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'oh ffs why did they do that?' What in your house is going to make a future buyer swear? of your house go '

166 replies

BarrelOfOtters2 · 27/07/2022 13:59

Just bumped my head on the cabinet above our loo, the door opens at head height, and nearly got trapped in the utility due to poor placing of door handles where 2 doors knock into each other.

There's also a random door - that we ran out of steam with builders to work out what to do with...so it needs to come off - but we find it handy to corral the cats for the vets so it hasn't yet...

OP posts:
Beees · 27/07/2022 14:05

Nothing huge but a very frustrating minor problem. Our house doesn't have a cutlery drawer. This was not something we obviously thought to check when looking round before buying it.

When unpacking I left DH to do the kitchen and came back a while later and was slightly frustrated when I saw all the cutlery still in a box on the side until he explained there was no drawer to put it in.

In the many years we've lived here we've adapted to having no drawer, it's a tiny kitchen and there is no where to put one. We've now sold and I pity our poor buyers repeating our unpacking scenario after the move when they also discover the lack of drawer.

KitKattaktik · 27/07/2022 14:09

Every single water pipe in this house has been boxed in and either plastered or tiled over so any leak would mean having to break into the wall and then re plaster or retile a whole wall. Just for the sake of not having a pipe showing at the back underneath of a basin. Even the bath is fully tiled in with no access panel.

StamppotAndGravy · 27/07/2022 14:12

Currently the lack of skirting boards and the bad smell from the exploded elderflower champagne in the garage. We unnailed the windows, removed some peculiar cupboards but haven't yet sorted the bizarre wiring for the doorbell. The internet get company insisted that we could only get the telephone connection in the airing cupboard which already drives me nuts!

Aria999 · 27/07/2022 14:12

@KitKattaktik yes we are having to remodel the whole damn bathroom to fix a leak under the bath. I don't know why people do this!

Elsanore · 27/07/2022 14:14

We took out the wall between the hallway and the living room. So now the front door opens straight into the living space.

This gets a lot of hate on here. I promise you though if you saw our house before & after you'd agree it was an improvement.

TheCanyon · 27/07/2022 14:34

Instead of stripping the old wallpaper or just painting over it, the previous owner just put a skimming of plaster over it. As we found out when our newly hung wall paper started separating and coming away from the wall.

Whole house is bodged so not surprised really.

'oh ffs why did they do that?' What in your house is going to make a future buyer swear? of your house go '
IfIGoThereWillBeTrouble · 27/07/2022 14:36

@Beees I don’t have any drawers in my tiny kitchen either, and it’s frustrating. Two of my friends have lovely big kitchens with big drawers that hold saucepans and I admit to having kitchen envy.

Beees · 27/07/2022 14:46

IfIGoThereWillBeTrouble · 27/07/2022 14:36

@Beees I don’t have any drawers in my tiny kitchen either, and it’s frustrating. Two of my friends have lovely big kitchens with big drawers that hold saucepans and I admit to having kitchen envy.

Glad to see it's not just me, I sympathise. It's honestly one of those things you don't even notice until don't have one and then you realise just how much of a pain in the arse it is not having it. Our new house fortunately has so many drawers I genuinely don't know how I will fill them.

I did make the estate agent laugh though when I checked for a cutlery drawer on our viewing, a first for her apparently in 20 years of selling houses. I genuinely didn't want to risk not having one and as stupid as it sounds it may well have been a deal breaker in making an offer or not.

edwinbear · 27/07/2022 15:01

Flat we sold about 15 years ago, we put a beautiful (in the showroom), black basin in the bathroom. It looked exquisite until the first time someone brushed their teeth - then it dawned on us, we'd have to clean it every time someone brushed their teeth. It came up for sale a few months ago and I noticed the bathroom we put in is still there, so I guess it didn't bother the new owners so much.

EspeciallyDeIighted · 27/07/2022 15:01

Our living room (Victorian house) had new floorboards installed by the previous owner. They then proceeded to do fancy stencilled patterns all over it and varnished it all. We carpeted it as soon as we moved in. Any future buyer who fancies bare floorboards is going to get a surprise when they lift the carpet.

SBAM · 27/07/2022 15:04

I can’t think of anything so far, but we’ve not really changed much (other than painting over hideous wall colours and removing what felt like a million of those crystal ball handles that were on every cupboard).

In a few years we’ll do some remodelling, but I’m hoping that because the designs will have been refined many times by then it’ll be perfect!

PuttingDownRoots · 27/07/2022 15:05

According to many on here are house will be unsellable as we got rid of the bath for a lovely walk in shower.

Its so much more convenient for our family than clambering into a bathtub for a shower (two preteens, two adults, one bathroom).

WhereDoesThisToiletGo · 27/07/2022 15:06

Any future buyers of our house will say "why did they hang standard size kitchen wall cabinets so high? They could have had tall wall units and hung them lower"

JassyRadlett · 27/07/2022 15:07

KitKattaktik · 27/07/2022 14:09

Every single water pipe in this house has been boxed in and either plastered or tiled over so any leak would mean having to break into the wall and then re plaster or retile a whole wall. Just for the sake of not having a pipe showing at the back underneath of a basin. Even the bath is fully tiled in with no access panel.

Oh hello, I see you are in our old flat. All plumbed in offcuts and everything boxed in. So that when the inevitable happened (toilet that had obviously been split down the back of the cistern & glued back together for example, finally gave way) and started spilling water into the downstairs flat, instead of being able to isolate and easily fix issues it was a nightmare and we'd have to totally turn off the water.

JassyRadlett · 27/07/2022 15:10

We've got rid of most of the weirdness in our current house. Think different coloured cornice/picture rail/skirting (chartreuse, candy floss pink/teal respectively) and Very Strong feature walls with silver and yellow wallpaper.

We always wondered by until the old owner came by one day (we'd been living there five years or so by then) and explained she'd been very pregnant when they decorated and she gave full rein to her hormonal decor choices.

BeyondMyWits · 27/07/2022 15:12

We papered over the cracks. Quite literally, didn't know what we were doing, but the house looked warmer and nicer with wall paper

Oh, and @TheCanyon , we had that green/cream/terracotta striped paper in 1997 if you need it dating.....

CloudPop · 27/07/2022 15:14

WhereDoesThisToiletGo · 27/07/2022 15:06

Any future buyers of our house will say "why did they hang standard size kitchen wall cabinets so high? They could have had tall wall units and hung them lower"

And why did you as a matter of interest 😂 Are you really tall?

ODFOx · 27/07/2022 15:16

We are putting on a house extension, and have invested in additional steels to avoid piers and visible ceiling beams. It is looking good and pretty spacious, except there's an odd dogleg in the hallway where it looks as if we've just plonked a built in coat cupboard sticking out of what could have been a straight wall. In fact it's a 2'6" bit of load bearing wall where the shape of the staircase meant the joists change direction half way across the landing. To move it would have meant we had to reconfigure the design of the whole stair/first floor. Anyone who visits will notice this cupboard as it makes a rectangular room into a C shape and it looks at odds with the overall design so I do think a future buyer will wonder why.

crosstalk · 27/07/2022 15:17

Plastic lawn and decking. And bad UPVC windows that spoil the look of the whole house.

squashyhat · 27/07/2022 15:17

Probably the downstairs bathroom. Not an issue for us when we moved in and we just moved it when we had a single storey extension done. To my mind having 3 bedrooms rather than 2 is worth it but I know it's a deal breaker for some people 🤷‍♀️

ComtesseDeSpair · 27/07/2022 15:18

In my last flat, I put all the blinds up with No More Nails. I also fixed them recessed, to windows which opened inwards, rendering said windows inoperative. Neither ever bothered me as the blinds were purely for show and never closed and I only ever opened the balcony doors. But I’d have enjoyed being a fly on the wall when the new owners tried to close the blinds or let some air in, with the former falling on their heads and the latter not happening.

Here, I measured the width for the new custom blinds about 2mm too wide. So I chiselled a bit out of the wall to jam them in and plastered around after the fact. It’s not noticeable when looking at them, but if the next owner wants to take them down it’ll be a job.

Nc58985 · 27/07/2022 15:20

Cat flaps in EVERY door inc the garage. And not the swanky lock kind. Just big standard flaps that blow open. Useful if you have a cat I guess but annoying if you don’t (like us). I dread winter with the heat escaping. Or the day I find a random cat in the kitchen.

MumTrain · 27/07/2022 15:20

We have put in fancy stone resin sinks which are square so have corners. They look beautiful but are an absolute bugger to clean and water mark easily.

we also chose a shower tray with grooves on part of it, a bit like a draining board. Pubes, hair and water get stuck in it so it needs extra cleaning.

TheCanyon · 27/07/2022 15:24

@BeyondMyWits I'm surprised it's that new!

Wam90 · 27/07/2022 15:25

The people we bought our house from had carpeted up to furniture… which they then took with them 😤.
I can’t think of anything we’ve changed that would annoy someone but I’m sure there’s loads!