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

I can see how it's cheeky but if it's a home they lived in for donkeys years they probably just got a shock. I cried when I left my first home and wouldn't have liked to have seen it adjusted to someone else's taste.

BTW I am immensely impressed with your drive and energy to get things done, it takes me about a month to strip one wall

OP don't forget to change the locks as soon as you can this week. I completed on my first house a month ago and the vendors were very aggressive on moving day, and lied through the whole process. Still, the dodgy electrics, false walls, floors, rotten floorboards etc are gone and we are decorating every spare hour. I really hope they don't come round, I'm still pretty angry about some of the things they did.

Some clients of ours were selling "their" home.... it wasn't actually theirs. It was their sons, who had committed suicide. It was very sad and I imagine they'd react the same. It was really hard on them selling it (and the sale process was long and unnecessarily difficult due to a bullshit lender) and I know they emotionally prepared to "drive away forever" several times.

You never know what someone else is going through.

Pictish, I'm sure your mum was more angry with your dad rather than the new owners of your old house.

It's easy to project anger if you feel uncomfortable directing it at those who are actually responsible for all the trouble.
Maybe that's why she was so upset at the 'waste', as she wasted her life on a drunkard, and the Rayburn was just a symbol of that.

Yes I agree. It was a symbol of everything that had gone wrong. I don't think my mum ever made her peace with losing that house owing to his drinking and his drinking didn't stop. My parents split up for good about three years later when it became apparent my dad was just a complete arsehole never going to get his priorities in order.

I bought my first house from some friends and felt a bit embarrassed every time i changed something!

We live close to dh's old family home, every time PIL come to visit, they drive by and then proceed to tell me/him (usually separately) about what a horrible state it's in now (garden taken out for a driveway, has been rendered and painted) and they'd never have sold it etc.

The previous owner of our house hated everything about it, but I felt a bit guilty when I cut down a few of his prized trees!