e just cleaned a house for a deceased estate - a small clinker brick one of a pair on a busy road - a recluse who'd lived on his own for 35 years....you can imagine! The family had to pull out the kitchen totally and install a new toilet....!! Four skips later...you get the idea. After the muck was gone and the place vacuumed and cleaned as much as possible it looked - well it looked what it was, a renovators' opportunity (good spaces and excellent flow, with a tiny yard and off street parking. A tram stop at the door. The family wanted venetians cleaned, walls washed and so on - they were making the mistake of thinking it was their own house, not, to be harsh perhaps, of selling an asset which will be someone else's opportunity whether it's to gut and renovate, or demolish and rebuild. So similarly to your mum's, where do you start and finish? As others have said, declutter (which you will have to do at some stage anyway) clean as best you can, and leave the opportunity for others to make their mark. And you know what - despite spending money on it, you'll probably not make a scrap of difference to the sale price. Best of luck

Hi there, having recently been through a similar decision process for our Reno I can really recommend ordering the Dulux A4 samples. They are made with the real paint on them so you can move them around from room to room to see exactly what it will look like without having a heap of swatches painted on the wall. They have a sticker backing but I used blu-tac so 8 could move them over and over. Good luck

m_mdimond; My constant whippet! Yes change is inevitable. Youth was great! Middle age more challenging, now the dread of what happens as the body slows, bu the mind still runs at top speed! Funny how we eventually become our parents and live with all the things they once complained about: eyesight less sharp, glasses, threading needles a challenge. Oh what we so easily dismissed or took for granted when we were young! Pain at bay to this point. Sad to hear of yours, but fantastic you are still managing to walk your Shepherd, despite it! Dogs keep us centred and motivated. They shower us in love and lack of judgement. My dad had his Jack Russell at his side into his nineties. He was his constant companion and often his sole company for days at a time, other than his twice weekly cleaner. Animals are so special. They deliver their own unique greetings and communicate in such different ways. My life would be so much the less without the animals who have been part of it. So lucky to have had two wonderful ponies and an incredible galloway. So lucky many of my friends had horses too. Horses, dogs and cats are always a point of connection into special human experience and also lead us to new human and animal connections. Nothing wrong with memories and sentiment. I think we feel it even more accutely as we age. Glad I kicked up my heels, as well as keeping those "heels down, legs close to my horses side and and elbows close to my own" for much of my fantastic and sometimes wild youth! I was a pretty good kid really, but do admit to having been a teen groupie, back in the day, wouldn't swap that either. Somewhere here, I believe is my scrapbook and definitely a few photos in the albums. Still like to kick up my heels, too! Yes. Gratitude is vital.

looks like a great location and makes sense not to overcapitalise but you should be able to have more privacy and comfort but we need some more information...please add some extra detail to the floorplan (in bigger readable numbers) showing the size of the rooms, width and depth of the block, size of the shed, size of vacant areas between buildings, pool and fences, what are the walls, roofs and floor of the house and shed built out of, where is north, what size area do you need for the gym and any special storage, why would you be happy to demolish the shed and how do you put a car or boat into the shed? and please describe you local climate