My husband has a small business located on the main street of a little village. He rents the space on the main floor. There is a 3 bedroom apartment upstairs that is rented out separately. This week the land lady listed the building for sale without any warning. DH is worried that the building will sell and either his rent will go up or he'll be asked to move out. He is interested in purchasing the building himself and renting out the apartment upstairs to pay the mortgage. If we purchase the building the upstairs will need some tlc before renting it out.

We had a look at the apartment and to say it needs a little love is an understatement! The place really needs gutted and completely redone, but that will not be in the budget. The kitchen is not a bad size, but poorly laid out. The washer and dryer are in the kitchen and there isn't really another spot for them. Painting over the band-aid beige will be a joy, but what colour?

My husband is not handy at all and the budget would be tight. If we do buy it, eventually we would replace the cupboards. In the meantime, what would you do to clean up this kitchen? Sorry for the poor picture quality. I snagged them from the listing online.

The dining room and living room, are small, but they have original hard wood floors that are in great shape. Why couldn't they put the radiator in a corner? There is a door to a bedroom on the wall to the left of the rad that you can't see. It's placed on the far left side of the wall so at least a small sofa can fit on that wall.

The timing is bad. I was just starting to redecorate my own little house and I agonize over colours for ages before picking them. I only just got my son's room painted and I was planning on doing the whole house. I guess I will hold off until I see if hubby is going to buy the building or not.

Anyone want to suggest some colour combinations in the event that we do end up getting it? The windows are small so the natural lighting is limited. Would you paint all the main areas one colour and bedrooms a different colour? Everything one colour? It would be neutral at any rate.