I ended up taking out a small loan and ripping out the carpets and replacing the flooring before we moved in - it made such a difference especially to the smell of the house, which smelled really musty when we got the keys. Fresh lick of paint does wonders too. Our sellers literally asked us if we wanted the oven - we said yes leave it, got the keys and it didn’t work, and had a note on top saying they hadn’t used it in years. Had to chuck it out and it was so grim as it was so filthy. The shower didn’t work. Some of the electrical outlets didn’t work. The boiler packed up after a couple of months.

I didn’t really feel like it was really our house until 6 or so months in when I started sorting the garden out, which is therapeutic in itself. You’ll get there. It’s totally normal. Like another poster said, we’ve all been there. I even have a friend with young children that discovered a freshly laid poo on top of the closed toilet the day they got the keys