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Original poster

When do you stop showing people your upstairs?

205 replies

Scrunchcake · 01/09/2020 21:50

We moved house in January and when family and friends first popped round to visit we "gave them the tour" - pretty normal ime to show people round your new house, including the bedrooms.

Anyway, with lockdown and whatnot we have a few friends who hadn't yet visited us at the new place. One of them is calling in later this week and I've realised I feel a bit weird about showing her round, and I definitely think it would be strange to show her upstairs.

Is that just me? Is there a statute of limitations on "the tour"??

Obviously this is completely lighthearted and I'm relaxed about visitors, just amused that I've realised I have some strict rules in my head about it!

OP posts:
Flipflopsaga · 01/09/2020 22:49

I am Scottish and I found, across all ‘social classes’, that this was totally normal. Family and friends were genuinely interested to ‘have a tour’ when you moved into a new (to you) property. I now live in England and my Uncle (he is English) and his wife bought a mansion here (they are established middle class) and he asked if we would like to ‘see the rooms’. It honestly wasn’t boastful, he knew that we were genuinely interested in seeing their new home. To me and my family it is normal however I realise that everyone is different!

Thisismytimetoshine · 01/09/2020 22:51

I've never heard of this...

Dangermouse80 · 01/09/2020 22:52

Everyone likes a tour. Always done this, never really thought too much about it!

CrazedInsomniac · 01/09/2020 22:52

But @Time40, isn’t it slightly different if someone is showing you the priests’ hole or the picture gallery rather than the new feature wall wallpaper in their bedroom?

BusterTheBulldog · 01/09/2020 22:54

Totally normal to me! If you were one of my close friends op, I’d prob be hoping for ‘the tour’ If id not had chance to visit since lockdown Wink

SentientAndCognisant · 01/09/2020 22:54

Yes you go someone house you have a wee neb. Everyone does it
Best laugh is when they emerge from your bedroom reeking of your perfume...only to deny it
Have you been spraying my perfume?
Err no. (They reek and their hands are all slippy with your moisturiser they’ve slabbered on)

Hotwaterbottlelove · 01/09/2020 22:55

I only offer the tour to people who are staying over night for the first time. Clearly you have to show them the room they will sleep in and the bathroom so you may as well do the whole house. But yes, after a while it becomes odd. Not sure when though.

TheHappening · 01/09/2020 22:55

Oh god this is so cringe I’m turning myself inside out.

I live in horror of anyone asking If I want to look around their house. Who does that?!!!

I’d laugh my arse off if someone wanted to look round mine, bugger off weirdo

Crispsareafoodgroup · 01/09/2020 22:56

This reminds me of Larry David in Curb. Geoff’s wife Suzy getting offended that Larry didn’t want the tour.

BentBastard · 01/09/2020 22:56

Oh God my husband is always howling people round our house room by room. I find it mortifying. It looks like we're showing off which would be bad enough but it's not even that impressive a house to be worth showing off which doubles the embarrassment for me.

In short, don t show em upstairs unless they ask to see it.

TheHappening · 01/09/2020 22:56

There are people who look round peoples houses and SPRAY THEIR PERFUME?!

Fuck off!!

SentientAndCognisant · 01/09/2020 22:57

In which case I’d get lost going to the bog and have a look all the same
And i would re-emerge in a big fug of perfume too

rainbowlou · 01/09/2020 22:58

I’ve never shown anyone around my house, I know a few people have a had a peek in bedrooms when they go upstairs to use the bathroom because they forget to close the doors behind them Smile

SentientAndCognisant · 01/09/2020 22:58

There are people who look round peoples houses and SPRAY THEIR PERFUME?!
Yes they walk amongst us and spray the perfume liberally

mswales · 01/09/2020 22:58

I’m so surprised that people don’t want to see their friends’ houses the first time they go around! I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been to a friend’s house or had a friend round mine without us showing each other round. Part of getting to know someone is seeing their home!

Time40 · 01/09/2020 22:59

But Time40, isn’t it slightly different if someone is showing you the priests’ hole or the picture gallery rather than the new feature wall wallpaper in their bedroom?

Hmmmm ... yes, it would be. In this case, there wasn't anything like that - just an awful lot of creaky stairs and old bedrooms full of antiques. And some stuffed animals.

LBOCS2 · 01/09/2020 23:01

Absolutely normal, IME.

So, not if you have a 'new friend'. That would be weird (weirdly). But an old friend who has moved, 100% you want the tour and expect to be offered - and offer the tour to any old friend after you move. Probably be for about a year after you move, if they haven't seen it before.

TheHappening · 01/09/2020 23:02

My bedroom is my private personal space. The horror of the school mums trooping through to have a nosey Grin

No no and NO

Fingertipping · 01/09/2020 23:02

I live in Ireland and am struggling to think of a time someone has asked if I wanted to see around their house. I think the last time was when a friend was renting a house that had been inherited from a recently-deceased elderly aunt, and wanted to show me how many Sacred Heart statues you could fit in a small bungalow. I think some other time a friend wanted to show me the rising damp in a wreck she’d just bought.

But surely there’s not much to be of interest unless the house is a tottering wreck, old, or architecturally unusual, otherwise you’re just saying ‘Admire my bathroom tiles and approve of my fitted wardrobes’?

Regretsy · 01/09/2020 23:02

My close friends ask to look up stairs every time they come round, I never thought of it as weird before now 😂

Hotelhelp · 01/09/2020 23:02

I remember being 16/17 at a slightly older boys house for some ‘Netflix and chill’ and him giving me a tour it was bizarre.

Fingertipping · 01/09/2020 23:04

@Regretsy

My close friends ask to look up stairs every time they come round, I never thought of it as weird before now 😂
Hang on, though — every time? What do they expect to find that wasn’t there last time? The secret door to the Red Room of Pain???
SentientAndCognisant · 01/09/2020 23:08

Right I mean there’s a limit,if you’re a regular and the decor hasn’t changed no tour
Something new to see, fill your boots, have a neb

However The tour this doesn’t apply if you’re casual acquaintances eg school WAG and just collecting/dropping off

Germolenequeen · 01/09/2020 23:10

@SomethingNastyInTheBallPool

When it starts to sag?

Bahaha glad I wasn't the only one to think of boobage 🤣

PegasusReturns · 01/09/2020 23:11

I love a tour but would never ask to look around.

A friend lives in an absolutely stunning house and I was delighted when she showed me round. I’d never have asked but was thrilled Smile

However I have my entire house posted on insta and I’m sure most people I know check it out so lots of people would probably think I’m a bit odd.