Anyone else regret big ticket items in their home?

[Mum8929]

DH and I bought some new couches recently and really regret our decision to get recliners. These sofas were quite expensive and can’t return, we also regret some blinds we got and wish we’d opted for shutters in our lounge. I guess I just wonder if it’s normal to have these regrets and if anyone else feels they have regretted some big items they bought for their house?

@user1497207191
there was a peak point in car manufacturing where cars were built to last with minimal maintenance. That generation of cars are brilliant, will outlast most. But they are being replaced and legislated out, by cars with chocolate engines. All highly tuned small engines that aren’t able to cope with the mileage and the heavy weight of newer cars.
im not convinced producing new cars every 10 years is better for the environment than producing decent ones that last.

Majorly regret our TV. Everything you want to watch you have to sign up to different Apps or subscribe to another channel etc.
I just want to watch channel 5 occasionally not sign my life away to watch a 20 minute programme!

Edited to say I also really hate our car!

I hate my porcelain flags in the garden. They're ivory 😩

They look amazing when they've been jet washed but day to day, they get filthy. And they have to be scrubbed every time I mow the lawn.

I don't know what I was thinking.

A three piece suite back in the early 90s. I thought it looked gorgeous in the showroom but when it was delivered I hated it on sight and begged the delivery men to take it back, untouched. They couldn’t and I was stuck with it for several years. I think it was because the showroom was big but my flat at the time was small so suddenly this suite looked huge and out of place and the print looked dreadful too. Was so happy the day I got rid of it.

Another vote here for reclining sofas!
Ex chose this hulking great corner unit in black cord. It absolutely dominated the room and looked really ugly, was supremely uncomfortable. And we never bothered to actually recline it!

It actually lasted longer than he did and when he left I was stuck with the bloody thing! Then I got 2 kittens, one of whom proceeded to pee all over it! (An expression of my feelings on it!) So I used that as an excuse to get rid. Which was an ordeal in itself as I live in a first floor conversion and we just couldn't get the corner bit outside. Ending up sawing it to pieces!

But I love the sofas I have now and managed to stop cat peeing on them!

I hate the number of decisions you have to make when there is a big project and find myself making a decision just to say something. I have made a few poor decisions, sofa being the biggest probably. And a blind I had made which always looked skewed.

A brand new touring caravan, that's now worthless due to water ingress. Been away in it about 30 times. In all but one trip the weather has been wet and cold - even in the height of summer. At least I don't have to pay storage fees what with it sitting on the drive.

My partner chose our awful bed frame online. Mostly because it looked good in the photos.

It's really low so the whole bed is middle of my shin height- and I am short. So you definitely drop down to sit on it and it hurts his back and knees having to get up from a deep squat first thing in the morning.
It also extends out flat around the mattress about 10 inches, which is nice to put your phone on at night but also perfectly positioned so you crack your shins and ankles on it almost every time you have contact wth the damn thing. It sucks but we can't replace it yet, if it wasn't for the risk of mould and the even deeper squat needed, we would get rid of it and just have the mattress on the floor.

I'm sure they come with a guarantee. We got some from Hillary's which broke after 5 yrs and a couple of week, literally just outside the 5 year guarantee. They fixed them for free, I was really impressed.

I know they are pricy but they're one of the few companies that I don't mind paying the premium for as I've always had good service from them.

Silver plated cutlery. Okay, it was a wedding present. Looks amazing, I just don't care enough about looks to want to do the polishing all the time.

Nothing really because money is and always has been tight for us so if we are making a big purchase we do a lot of research and thinking about it first to hopefully ensure we don't make an expensive mistake. It's worked so far for us.

Do we have the same DH? I always thought mine was the only man who did mood boards 😂

Because they're fugly 🤣

I am the same with the research. Unfortunately DH then gets involved with his corner cutting and scrimping and it isn't possible (or kind) to ride totally roughshod over his POV. He understandably and very reasonably wants to have a say in the big purchases, so compromises have to be made... 😩
I have never regretted a big purchase that was entirely my decision.

A near miss rather than an actual spend:

New build house, 3.5 seconds to decide on carpet for the whole house. I asked what everyone else had chosen thinking I would probably do the same. Got shown a sample of the light cream coloured carpet all my neighbours had chosen. Remembered I have 3 DCs and a DH who does a lot of gardening. Asked if they had anything sludge coloured as that was the colour it would end up.

I spent lots of money getting made to measure blinds and I don't like them. I wish I had gone for cheap bamboo off the shelf instead.

Hate our sofas. Uncomfortable! But old now, so look g to finally replace and not have a bad back after years of putting up with them.

A fancy tv which displays artwork when switched off. It's not really worth the extra money. I also don't get much use out of my sit/stand desk, but to be fair, it was not very expensive.

iMac. So slow and not user friendly. We have all Apple products and I assumed it would be great. Most expensive small ish tv that's turned out to be. 🤦🏻‍♀️

@SkankingWombat out of interest what is the make/model of the original lovely mattress? We really need to get a new one after 'many' years, but the one we have was very expensive and is still really really comfy - but it is very old now- the same one is no longer about.

Paid a lot of money for 2 large electric recliner sofas. The cat likes to climb up inside the mechanism and as it’s impossible to know if she’s in there we had to unplug them. Could have saved about 2k and got the regular non reclining kind…
save your money if you have small dumb pets…
I think Katie Price‘s puppy was crushed to death in a reclining sofa!

Yes. I hate having to make big decisions. I agonise and rationalise and end up disliking a lot of things. It doesn’t help that dh and I have vastly different taste in things. I couldn’t live with some of his choices, but I don’t want him cringing or just putting up with mine. So I try and compromise.

The only thing I truly regret is having all our toilet systems built into the walls. Looks smart, modern, sleek. Anything ever goes wrong with them we will need to remove the wall to get to the plumbing.

I dislike our freezer. Somehow it has a lot less space in it than it should have - feels like the actual drawer parts are about half the length of the size of the freezer itself so lots of space is wasted.

I hate:

The handheld rechargeable Dyson thing that only lasts 10 minutes then needs charging.

The bastard printer that doesn’t have a scan button, you have to download an app. I don’t want an app! Just a button!

The annoying gargantuan TV that DP treated us to. I liked my postage stamp TV.

The ugly American-style fridge freezer that we barely use the capacity of and sticks out further than the cupboards; I wish we had an integrated stealth one.

Most of my regrets are tech-related. Nothing aesthetic or comfort EXCEPT our bed, which I allowed DP a say in. He loved the Warren Evans one so we went with that but it just seems so heavy and squat in our bedroom and we got a mattress elsewhere that doesn’t quite fit, AND is fiendishly uncomfortable so I got a mattress topper but DP sleep thrashes like a spawning salmon so it keeps getting dislodged, and he hates the superking size wool pillows and put his old normal-sized pillows back, which have grey covers instead of the expensive white set. It looks like a bed for RACCOONS, or STUDENTS. I wanted white bed linen and a superking with a spindle headboard in pale wood, and a mattress like the soft embrace of God. Bastarding thing.