Has your current house made you reconsider any interior wants/needs?

[caddywally]

Not the catchiest title, but have any of you really wanted a house with a certain feature ... until you actually live in a house with that feature and realise it's a pain in the arse?!

For me it's wooden floors - they're cold, I've had more than a few splinters in my feet, and I find carpets so much easier to keep looking clean. It seems no matter how much I clean, my floors always look tatty because of the old wooden floorboards. I wanted "character" before I moved into this house, but now I just want an almost clincal white/grey box that looks neat with minimal effort.

I'd buy a house with top of the range double glazed sash windows. I would never have seagrass matting on the stairs again and have a cold kitchen.

Talking of storage, when I see American houses with 2 garages & associated storage I swoon, #rocknroll!

Gosh, yes about the obsession with en-suites in new builds, whoever posted that. We bought new build two bed and it has one bathroom and so the bedrooms are actually really big. We've been looking for a new house, with only one more bedroom and they ALL seem to have en-suites. Why does a three bed house need an en-suite? It makes the bedrooms small. We'd rather have decent sized bedrooms than two bathrooms. Utterly pointless to have three toilets in a three bedroom house!

I definitely like having more than one bathroom - morning time showers would be a source of much stress.

I love my ensuite! Means kids and guests can have the main family bathroom, and my ensuite is kept private (and messy!). We have a strict no pooing in the ensuite rule tho. It's so handy for night time trips to the loo. Wouldn't be without one now.

Things I wished we had;

Downstairs loo. Our stairs carpet gets trashed by everyone having to go upstairs.

Garage

Utility room

But we couldn't afford those things in this area without compromising on garden and bedrooms (need 4, and they are a good size). Maybe one day

It's all about compromise isn't it.

I'm desperately trying to get DH to downsize and thru sticking point is losing our big garden.
Yes, the big garden that we only "use" when we are grudgingly gardening

Whenever I look at houses on Rightmove, the first thing I look for is somewhere to put the washing when it's on the airer. Mine goes outside every day but at night it comes in and goes in the utility to finish off overnight. I do NOT want clothes airers sitting in the corner of a room, knickers and socks dangling in the background!
I wouldn't be without a downstairs toilet. My husband never lived in a house with one until now and he wouldn't be without one

Big garden- definitely not as I hate gardening.
I'd like a conservatory but have heard horror stories about them being the wrong temperature all year round so not sure.

One of the first things i did when i moved into this house was get a really thick pile carpet for the living room. I wanted it to be so cosy and squashy under my socks.

In reality, it catches under the door all the time so it's dragged and looks scruffy in the doorway. It also looks paddled and where people walk. It looks older than the 2years its been down.

I now much prefer berber style carpets which are also much cheaper. They always look neat and don't show mess. All future carpets will be berber ones with a good underlay.

From this house I love the utility room, the airing cupboard and the massive understairs cupboard for coats and shoes. We actually put in a combi boiler so the airing cupboard has a radiator in now rather than the hot water tank.

I hated granite worktops before we moved here and I hate them even more now. I don't like the exposed brick walls and the tiled floor in the kitchen is freezing in winter though that's partly the shit extension it's in.

I love our multifuel burners now, and I loved the one in our old house.

In our old house I loved the big open plan space, we did keep a separate front room but in the 4.5 years we owned that house no one ever sat in it. Would 100% go open plan again. I loved our vaulted kitchen ceiling and veluxes and strangely to many, I loved that our big open plan space with loads of huge windows, the veluxes, the glass doors was north facing - in summer you could actually use the room!

I want my utility room upstairs. Most of the year is too wet to dry outside so you have to use the tumble drier.

So everything gets carried downstairs to be laundered, then back upstairs to be put away. I'd much rather carry down the odd loads that actually can go out on the line.

We deliberately didn't choose either open plan OR ensuites.

We have a bathroom upstairs and a shower room downstairs (so if anyone comes in muddy they can be dealt with easily).

We have two reception rooms - one with TV and tech in, the other with a big desk and filled with books so we can have a quiet space.

I also chose hard floor (wood/tile) for most of downstairs. There's carpet in the reception rooms but not the hallway/shower room/utility/kitchen diner so pushchairs/bikes/muddy feet and paws don't meet carpet straight away.

Our carpets are also the colour of spilled tea and dropped biscuit!

"I'd like a conservatory but have heard horror stories about them being the wrong temperature all year round so not sure."

My parents bought a house with a conservatory - they had very low expectations & if anything saw it as a negative point. In practice they use it so much, it's untrue. It's warm enough to sit in pretty much from early spring through to late autumn - and over the winter they bring in a lot of their tender plants.

Theirs is pretty much north facing though so it doesn't get much direct sun, I can imagine a south facing one would be unbearably hot as soon as the sun came out.

We have a conservatory and it perfect for sitting on most of the year. It doesn't have a glass roof though..more of a sun room. Heats up nicely on sunny Autumn days and lovely and bright for reading etc.
We are downsizing as dc moving on. Has any retired couple had open plan and liked it. We are moving from big kitchen/ dining area, living room conservatory to medium sized kitchen/ living/ dining with a small front room off that. Is that mad? Really want to live in one main room after being spread all over this house for years. Will have bedrooms for everyone to visit.

@HoosierDaddy thanks I really want to do it, it’s my forever home so be great to do what I visualise 😊
I like your idea of a storage container for all the clutter and minimalist rooms 😉

The only thing I would change about this house is location. And maybe go for three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

I viewed a Georgian terraced house at the weekend and it was tiny. Almost no storage, the rooms were small and it felt cramped. Mine feels palatial by comparison.

Oh and I have a woodburner - best thing ever. Mine is used nightly from October to April.

Conservatory! Useless for about 10 months of the year!