex on to make them less obvious.

Best - putting a solid roof on the pre-existing conservatory - it was freezing in winter and stifling in summer, now useable all year

Worst - the lime render DH insisted on having on the front of the house, because the colour is not consistent it now looks like we have rising damp

The utility room. We converted the old kitchen into a utility when we extended. I love the new kitchen too but just having washing facilities, chest freezer, and lots of storage is fantastic.

The decking is probably the worst thing we did. Very dangerous to walk on in the winter.

Nortsat

Best - having paving done in the garden. My partner wanted it all lawned but then didn’t cut the grass regularly.
I had decorative paving laid, with deep borders and beds. I love the garden, even when it’s a bit dishevelled, it’s still a pleasure to both of us.

Worst - the alarm system, which doesn’t accommodate three cats leaping around the house, whilst we are out. ???

@Nortsat We have animal sensors on our alarm system which let our 2 cats chase around and jump about as much as they like without tripping it. Ask your installer (or any installer for that matter) to swap them for animal friendly versions.

My best decision was to have an upstairs shower room and loo. We were in the house for 30 years before we had that done and actually I don't believe plumbers back then would have been able to do it.
The area was an internal cupboard on the 3rd floor with a sloping roof into the eaves. The house is 200 yrs old
However, a local plumber said it would be possible and hey presto I have used it everyday and several times a night for 10 years.
Other happy making things have been sanding our floors, restoring the old bath, restoring the 1930s settee.

Not so good?
Admitting other peoples cast off furniture into our house and never liking it.

The worst?
Various electrical goods that I never used much. Juicer, big food mixer, coffee makers, bread maker, toastie maker (remember those?)
A coffee grinder which DH tried to grind peanuts in. yuck.

Sandelf, would you be willing to specify a 'good' pressure washer, please? I don't have enormous paths but have to scrape them every year and it's becoming more of a chore. Does 'good' mean power or brand, please?

Love my fitted kitchen after17 years with the old one. Love our fitted wardrobes but realise if we decide to move, our next house would need to have them as well.
Wish I had done more with the re-tiled bathroom and had a big shower added . Hardly use the bath these days and wish we had a door from the hall into the integral garage. You can tell a man designed this house!!!!

The best purchase was having the separate toilet and bathroom made into one room. Instead of two small spaces, it became one far more attractive larger space with enough room to include a separate walk in shower. Took me ages to persuade dh to agree. He hates upheaval and it meant a wall knocked down and door closed up as well as all the usual tiling, plumbing ext. The end result, with fitted cupboards and mood lighting was definitely work it though.

Worst was very recent. I'm usually very careful and look around a lot before I buy but I absolutely hate the new sitting room carpet. We usually get very good quality carpets for the sitting room and I'm quite happy with cheaper in other rooms. This time, for some reason, I took it into my head that as the cheaper ones look fine in the bedrooms, they would be fine in the sitting room as well. Big mistake. 18 months on ...it was cheap and looks it. Carpets usually last us ages but after lock down I will sally forth and buy a new one. No way will dh re-docorate the room so I am in the unusual position, for me, of getting a new carpet in a room that hasn't been newly decorated. Oh well...as a dear friend used to say 'buy cheap, buy twice'. On this occasion she is definitely right.

We live in an old barn and installed new wooden windows 5 years ago. 50% of these now need to be replaced?

PenJK50 Your photos of your cottage garden flowers are lovely, I bet it’s a pleasure to spend time outside or look through the windows of your home. ?

Worst purchase was a silk rug during a tour of India after a few glasses of the local rum like brew. It was hand woven, beautiful quality and we also paid to have it shipped home.
When we unwrapped it the pattern and colours were absolutely hideous and it matched neither the style or colours in our house. It’s still rolled up in the attic. Taught us a good lesson about not mixing alcohol and shopping.

Worst in our new house are the bathroom and kitchen black worktops and shower back panel. Also the stupid round stainless steel kitchen sink, taps that spray everywhere and black bathroom flooring. Also don't like all the laminated floors downstairs (click clack) much prefer vinyl floors doesn't show dogs scratches so much.
Best is the huge kitchen and lounge both 18 ft long and quite wide. And the self cleaning oven I bought but haven't used the cleaning program yet.

Good story HurdyGurdy

I have several good purchase ideas in the last few years; changing to a large larder fridge and large freezer has been great. I can keep more fresh veg and fruit, dishes freshly made, in the fridge. Also expensive Lino that looks like wooden floors, it’s a dream to walk on and is warm underfoot but classy. In my old house, getting a combi boiler and being properly warm for the first time in years also spending a lot in plants, lawn on my garden there, to create a flowery, scented retreat and extra room to sit out in and entertain. Priceless.

Bad money purchases? I research a lot before buying anything but a sofa that didn’t survive long with family life, a too heavy lawn mower. Too heavy posh saucepans, too heavy for me to lift safely. A new double bed when down sizing, now have a comfy single - and gorgeous bed linen is cheaper, single sized.