Good morning to Dorset from Scotland! My husband had a birthday last week and is now saying we're 'pushing 60'. We're active and fit, lol, but sensible too-the day will come sooner rather than later when one or both of us is not able to claim to be spry. Because the little cottage is in such a sad cosmetic state it was listed at a rather amazing price and we locked ourselves into it too early thinking it was a perfect spot for us to grow old. Whoops, thanks to several posts here about doing a reno or new build with a mind to age-in-place we are having to admit that is not the house for us. Luckily the town is the 'gateway to the glens' and if we wanted to use it as a holiday let we could easily. It's also becoming a commuter town-the hardier type people from Dundee and Aberdeen are buying in to take advantage of the great mountain lifestyle whilst being able to easily commute to their 'day job'. We were not looking for an investment property-not especially keen on the idea but more and more we're thinking that's what we've got. We measured the borrowed wheel chair, and also took the measurements of the typical mobility devices available now (the ones that are adverted as being in-outdoors), and frankly held up against the kitchen and bath measurements, there is no way we can make the bathroom work. Up thread (I think it was Deborah Butler of Brickwood Builders) a wet-room was mentioned as being best to accommodate a roll-in shower but hard to do as a reno project. Looking at the floor-plan, home report, and our own measurements confirmed that on this wee cottage-there is no way to do that and no way a wheelchair or mobility device is going to be rolled in that cupboard size bathroom. The kitchen could be managed if we drop the pantry wall idea, but the bathroom we planned to make a shower room is not manageable at all, and there is no room to extend that space. We would have figured all this out but much further down Reno Road, lol, so this thread has been a huge help to us just on that! Because we're now doing a much simpler reno (dropping the wider doorways and sliders, the ramp, and a few other a-i-p doings), the cost to renovate that lovely wee home is much lower too. The only things we won't be able to do ourselves is the shower conversion and the rewiring. A huge savings that we're going to need to find the right place for us! We know now that we need to look for a home with room to enlarge bathroom and kitchen areas, and with a less tricky entry to incorporate a ramp. For starters:) We have to be out of our current home by 1st August when the new owners will be arriving from Australia. We've borrowed the use of a caravan from friends to live in whilst doing the cottage reno (now that's small space living!) and that's going to be a help but I sure wish I'd joined Houzz sooner! I would have started this thread BEFORE locking into a property too small for our needs. Too, rather than use it as a holiday let or sell it on, we may move into the cottage once the reno is complete but we do know now there is no way we'll be able to age-gracefully-in-place in it. Sigh. Oh well, our builder is happy-he wasn't keen on trying to fit those sliding doors:) Take-Away For the Day? Be sure the property has room to expand vital living spaces before making an offer that is sure to be accepted:(

So funny! I'm planning to paint the bannister at the new house (TNH) black and am veering towards painting the treads and risers black too... I've been searching for images of black staircases on Houzz and putting them in my entrance hall ideabook. They are few and far between. In your case, I think, with your white walls, maybe the stairs white and the bannister black? (Assuming the white walls continue up the stair walls enabling the b/w contrast.) You've already put black firmly into the equation, adding some more may give more reason for the black rad cab. In my case, there is a very off-centre radiator that could so very easily have been directly opposite the front door in TNH which is rather annoying as it stuffs up the focal point. We are leaving here with every radiator covered with a cabinet - and going to TNH that has loads of radiators ...but no cabinets! Yes, the work ahead is daunting - especially since the area of Ireland we're going to is very basic and not full of DIY resources, etc. I keep thinking I'll paint TNH white - to make things simpler(!) But try as I may colour keeps wandering through my mind! Lovely to be in touch again!

Weekly? Oh, how I wish it were only weekly. I'm out there nearly every day culling the three-cornered leek that has reappeared as a thick blanket despite me culling it in the first spring I was here, in my new house, then finding it had reappeared hugely aggressively last year and now, in my third spring, it's even thicker and even more widespread - and is now not only in the flower beds but also in the lawn, thick along the edge, scattered within it. Front and back. It takes about two hours to clear about a square yard - digging under the bulbs; banging off the (very good, I've been told) soil in which there are always several earthworms which I need to hang on to (obviously); then picking out the tiniest bulbs left behind. I don't think I can ever finish it this year - as happened last year - which means the problem will go on for decades. I don't really have the time (I need to work, I need a life beyond digging and clearing). The only solution I can think of is to bring in help but my budget won't allow that. I value having lawn so paving it over isn't an option. I will have less planting space, which will eventually mean less weeding, but it's not something I can do right now - I've too much to do to bring the indoors up to date. I disagree with Jo DP. The previous owners had a keep it wild policy and now I have this big problem with a massively invasive plant. And, yes, I have tried using it in recipes - it really isn't worth the effort of keeping it under control (to have a limited supply). I'm an experienced and adventurous cook and three-cornered leek is an overrated ingredient, even though it's free and in my garden.

It was the best thing to do for this stage in our lives. Each home we had fitted our circumstances at the time; no children to a growing busy family back to occasional family. We left our 5 bedroom Victorian town house with the typical large rooms which we had lived in for 20 years and the location we had been in for over 30 years We had created a small but beautiful walled garden and I had to travel by car to my allotment. Having decided to move we spent time sorting the house to make the best of marketing it. We went through all the boxes of photographs, (my three boys having a good giggle), threw the unnecessary or duplicate ones away, then sent them off to be put on CD. We kept the shoe box full of photos as well just in case..... I put all my boys school stuff into separate boxes and they had to decide what to do with it. One did not even look at it, one looked and then dumped and one selected a few bits he wanted. As a joint exercise it was a wonderful family time and trip down memory lane. We had several sweeps through our belongings. Each time it was obvious what was not needed. Items given away, sold donated or dumped. It also became easier each time to let go of the things we previously thought we wanted. Finally storage for some bits then we moved into a rented flat whilst we looked for our next property. By the time we found it, and with the process of moving most of what was in storage was not needed emotionally or physically either. We are now 300 miles away in a two bedroom cottage in the middle of a forest. We are renovating it and adapting it (not enlarging) as we go, in fact turning it into a one bedroom property but with flexible other rooms. We do have the advantage of a mezzanine bedroom holiday conversion attached which we are using whilst the work is happening. This small space living is focusing us even further. Financially we are much better off, I am creating the home of my dreams, we have entered a new welcoming community and a totally new way of life. Our boys love visiting. We have been here for 18 months and so glad we have done it. Cathartic, most definitely, happier certainly, the right thing for this stage of our lives yes.