HUGE (and kinda bad) HOUSE UPDATE & FUTURE RENOVATION PLANS 

I would combine your dressing room and the one next to it for a master suite 100%. Make the house you want to live in, not the one you might sell! It just sounds like it would overall have a positive impact on your day to day living experience, which far outweighs the “what-ifs” of resale or occasional visitor.

The hidden upgrades are never fun and they always seem to be the most expensive. I love that you want this to be your forever home and your investment now will certainly ease your life in years to come. Creating a suite with dressing room and bath sounds like a great choice and will create a lovely retreat. That's my vote. I know you feel discouraged, but when you do, please settle in that cozy living room and kitchen and admire your amazing accomplishments. That house is soaking up the love you are giving.

Practically, getting the septic done is crucial. Spend your money there so you don't have to later down the road. You & Alex know how to save up & then start a project so eventually your other things will get accomplished. Just pace yourself, I know you just want it done however if this truly is your forever home, taking your time & figuring out what will make you both happy can be worth it. Also, stop worrying about where "guests" are going to stay! This is your home, not an inn or hotel, so friends & family shouldn't be picky & normally only stay for a night. Get sofa beds for like the office & the garage with maybe a smaller room as a guest bedroom because how often does a guest room really get used in the grand scheme of the house? Any ways, those are my thoughts as you asked & I look forward to the next update! Also Rox cracks me up with her constant escape attempts.

I've owned my current house now for 8 years, and like you, when I first moved in I thought I wanted to redo everything. My only thoughts for you are to go slowly. As you live in the house, you will gradually come to understand what you want from it. What you want from a house can't be done quickly, no matter how much money have to put into it. So much of our lives is so fast paced these days, and we're used to making decisions and doing things fast. But homes are really better if they grow slowly, over time. You often mention you want a room to be cozy - a large part of that coziness is, not having just the right objects or colors in there, but the depth and breadth of the memories you are aware of on a subliminal level when you're in the room. You might be interested in a book called The Poetics of Space, by Gaston Bachelard. He does an amazing job of talking about what spaces in our homes mean to us. It really helped me figure out what I wanted from the spaces I live in. One last thing I'll offer for thought is that you talk about finishing the house, and then getting on with living. You will never finish the house. A home is a work of art that someone makes, and remakes, and makes again, continuously over years. It's how the emotional experience of home is created. We are so lucky to be able to do that. Good luck with the septic tank project!

I think joining the two smaller bedrooms together to create one big master bed room would be great! And I'd keep the office/studio as it is without an extension. If there is space enough it can be used for guests to stay, so you don't need an extra bed room inside the house. After all, you're the one living there most of the time, not your guests, so go for that big bed room with dressing area and whatever else you want in it. You deserve it ;)

Mum of 3 here who has akso done/is doing renovations. I agree with your gut feeling, I'd leave the Office separate and knock through to make a bigger master bedroom. Especially if you don't plan on moving for years and years. You'll be glad of the space in a bigger bedroom, especially when a baby is little and needs to share a bedroom with you as you'll need space for a moses basket/crib and a changing table with storage so you don't have to move rooms to the nursery in the middle of the night several times 😂 As for guests in the future; you can always get sofa beds and spare mattresses xx

An easy way to add an extra “bedroom” for guests could be to have a Murphy bed in the office that is out of the way until you have visitors. That’s what we did with my office when I worked from home at our last house that had fewer bedrooms

You are doing amazing. You are only 30 yrs old, but you have your own home, and your own business, and a wonderful family. The renovations will happen eventually...don't worry. It's all going to be beautiful. Trials are temporary & part of real life. They can not be avoided. So, just don't let them ruin your attitude. Blessings to you, CT

As a homeowner myself I appreciate when you show the real things that happen as you work to renovate!

Go ahead and join the two rooms. Down the road you could always put the partition back in if you need the fourth bed room. Especially when you have the office that could be done up as a guest annex in the future. Large master suites are very attractive for resale and you get to enjoy it now. It's the best choice for your set up.

When my waste removal system failed (& had to be replaced at $$$$) I failed to inspect the work before it was covered up. It failed a second time due to shoddy workmanship so I got to pay twice! The company was well reviewed and guarantee too limited. Lesson learned. I had them ( a different company) do the second install as completely new on the other side of the entry & further from an old massive oak tree. That was much better. Where the massive holes were from these repairs I placed pretty planting beds for bulbs & pereniels. Made my heart sing in the end. Wishing you good luck

we are doing a major remodel - and had to move our septic. It is a major thing - but now that the septic is new, moved and working - I know it will be worth it. I love the idea of finishing off the hallway and making that a master suite! do you like the ensuite bathroom? It is SO nice. considering guests and future children is important but having a nice primary suite is EVERY day and if you have guests and a family, having that suite to retreat to will be so valuable.

I feel like a house should always fit your personal wants and needs. However, if ‘losing’ a bedroom remains a concern, adding sliding doors/pocket doors or French doors might be an option? If you open them all the way you get the feeling of an open walkway between the rooms but technically they are still two separate rooms?

I would‘nt make it one big room because when one of you sleeps the other one can‘t be noisy in the other area of the room. Can‘t choose clothes from the closet or whatever in the other area.

PS. I like it when you stop and chat to the camera. You do you. Also, today, I’m on day 5 of a long trip abroad. Second time travelling outside of the U.K. alone, and feeling a lot of anxiety. I love it here (and am actually trying to find work so I can emigrate here in fact!) but anxiety is a bitch sometimes. Watching this video really helped to soothe some of my anxiety for a while, and I actually managed to eat breakfast, which right now is an achievement. Much appreciated! 😊

Depending on how the garage redesign ends up being, could you consider making it also a guest bedroom by having a good sofa bed? You have many options to go towards having an upstairs that fit you.

I think blue can be warm. I love blue. I am sure you’ll pick the perfect color.✨👏🏻😍

We completed a double height extension to our 4bed house 8 years ago, and I kind of regret it now as it was 6 figures to do and I'm not sure if it was worth it. At the time, we had lots of family staying over for big family events - sadly, several have now died (old age) and we just don't need to host people in the same way as we used to do, and so we just don't need a 5 bed house when its just the 4 of us (two kids). We hardly ever use our lounge in the original part of the house because we spend all our time in the extended kitchen / lounge / diner - that is something I don't regret having as its very practical and perfect for socialising. I'm just wondering if we could have achieved a similar downstairs social room by changing the existing rooms we had rather than building such a big space. It also meant we lost our detached garage which is something I could really do with now! My opinion re your dilemma with the rearranging of rooms upstairs / and or extending over your office - I suggest you do a surface refresh - just update the colours and make it more you - and then just live with it for a couple of years. That will give you time to build up savings after your unexpected big spend (it will be worth it knowing your drain issue is all sorted!), and then you will also have time to figure out how you want to live in your house. Is a huge bedroom really worth it when you just need somewhere cosy to sleep and practical for clothes storage? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but you will figure that out if you give yourself some time to think as you don't need to do anything straight away! As part of our extension we had a master suite added with dressing room and en suite - these are lovely to have but the room is much bigger than it needs to be. All this extra space is great but it takes a long time to keep clean and tidy, costs more to heat, costs more to insure and costs more to redecorate (you get the idea!). Finally, just wanted to say I love following your channel and I always find your videos interesting, so thank you for including us in your renovation journey!

I feel your pain! We moved into our 190 year old North Devon farmhouse a year ago. Septic tanks, oil heating, freezing bedrooms, rats and bats in the barns….but the views, fresh air, silence (except for the bleats of lambs) and our resident Barn Owl make up for it all. You’ll get there x

I stay with family regularly in a 3 bed house with 2 kids and it’s a bit close, but your office space and garage offer lots of options. Honestly I prefer when they put me in the garage/bar with my own space 😁!

I’d keep the office completely separate- I’d prefer to finish work and literally move buildings to end the day. I’d create an arch to make a bigger main bedroom suite. And while thinking of people staying over and wondering where they’ll sleep is something to consider - a sofa bed in the office is more than enough.

Definitely get the advice of an estate agent on the bedroom/value question - it will help you make a decision, and more importantly help you be comfortable with the decision you do make. Obviously we never know what might happen in the future but if you try to plan for everything, you'll achieve nothing. Consider ways you could utilise your most flexible spaces (i.e. the garage and your office) so that they can function fairly easily as additional visitor sleeping space if and when needed down the line. If you knock the rooms through to create your master suite remember that a new partition wall if you ever need to make it two rooms again is a fairly straightforward job. Ultimately, you're not likely to do it later when you do have kids so if you want a master suite, go for it! Good luck with your plumbing, as nightmarish as it is now it is absolutely worth it once done.

If it’s a forever home, create your master en-suite, by loosing the 4th bedroom. We’ve just added an extension knowing the cost is way over the ceiling price of the property. It doesn’t matter to us, as it’s our forever home.... go with the dream..

Keep the office separate! That's my vote. With 2 young kids and having worked from home, I so very much wish we did have a separate space that was in a completely different location. Expanding your master would be a nice idea though understand your hesitations and debates. Tough call!

You can always have an addition built later. I would just have a double door put in the wall between your bedroom and dressing room. Recessed, if possible. Your dressing room could pull double duty as a place for a changing table when the time comes.

I agree with everyone in the comments - it makes so much sense to me to combine the dressing area and bedroom. Such as good idea you had! You'll get that beautiful light and the bigger space. The arch sounds great too. I think Mathilda Goad did that between her bathroom and bedroom and it was gorgeous (the video is on RU-vid). For wardrobes, as much as I love the built in look I also really like them covered with a beautiful curtain - adds so much softness where there could otherwise be a big block. I feel that really contributes to making a room cosy. Growing up we never had a dedicated spare bedroom and the only time it was a bit tricky was at Christmas which is only a few days out of the year. As children we would share bedrooms and give ours up to our grandparents. Or guests would stay on a blow up mattress in the living room. I think your house has so many extra spaces you could fit temporary beds ie office, renovated garage, even a small single in the living room. So may be worth considering how often guests stay and what their needs are. At the moment I live in a one bed with my partner and when parents stay we offer our bed and sleep on a blow up mattress in the living room, no problem. For your bedroom as it is at the moment, love the wallpaper you're thinking of. A way to make it more cosy could be to remove the TV... I personally find big electronics make all spaces feel quite 'aggressive' haha, but that's just me! otherwise adding lovely prints to the wall and the usual candles and plants will be easy swaps.

You could cut a space between those two rooms and then keep the hallway doors to both rooms? Although I guess you lose some wall space by keeping the doors. That would make it easier to switch back if you ever wanted to switch it back. Double pocket doors between the two rooms would be nice if you ever had to put someone in the wardrobe type room if you had a guest, in a pinch. You could have a daybed in there. You're doing a beautiful job!

I definitely would combine the two rooms to make a master suite! For sleeping arrangements when you have guests, you could always have a pull-out bed/sleeper sofa in the garage. As for a paint colour, check out a light mushroom colour. It would give some interest/warmth to the walls, but not be too dark. I’ve seen it used before and it looks really nice! Always enjoy your videos ~ have a wonderful weekend!

I think creating a cut out in the wall to create a large master bedroom is a great idea. You need to love your space. And if your life changes so drastically in the future where you would need that room again you can always close up the opening and add the door back again. Just as you are renovating the house to meet your needs a future family can do the same if they don’t like your big master bedroom idea

I know things seem to be hard right now, or as you say eye-watering, but just think, once you’re done you won’t have to do any of these things for years to come. You can really sit back and relax and enjoy your house for a long number of years. So just keep that in mind, what you’re doing is wonderful! I will definitely keep praying for you and I think you’re doing a wonderful job. I also agree with the archway between the rooms. You can make a guest room in any small area of your house with an air mattress or futon.

I think your gut instinct of not doing the extension and knocking through the 2 bedrooms is spot on. The office would make an excellent guest room if needed. You've both done brilliantly renovating in a sympathetic manner to the house's age and history and sometimes an extension spoils the balance of the floor plan x

Make a big bedroom and dressing room. Visitors can stay in a hotel when you have children or you can put sofa beds in your office or garage. Have the bedroom of your dreams. X

I know it's a pain in the butt but just think how you would feel if you found all this out after the patio was finished. The garden will look fantastic!! 😊🌞🌷🌸🌹🌺 I live in Surrey we've had sleet and snow today. 🙄⛄🌨

I like to listen to you talk too, but seeing the messy rooms I was itching to see them cleaned up! I'd love to watch a vlog of just getting the "dumping ground" cleaned up. Also I bet you'll feel less concerned about changing things if you really optimize the space you already have.

Laura Melhuish-Sprague are making over their house aswell and they are making a beutiful master bedroom where they are joining two rooms, if you need inspiration. I think you should do it though. But make the dressingroom a seperate area or room to make it feel a bit more lux. Good luck ☺️

Yesssss big bedrooom 😍😍😍😍 you have the studio as an office or wven guest room !

This was a fun and chill video, felt like I was hanging out :) I definitely think you should follow your gut and create one big master suite.. i know you would still find a way to make it cozy and then you will have your own dressing/sitting area and TWO gorgeous views from your bedroom!

Great video, like the open and raw footage.❤️. My place I need a lot of renovations and I can’t take viewers in my rooms, it’s a mess lol coz I need to give stuff away to goodwill soon. I’m overwhelmed at how much I need to do most times. Virtual hugs! I’m excited to see the progress / process.

Go for the big bedroom idea. In the future you may have a garden room/posh shed as an office space to free up the studio office space you currently have. We no longer have a spare room thanks to children but when we have guests the kids sleep on camp beds in one bedroom to free up guest space. They seem to enjoy it as it's something different.

My parents have a really big bedroom and honestly it doesn’t feel cozy at all, so it’s not as relaxing as their old smaller bedroom was. It’s also easier to keep your dressing room tidy by having it be a smaller space, rather than letting your discarded clothes start collecting on the rest of your bedroom furniture, etc.

I think the tiny room would be great to turn into a dressing room for the bedroom. You could do an archway with a pocket door to block it off and have an air matress if you need it for spare sleeping arrangements. If you don't block off any doors then it's still a "room" right? Also for your walls try a taupey pinkish color. I moved into an apartment with that type of color on the walls and it's so warm and cozy.

How about warm darker forest/moss green color for the walls? I think it would look so beautiful, calming and wood colors compliment it! It’s near enough to blue Or there are grayish blues that have warm undertone to it, check them out for sure! Also when it comes to knocking wall down, maybe you could block the existing door to the wardrobe and make an arch or French glass doors, something like that? So you don’t have to knock the whole wall and there’s some separation, but still openness. Also with French door it would still be a separate room.

If you create the large bedroom, always retain the door that provides the maximum amount of light (to flood the upper hallway). In a period house (bedrooms especially) it's worth considering dry-lining the interior surfaces of the external walls of a room. It will encroach about two inches into the room space, and involves a network of shallow timber battening on the wall, infill with solid vapour barrier foam board, and then plasterboard. If it's done properly you will not be able to tell it's different from any other wall. It's an added expense but you'll get rid of the early morning dank chill, ban any mould, and save on the fuel bills. It makes a room so much more cosier!

Convert the room as you want would be amazing, with all of the work you are doing in the house I don't think you need to think as much about of the value of the house as of making you happy. Hapiness comes first!!

We've had issues with our septic too. It's worth seeing if a biodigester is worth it more if there isn't much price difference as it rarely needs emptying! :) good luck! Xx

About 8 years ago I moved into a house that was built and styled in the 1970s and not touched after that. I loved that house but we quickly discovered that the septic system couldn't support more than 2 people at a time so anytime we had a party or my family visited (we lived on a lake, many showers in a day) the flower bed by the porch would reek. Had someone out to pump the septic and he gave us the sad news that our drain pipes were blocked, the slope was all wrong, the tank was too small and it cost nearly $8000 to replace it all. I feel your pain.

I think a house that size with that much property should have a master en-suite. Besides kitchens, at least in the US, that’s a big selling feature. But, as you said, this is your forever home, so you should do exactly what you want and not worry too much about resale.

I think you have some other great options for spare bedrooms, such as having a sofa bed in your office space or converted garage/chill out space. As far as I know, we only live once, so my personal opinion is that one should not hold back on something their heart desires. You lit up when you described the dressing area being this gorgeous space where you could get yourself ready. If combining it with your bedroom will make that happen, I reckon you should go for it!

I would create a master suite for sure. And extension if actually needed could come later. Even when you have kids there would be a period of grace where when they are small 1 room is sufficient for both and there is a guestroom and the garage in the interim for people to stay

You could always get sofa beds in your studio and garage space for guests. I wouldn't overthink the what ifs. Go with what you want because it's you that has to enjoy the house. Also if it's your forever home you've got plenty of time to think about extensions or knocking walls down

Our Toronto 140 yr old home has been home for 32 years and every reno demands levelling floors or undermining the foundations, we dug down and increased the basement ceiling height by 3 feet for a studio for me, bathroom for showering the dog and workouts and media room. But its now very much to our taste. So as you have done so much already, it will be lovely to know its all in good nick. A Murphy bed is a terrific idea for either the office or dressing room, or both if Christmas is a pinch point.

The patio plan looks like it will be lovely, maybe those pieces of wood sticking up could be used for a trellis fence for safety on that big drop, and you could grow pretty climbers on it too

In general, property prices in the UK are dependant on the number of bedrooms you have and is the main characteristic when comparing 2 properties for sale eg. a 4 bed is "normally" more expensive than a 3 bed. That being said, if you have additional rooms which are decorated as a bedroom, it's not stated anywhere that they all have to be on the upstairs floor and as you mentioned, you have a lot of rooms you could easily convert. I feel your renovation pain as we were coming to the last part of our house, converting the garage and the roof started leaking in 2 places after all the recent storns. A large expense we didn't budget for!

Walls can be rebuilt if that’s necessary in the future. The changes you want to do are not majore ones and doesn’t impact the layout of the upper floor alot. Go for it!

I have been waiting for the moment that you brought up knocking the wall down between those two bedrooms, I’ve wanted this for you since you first showed us the bedroom with the IKEA wardrobes in! You can absolutely change all of the interiors to your Ikea wardrobes, easily and cheaply - we just moved into a Georgian house & did the Ikea PAX hack (where you add MDF, cornice, skirting etc) with the help of a carpenter & can’t recommend it enough. I won’t use the term “master” bedroom because of its origin, but in your position I wouldn’t undertake the extension between your office & the house. The office can be used as a spare room & so could the garage with the odd sofa bed or air bed. This is your forever home, losing one bedroom to create a principle suite won’t lose you house value AT ALL & would bring you so much enjoyment 🤍

I always enjoy a good ramble😁 and I have to agree with your gut feeling on making a larger master bedroom and forgetting the extension! Especially if one option makes you excited about the prospect and the other fills you with dread - follow your bliss!

I think knock through and make it bigger. You will utilise the space everyday and the spare room probably will only get used about twice year. I live in a small flat and advise focusing on the space you have to live in. As you said the studio/office space with a sofa bed would be a great place for any visitors.

I agree with the majority here. You have yo make the housework for you especially if you see it as a long term home. Knocking through creates that master suite that a lot of people are looking for anyway and would potentially be something a futurebuyer would want to do and would therefore take that into account when factoring in an offer. It seems that a lot if people would want at least 9ne large bedroom and for a house of that size probably wouldn't want 4 small ones. Also because you have downstairs space in the garage and office or gives versatility for further bedrooms/first space. I think having one larger bedroom would make the house feel less bottom heavy too

I think it’s a wonderful idea to make it one whole room I like the idea of having an opening from the dressing room into the other bedroom! It sounds beautiful! An I agree with you about office space being separate I think it gives you the ability to separate home and work a little bit better. ❤️

I understand the reasoning re-master bedroom-en-suite but wouldn’t it be a shame to lose that gorgeous gardening view you have in your current bedroom ? I had similar plans in my previous home because I found the bedroom too small but I procrastinated and ended up being thankful for it because I loved having my dressing room separate from my bedroom. It was such a treat to have loads of place to get ready and not risking to Wake or bother my sleeping partner. But of course everyone has different needs and likes. You’ve done such a great job already that I’m sure you’ll find what clicks for you regarding the bedrooms.

Hi Maddie, I was reading the comment, and I think knocking down the wall between the two rooms is not such a good Idea in this House. It would be very modern and would past to our livestyle now, but there not that much room in your house and maybe later, you will need the dressing room for a spare bedroom, that people can access without enter in to your room or sraying without going outside. We also have an old house and some room are quite small and doesn't fit to the way we like open area today. But, if we knocked them, we also lost potentials rooms. I hope I explained it the right way. Love from France and good luck with the watertank !

Love someone’s comment below - make the house you want to live in not the one you want to sell (especially as you see yourself staying there forever, at the moment)! Your home is so gorgeous, the dream house, and as soon as you mentioned about making the dressing room and spare room into a master suite my mind was blown - what a brilliant idea!!! If it was me looking around the house with intention to buy, I think I would prefer a 3-bed with a gorgeous large, bright master suite than a 4-bed. Especially with all your other rooms. You could even add a sofa bed to the garage in future if you wanted extra beds for when family stay. The studio also works so well being separate from the house. So excited to see what you decide to do!! Also, I love your chatty videos - it’s so relaxing to watch and just feels like listening to a friend! Re the spare room colour, my mum has recently renovated a similar style house and painted her entrance room in a gorgeous, super bright and warm green colour. It sounds very bold but it honestly looks gorgeous!! Especially with coving and traditional dark wood furniture

Hague Blue by Farrow and Ball is very warm and looks great with northern / southern light! And would look beautiful with your quilt! 😍

Why not just add a door between the bedroom & dressing room for now? You can just keep the current hall door into the dressing room closed. That way you still have options later down the road to either open up that new door to a proper cased opening or close it up if you find you really need the extra bedroom.

Hi Maddie - I quite enjoy you chatting through your thoughts - its what we all do. You have this beautiful house - you have done so much already. In my opinion it takes ages to get your home just as you want it - there was a comment below where someone says - 'make the changes to your house the way you want & need it - don't think of what 'value' you are adding - that will happen anyway. I really agree with that. (you have already added to the value). With regards to you & Alex's bedroom - I personally wouldn't knock the wall down - I really like the lay out - why not change rooms? If you have children in the near future as well they will have clothes, toys etc & want friends to stay over .....& you say you entertain a lot & like friends & family to have a room of their own - I would keep One room as a guest room. Also at the moment you have so much to do & you have to think of costs too (although you have lovely ideas!) - do it room at a time - these things time time & money. I know you are a 'RU-vidr' but you can still take your time & think things through - people understand that & they enjoy that approach. You can always extend in years to comes - as you say your circumstances change. You two are in such a good position - relax & enjoy! - I would also leave your 'Office Space' too as it is - or you are gonna get cluttered bogged down - you need a space where you can organise all that you & Alec want to do. With summer time round the corner you can always do your Food Shops/Receipes/Reno/Roxy & her Walks/Days Out - break it up - you can't do everything at once Maddie. Its a good time of year to get your garden patio done & just think how great that will be. You have to change & give priority - which is what you are doing ! Don't worry so much - its a process. I for one will enjoy watching you x:) Just my opinion - & meant kindly - I think you have enough going on already - you are getting married too aren't you - I would concentrate on the important sewage pipes works & the Bathroom first. (Hope I haven't rattled on too long! haha! :) Have a good week!

Hi, having a bigger master room with a dressing room and bathroom is 100% the right thing to do. If your worried about losing a bedroom, what I would do in the future is (not sure I’ll explain this well 🤣) to extend the studio area so it’s attached to the main house (bare with me, I know you don’t want to do that now). Then I would Add a second story to the studio area BUT have the entrance way to it from stairs outside (so you still need to leave your house to go to work). This way you’ll have a spare room with a kitchenette and bathroom for guests and a separate work space. Hope this makes sense. It got me excited - We are currently making plans for our extension (I’m more out of the box thinking than hubby who is more ‘traditional’). Hope this gives you some ideas x

Master suite definitely! You deserve that, I also think if you were to do the the master suite and only have two bedrooms that would go to your children you garage office could double as a guest room, I think your guests would love to the convenience of their own bath and kitchenette

You are doing great no one has all the answers and anyway we all can be making plans but we forget someone is “ up there “ making plans for us. All we can do is to move along making the best decisions we can at the time. You and hubby ate creating a beautiful home and it will be perfect for your family

Yes to master suite! Life is too short to sacrifice for things that may or may not happen possibly…. Go for it!

I love the idea of just doing an opening in the room. It would create a little bit of separation so you would still have a 'dressing room'. I think a lovely big archway type thing would be beautiful

Hang in there from experience 1. Septic water and plumbing/electrical then rest comes. We are just off a blizzard watching new neighbours with frozen septic cheering them on. It will be fabulous it takes commitment and time.

So excited for you for all these wonderful changes! I think it’s a great idea to make an opening and have a proper master suite. Also, you could make your bathroom door a pocket door to save more space - this change will be so useful if it can be done. Cheers! 🥰🥰🥰🤩🤩

I think you should create a space with focus on what you two like best all year round. Having several spare bedrooms just because there are a few times a year where more people are visiting doesn‘t really makes sense. I think you shouldn‘t focus on specific scenarios but more on what you need/want 95 % of the time 😊 also rooms can be used in more than one way and don't need to be dedicated to only one purpose. My parents both have a room which is mainly used as an office, but they both have sofas in it that can be converted to a bed when family is staying over over christmas 😊

Definitely create an opening for the bedroom! If you ever wanted to sell, you can add doors to the opening and make it a 4-bed house again. ☺️

I definitely think the master suite sounds like the right decision, and not the extension. With all your hard work you’ve both put in so far why not create the master suite of your dreams? It sounds like it would be an amazing space and somewhere you’d love to wake up in for possibly the rest of your life. All my fingers and toes are crossed for you that things start moving and you get the septic tank and patio stuff resolved soon 🤞

You’ve made wonderful decisions about the spaces that you have finished renovating, ie. your sitting room and your kitchen. Just carry those colours and that feel throughout your house and it will be stunning!👏🤩

We made an arch between two bedrooms in our previous house. This made a bedroom and a dressing room. The arch is easy to fill back in if you sell and did not degrade the value at all. Good luck

The masterbedroom getting bigger I think it's a great idea, keeping the two smaller bedrooms seems to be enough, because then if you need guest rooms you always end up having the garage area and even if you need the office. One thing I always try to remember: the guests don't live there, they stay and then leave, in my opinion people shouldn't transform the house for people who are just visiting.

Hi Madeleine we're in Devon n had holiday in Cornwall last week, bought fixer upper December, felt organised but now I'm overwhelmed, exhausted n stressed at how much we've to still do, the outside of your cottage is beautiful 😍

I just want to say real quick that I love your chatty videos :D they do inspire me since we own a house too and thinking of renovating/extending.

Mandy it was a great video, Please please don’t worry about talking - was so interesting hearing your thought process, how your weighing up your decision and just the reality. I’m in a similar debate so loved it

Just be thankful you have the money to make these huge repairs!

thought about it and maybe use that fabulous wallpaper as a colour way and pick a warmer green, if you stick with those colours for the top floor it will be cohesive and feel bigger,

Oh bless you, lovely your so positive.. we had to laugh at Roxy and the cat flap she’s so funny and cute 🥰

Yes, yes, YES! Make yourselves a Master Bedroom suite!, You would have a master bath and a walk in Closet dressing room area!

People will plan their whole house around their kids and by the time they finish it, the kids are almost grown up and ready to leave and they are left with a home unsuitable for their use. I’d say be wary of how long your decisions will be of benefit to your lives. Maybe certain choices will only make your lives a little easier for a few years, so better to just wait out the inconvenience. But maybe it’ll be a few years and make a huge difference, or many years with a moderate benefit. Canceling out some of the pros and cons that are of perceived equal value might help you determine which decision is better for your situation.

My advice is to make minimal changes to suit how you live now. The most conservative and flexible would be just to install a solid door (with two-sided lock) between the bedrooms. You could use the second room as a dressing room now or a nursery later. Keeping the wall between the rooms otherwise intact will give more wall space for wardrobe storage, also consider putting the new door at the inside, not the center of the wall. Don’t remove the entrance door to the second room. I don’t think anyone needs more than one guest room in a small house like this, it’s not a mansion nor a hotel. I haven’t seen your office, but perhaps you could add a Murphy bed to provide an extra occasional-use bed.

Do you ever wonder if your sellers knew the extent of the $ that you would be incurring with this home? I'd consider a Murphy bed for your dressing room. Don't know if you follow Laura Melhuish-Sprague, who is also renovating a period property, but she has a couple of great IKEA pak wardrobe transformations.

You should go with your gut, and make your home liveable for you. If there does come a time to sell someone will love a master bedroom with a dressing area and private bathroom. Looking forward to seeing how the garage is turning out and how the garden is coming along xx

The dressing room would look great with a murphy bed that mirrors the design of the wardrobes. You have a perfect little niche for it. Then you'd have plenty of space when it's not being used as a guest room. I wouldn't make it into one big room. But you're the one that has to live there!

If you frequently have visitors you will find that having a spare bedroom is far less disrupting to family routines as your children grow.

Definitely knock down the wall and have a nice big master suite. You guys have worked hard and should enjoy the space you’ve worked for. It would be a shame not to do it because of a few occasions where you might have people over. As you mentioned the office could a back up sleeping space. Good luck with what you decide, your home will be amazing either way!

Infrastructure is everything fabulous rest will be fabulous. If there’s a delay due to cost this is your forever home like us here in Canada in 40 years you will thank yourself.

My bedroom doesn’t get a lot of light either, so I painted it dark green with palm print wallpaper and now it feels super cozy. Farrow & ball etc have some really nice dark warm colours like reds, aubergines and browns - I know it’s unusual but they look really luxe in properties like yours with high ceilings and period features.

First of all, you are strikingly beautiful in this video. I love the master suite idea w the two existing rooms. You could add a sleeper sofa in the garage room for guests. I get the concept of separate spaces for wrk and home, so I would protect what you have now, because it’s self-contained. I also think a wallpapered guest room in a buttery color would warm up the space and allow you to use brighter solid colors w the bedding. I love your beautiful home.

So sorry about the septic tank but yes so much better to deal with it now. Old houses often throw up nasty surprises. The house I grew up in was a reno project and one day my parents discovered that the previous owners had simply wallpapered over a hole in the chimney breast allowing the fumes from the gas fire below into my bedroom!!! Just think how fabulous it will be once complete and I agree with you about the bedroom, that would be awesome.

You don't have to do or decide it all now regarding your master bedroom. Why not live with it as is for a year (or two) and then decide what to do with that space once you have lived with it for a bit. Though, I do think the idea of boarding up the bedroom door and putting an opening between the dressing room and bedroom seems to make sense space wise; and also not be complicated structurally.

I live the idea of having a big master bedroom and a dressing room! Maybe don‘t knock out the whole wall but create a big opening! Hope everything goes well with the septic tank!

As soon as you mentioned knocking through I said to myself that that would be what I'd do, it will be a peaceful retreat, I only discovered your channel a few weeks ago and have been binge watching, you've done so much in a reasonablely short time, I'm enjoying watching all your accomplishments.

Hello! Our house that we recently bought is kinda of similar and we’ve been told that the house was extended (was one house which is still one story) the edition part to the left (see my channel) is two stories and fortunately when they extended it, the levels were/are slightly off. Anyways. The part they extended was from the studio, kind of like your office space into our kitchen which was the previous pig pen and form there..the newer extension…my gosh this all sounds confusing but it could potentially be possible if that’s the route you wanted! I’m sure it would look great anyway you choose. From a real estate perspective whether you add more square footage to a bedroom or have a potential rental space, you gain right? Oh keep us informed as to what your BIl says.