To have found this a bit awkward?

[GarthAlgar]

I got the keys to my first house yesterday. The people who I bought it off were very house proud and you could tell they loved the colour scheme in the house, the carpets etc. I got up at 7 today and have spent the day stripping wallpaper and went to b&q to get paint. I also cut the carpet downstairs because it's hideous and I was hoping there'd be lovely flagstones under because it's an old cottage (and there was ).

Anyway at about 2pm a car pulled up outside and the old owners got out . Said they'd come round in case I had any questions about the boiler etc even though they told me everything on the phone yesterday. They came into the living room and there was a really long horrible silence whilst they surveyed all the walls with wallpaper ripped off and the carpet that I'd slashed with a Stanley knife. He then went upstairs to show me something on the boiler and saw that I'd painted the walls in the bedroom and ripped off the horrible boudoir wallpaper. He made some comment about me making my mark very quickly.

Aibu to think they put me in a bit of an awkward situation?! I still felt like it was their house a bit

Oh, I feel for them! Whenever I've sold a place, I've enjoyed thinking about which parts of my endeavours they will enjoy - and have been known to send a note regarding things I forgot mention. It's just sentimentality, really, and I know that. All the same, I've checked them out on Rightmove when re-sold and get an irrational (sentimental) little rush of pride when I see some of my creations still in place.

Their imagined scene of you relaxing in your new home, appreciating their much-loved environment, was rudely ripped away. Of course you're not at all wrong, and they should have been prepared, but they were being sweet and were sad.

If you feel like being nice, you could invite them round later to see what you've done. They'll probably refuse, mind you

We've had the previous owner outside in tears and being comforted by neighbours thanks to piles of fitted furniture / rolled up carpets / furniture that was left behind being outside etc..... Sadly they spent all their money on "touches" to the house, but not on the actual fabric of the building which would have been money much better spent imo. So many basic faults found with this house.

Sounds like they are finding it hard to let go.

Just put it out of your mind, op. It's difficult to let go of a house you lived in and cared for. I recently saw my old house (sold 5 years ago) advertised for sale. I was a bit to see cheap laminate instead of our solid wood flooring whilst they kept the goddamn awful blue paint in the kitchen, that we only used because we were skint and it was reduced in b&q.

Haha, Tinkly, that's unusual! Nice to have a buyer lined up

I would have a little sympathy too, if can be hard to see your house changed. Obviously, it isn't their house but only since yesterday.

We refurbished our house; the previous owners hadn't done anything for 20 years and brought up their children here; sometimes now i wonder if they'd be sad if they popped by

I am however, surprised at how many people do their own decorating, lol

This happened to us when I was a child.

Mum bought a house, the previous owner came round (she was apparantly visiting a neighbour) to ask why mum had changed the colour of the front door and gate. Mum was quite gobsmacked the. Replied 'because it's my house and I wanted to!'

She burst into tears and told mum that she would have sold it to her if she knew what she was going to do. It's was all very strange.

I know, I am a sympathetic because their tastes are the polar opposites of mine so everything they like I hate. I just keep thinking back to them raving about the patterned carpet when I went to view it and then their faces when they saw I'd cut it . They just shouldn't have come round if it was going to upset them!

The previous owner of our current house was reputedly very angry indeed when a mutual friend mentioned in passing what decorating/gardening we'd done. Though she lives in the same town, she's never come round to us though (she'd be horrified). Quite a lot of it is the same, as they spent money on carpets and curtains - very high quality which we could never afford to replace - but dh would pounce on them for the state of the electrics, plumbing, gas, and roof. They are a mystery to everyone, even the best electrician in town couldn't quite work out what they'd done or why; and as for the disappearing gas supply....

congrats on the flagstones-great find! I made the polite mistake of saying i liked the paint scheme the owner had done on my condo living room-orange and avocado green! what else would i say except it was nice? So he left me all the paint cans for each room- the others were brown and avocado green! ?The living room is now pale grey and the bedroom is a muted turquoise with 1 chocolate brown wall. I still have the bathroom, kitchen and spare room to do. Any suggestions for small spaces?

Is it a bit mean that I'm finding offended ex-home owners really funny?

Dh's aunt and uncle popped in on the day we moved into our house. The previous owner was also there but they thought he was one of the removal men. They kept saying things about the decor and laughing. It was hilarious. The kitchen had saloon swing doors to the utility room, everything was brown and the tiles had pictures of fish, bottles of beer and boiled eggs on. The previous owner's face was a picture.

We've moved loads of times and I've never given a second thought to what the buyer has done with the decor.

However in every house we've had I've created a proper garden, with decent hard landscaping and lots of carefully chosen shrubs and climbers and perennials. I've felt the odd pang about leaving my gardens to probably be grubbed up and turned back into lawn.

How bizarre they spent so much on fittings Jux but didn't pay for the basics!! I hope I don't find out the same.

Thanks armamai, I can't wait to get all the carpet up and get them cleaned and looking lovely!! I'd just go for neutrals and maybe have one feature wall in the bedroom? In mine I've gone for the same colour scheme in the room in the link, although my room is a fraction of the size of that one!! And in the spare room a nice matte duck egg blue because it has an exposed wall so suits it. I'm not a fan of strong colours!

www.time4sleep.co.uk/beds/wooden-beds/oak-beds/arran-oak-ottoman-storage-bed

Yep, previous owners of our house are nosey Nora's too. We've been here 2 years and now and they come to 'visit neighbours' (they live 5 minutes away) but they have a good peer through our windows and look over our fences. If I see them I say 'you like what we've done? It's much better now isn't it?'

I'm also in awe of your motivation OP we're still slowly getting through the decoration !

We bought our house off a couple who were divorcing and the woman was very reluctant to sell. Prior to the separation she had had a Feng Shui expert round to draw up a plan for the house and she has started implementing his recommendations. Some of them were quite odd, like painting an entire room silver.

She left us the dossier and suggested we complete the job. She then spent the next few months posting us suggestions such as 'get this carpet from xxx as it is perfect for xxx room!'.

She made it clear that we were to contact her when we sold to see if she was in a position to buy it back. Quite sad really.

I'm in Canada so at Halloween trick or treat is a big thing. One year my husband answered the door to a big gang of kids, all set to hand out the candy, when this woman with them tried to barge right into the house saying she used to live here years ago and wanted to see what we'd done to the place..........very strange, especially as the person we bought from was a single man, so if she wasn't making it up it must have been quite a long time ago she lived here. My husband is not lacking in assertiveness skills so she didn't get far

Sorry - I forgot to congratulate you on your new home! I hope you are very happy there

I remember another thread kind of like this. The previous owner kept turning up.
Or did I make that up?

It is sad I suppose that they can't let go but I do think it's a bit stalkerish to 'pop' round to see what's happening to 'their' house.

At the other extreme, a few months ago I happened to drive pass a house I sold in 1999 - haven't seen it for about ten years - and it looks as if they've don't absolutely nothing to it; same paint - now peeling - on the front door, windows and garage door, same gate, hanging miserably half open, nothing changed in the front garden.

Tbh I was a bit surely most people buying a house, put some effort into changing and enhancing it. I just thought that was a bit weird. It's a pleasant area and it was the only scruffy looking house in the road.

It's your house - you paid a lot of good money for it and it is not theirs now!

I don't like what the next owners of our old house did, I only see because we are still friends with the elderly neighbours and occasionally, when we go round they beckon us in 'to see the new improvements' - now, to me, it's gone back a decade but I know full well THEY own it now! It's not ours and it's kind of thm to let us see it again. That's all there is to it really!

When I bought my house about a month after the old owners were walking past and I was in the front garden, he yelled at me "what did you do with my door?!" - we had replaced the front door with a much better, more secure one - "I loved that door!!"

It really annoyed me, I can do what I want with MY house, and it isn't your door anymore mate!

Yup, Op, horribly awkward and unnecessary for him to comment, do what you want with your house!!

A relative of mine was really peeved that their old house had had an extension put on, Why did they need to do that she queried

We have been in our house 10 years and are very soon, imminently, about to paint the hall and sitting room