Big ugly house or small pretty house?

[FattyFatCakes]

AIBU to ask you to decide for me?!
I’m going round and round in circles and can’t make up my mind.
Currently live in a lovely chocolate box cottage. We have just enough room for our family of four and associated pets.
5 mins away there is a large, modern house for sale. House and garden are twice the size but it’s an ugly lump and surrounded by industrial buildings rather than green fields.
We love our house but think we might have outgrown it. When our two ds are teens they won’t be able to stand upright in their current rooms or have a double bed.
Should we sacrifice the look and feel of a house for space and practicality?

@SempreSuiGeneris
Dh and I aren’t actually that tall (5 9” and 5 8” respectively) but both ds are extremely tall for their age and growth charts predict 6 2” and 6 1”. No idea how accurate that is but we have friends who are 6 ft plus who struggle with our beams.

@AtLeastThreeDrinks
The cottage was beautifully extended by previous owners so permitted development rights have been used up and there’s no more space on the plot. Raising the roof would be extortionate I imagine - we have an attic for storage but you can’t stand up in it.
Thank you for all these brilliant suggestions though. I love thinking outside the box!

I’m feeling v pressured by the agent but my gut is saying stay put. When I think of someone else living in our house it makes me incredibly sad. It’s a lovely home and I’m worried we’ll regret giving it up.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz ours is going ‘live’ on Monday. The vendors will accept the highest bid, even if we aren’t u/o yet because they aren’t in a hurry to move. The other party have just gone u/o so we aren’t far behind. Round here properties get sold in a week

This is massively outing but here’s our cottage in summer. I’m going to delete all my previous posts in case people recognise me!

Oh that’s beautiful!

Thank you!

I'd stick with smaller and pretty until you find something that you love. But I live in a beautiful garden flat, so I'm biased.

just look for another house that suits you, doesnt sound like that one does.

A few things spring to mind that others have mentioned.

1. Stay put and do nothing
2. Extend existing house or remodel it to make better use of space
3. Rent out your house and rent somewhere bigger - meaning if it goes tits up you go back to your lovely house
4. Keep looking unless you really like the ugly lump that much?
5. Any new builds in your area?

Good luck Op

I gave up my hunt for a pretty house and bought an ugly house that works perfectly for us (or did before they flew the nest). When we retire and downsize I hope to find something a bit prettier, but in the meantime practicality has been great for us.

That’s beautiful! I’d keep the house and get rid of the kids.

You can change a house, but you can’t change surroundings! Can you extended your present house, or make rooms in the loft? Have you a garage you can convert? Or add a conservatory!

Stick with small & pretty! That looks so gorgeous. Your kids will be fine! We have a massive, massive back garden and my 3 young kids hardly play back there - they would rather go out on bike rides or play at the park. You can survive without it!

Stay where you are it’s beautiful!

If it was surrounded by green fields, then yes I’d go for garden size and bigger house. But not if you’re surrounded by industrial buildings!!

Thanks all.
I know deep down that more space would be better but we have such an emotional connection to our house and it just doesn’t feel right to leave it now.
Hopefully something even better will come along in the future and, if not, the kids can just learn to duck

Oh God. Keep the house. Sell the kids.

Yours does look beautiful but feels like it would be very dark inside.

Post the link to the ugly house so we can get a good comparison

@Gertie75 it’s actually not dark at all. Very light inside because there are more windows / french doors than... something with a lot of windows? A greenhouse maybe?!

Winter time (no roses). Still looks dark! You’ll have to take my word for it that it isn’t

We went for the ugly house and don’t regret it. It has lots of room and will still hopefully feel spacious as the kids get older. But your house it beautiful, any chance of renting it out to move back into when they’ve flown the nest?

Ugly

It doesn’t look ugly to me.

I would have said small and pretty, but the light you would get in the other place would be beautiful.
There's a lot you could do to soften the exterior.
I would be wondering though about the possible higher pollution from the industrial estate.

@FattyFatCakes

Ugly

I like it

I like the ugly house

Tbf, I have a soft spot for 60/70s architecture and brutalist buildings. I think they are practical and flexible inside and can usually be made more appealing outside if funds allow.

I think the surrounding buildings would put me off. But it’s hard to tell how much of a factor that is from your description and the pic.

In general, I’d definitely go for a big ugly house surrounded by nice houses/countryside and in the area I wanted. I’d be less likely to go for the equivalent ugly house in an estate of equally ugly houses. All depends on area and surroundings imo.