Lovely, positive response from Jonathan, very reassuring. I’m ready to move in there myself!

We weren't moving town or school like you but we did view 29 houses and finally settled for the only one that seemed like an option. We didn't love it and we weren't excited. In fact I cried every day for 3 weeks when we moved and my husband was adamant we weren't staying. It felt like a huge mistake.

We've been here 3 years this week. We have moved on and got over the issues at the start. We've made huge impact on the house with kids rooms, an extension and new kitchen. About to decorate living room. We love the house now, it wasn't the dream but it was the right decision and we have made it a very nice home despite the negatives that we've come to accept. Give yourself a couple of mo the to get over the trauma of such a big move, don't expect it to feel easy. But one day it will. All the best!

I feel your pain. I only viewed 5 houses before buying this one. We were in a rental and the tenancy was due to end so we just had to go on with it and buy something. On viewing I loved it, but I think that’s only because the others we viewed were so grim! When me moved in, like Ruth, I cried. It needed so much work and it was grubby. The previous owner (a weird middle aged guy) obviously didn’t like cleaning! First thing we did was decorate the bedrooms, including the carpet, just to give us that cosy retreat. We’ve been here for many years, and refurbished it many times over and I just love our little 1930s house in a fab town with great neighbours. Sounds like a fab location, that’s the most important thing! Decor can be tarted up quite easily, but a location like that sounds amazing. We all know how you feel and things will get better. 💖

Gloomy might be a red flag. I've always renovated houses and decor can be changed but I have learned something in recent years. We are all sensitive to different things and identifying them is useful. I would trade period features for natural light any day. Give me a boring box that has light over a characterful house that is gloomy. A house that lacks character and light is the worst. Having just come back from Greece I realise that light is very important to me and so our next move will have that as the number one priority. I slightly regret the house we are in as it's not light enough for me, but we have made the best of it and it ticked all the boxes in terms of space.

Spot on colourhappy. I forgot to say that the light was the main thing that attracted us to our house despite it being grubby and every room needing updating. Walked in to the living room with a massive bay window which was gorgeous, and all the other windows were 6’ wide. Perfect.

When we bought our last house I loved the location more than the house itself. I had real doubts because I was leaving a house I loved & that we’d spent 11 years getting the way we wanted. But once I moved in, it felt right, despite everything that was wrong with it and although it has taken a little of work to get it the way we want it, I haven’t regretted it.
I think it’s absolutely normal to have doubts before a move. It’s leaving behind the safe & familiar and changing your life. Doubts & a little apprehension about whether you’re doing the right thing are to be expected.

It sounds like everyone here has been through a similar thing and I agree with Jonathan ie make at least one room your own asap so it feels comfortable.

It's hard moving to someone else's house with decor and things that aren't your own and also having to deal with a new area and schools etc. That alone is daunting - even without having a new home to update!

We're in a similar situation as another couple of posters ie just bought the only place that wasn't gross after viewing a lot 😂. But for us, it's a long term thing that is also a business decision but we have gone from a very large open plan sunny house to a GF flat with long floor plan and internal darker rooms which I'm not used to at all.

It takes some getting used to.

My only suggested with any gloomy rooms that you can't brighten up... Is to go rich and perhaps on the dark side with vibrant rich colours to make it feel super cosy.

Good luck!

It’s so good to know I am not alone and on the whole it’s worked out for most of you or you’ve made it work. by the sounds of it I need to allow for a period of adjustment. I think Jonathan’s advice to quickly make at least one room feel like mine is probably going to get me there quicker. I’m due to exchange in the next few days so will update the thread in due course. Thank you all for sharing your experiences.

Hope all goes well for you.

UPDATE….. for those that kindly gave me their experiences I thought you might want an update now I have been living in my new house for 3 weeks. The first few days I had massive regret and my first night was pretty miserable thinking what have I done. I think it was mostly down to the disgusting state the house was left in. The carpets smelt so bad the rug doctor made it worse so we ripped up all of the downstairs carpet on day 3, luckily the upstairs was useable once cleaned. We sugar soaped the walls (cif and bleach did not touch the grease and grime). And now it’s clean it feels more like mine. I think it’ll feel even better once we can decorate to our taste and get carpet but having to sort out some damp first. I’ll definitely be asking for decorating advice once that’s sorted but wanted to say despite huge reservations I can now say I love my house (despite its MANY faults, some expected others newly discovered).

Glad that you’re starting to feel at home. Your post made me recall a similar experience when we moved into our house. The previous owners had a very hairy dog & its hairs were everywhere. The carpet on the stairs & bedroom just smelled rank. I came home from work one day a week or so after we moved in & couldn’t stand the smell. So I ripped the carpet up and out it went. The relief! 😅