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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To hate the removing of character from old houses?

401 replies

Mushrooms0up · 10/01/2022 17:35

I probably am being unreasonable as it doesn’t actually have anything to do with me. But there is a gorgeous house near where I live on a private road which came up for sale a while ago. It needed a bit of TLC but looked like a lovely, lived in family house.

It’s just come back on market for a lot more money, and I’m so sad at what’s been done. The marble tiled flooring just doesn’t match the house and the character and it just seems so sterile :(
If you like that kind of look why buy a period property? What do you all think?

Here’s the before:

www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=73256386&sale=91032045&country=england

And after: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/118542002#/?channel=RES_BUY

OP posts:
Thread gallery
20
BalladOfBarryAndFreda · 10/01/2022 19:59

It’s a lovely house, @WhatDidISayAlan but I agree re where it is Sad

Frazzled50yrold · 10/01/2022 20:00

It went from having a lovely library like room to a home without a single book, awful

Christmascardsontheshelf · 10/01/2022 20:01

It looks like when the simpsons have a computer house that talks like James bond.

And we all know what happened to that house...

To hate the removing of character from old houses?
BalladOfBarryAndFreda · 10/01/2022 20:01

[quote Mushrooms0up]I’ll stop posting links to random houses soon but this is also on the market round the corner and a much nicer upgrade IMO

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/113328941#/?channel=RES_BUY[/quote]
It’s certainly more sympathetic but it looks like that it’s a family home being sold by the owners whereas the other one is a development. Different things.

TheHoptimist · 10/01/2022 20:01

[quote BalladOfBarryAndFreda]@TheHoptimist

It depends entirely on what the Grade II listing applies to. They rarely apply to the whole building and every original feature within, it’s usually a handful specific named features of special interest in the actual listing document, so there’s not a lot to stop it being ‘developered’.[/quote]
I meant that as the listing was only grade 2 then renovating it shouldn't put anyone off.

mathanxiety · 10/01/2022 20:02

YANBU. I live in an area where most of the houses are about 100-120 years old. It's so nice to see houses whose original features and layout are still intact.

BalladOfBarryAndFreda · 10/01/2022 20:04

@Frazzled50yrold

It went from having a lovely library like room to a home without a single book, awful
Lots of people don’t have books on display any more. Kindles, e-reader apps, audio books etc have been popular for years now, a lot of folks give their space over to things other than reading materials. Doesn’t mean they don’t read. I have a few books dotted around the house but most of my reading is done electronically now and has been for a decade or so.
BalladOfBarryAndFreda · 10/01/2022 20:05

Ah fair enough, @TheHoptimist. I misunderstood, apologies Smile

esloquehay · 10/01/2022 20:07

It's vile: chavvy and 'hun'-tastic. 🤮🤮🤮

Ozanj · 10/01/2022 20:10

I prefer the second pic and I bet many other people from my backgrounds prefer (in fact I’d go as far as to say in Didsbury they’re aiming for the wealthy South Asian market that I fit into). It looks cleaner, is easier to maintain, and doesn’t look like the shambly horror the first set of pics looks like.

Kite22 · 10/01/2022 20:12

@Ericaceae

I agree with the PP that said there aren't many original features left in the first set of pictures either, apart from a few bits of cornicing, debatably original ceiling roses, and the fireplaces. Sad the fireplaces went right enough. In the first link it had a modern-for-its-time kitchen and bathrooms - they were not exactly in keeping either, and those bathroom tiles were frankly hideous. Ime things like "lovely original floors" can look great in pictures, but cost £££ to do properly when you're dealing with the reality of panels cut out for retrofitted wiring and pipes, holes made for radiators, wet rot, dry rot, gappy boards, squeaky boards, springy boards... you've got to make a choice on what's worth trying to keep. All of the houses on our street are 110-115 years old and they've all evolved in different ways due to the families who have been in them. We've all got different bits and pieces of what was there before, but you need to get a practical balance that a modern family can use, heat and enjoy.
I agree with this.

We heard the buyers for my DGM’s house ripped out the wood panelling to “modernise” it. Yes, they bought it and it was theirs now, but why buy an old house at all if you don’t like the features?!

Location...kerb appeal....room size...size of garden...catchment area..... just to kick you off.

Also that everyone on MN, on Property programmes, and at EAs always mock the avocado bathrooms or the pink or peach or mustard bathroom suites of the 70s....and says everyone should rip those out at once. No-one says that is damaging heritage. No one says it is damaging the houses when people knock through into the open plan living that has been such a fashionable trend of the last few years. No-one says it is criminal when people remove most of the back wall of their house to put in bi-fold doors.
etc
etc
etc

I don't like the shiny kitchen and marble floor look at all, but it is just houses evolving as fashions change through the decades.
some of the reactions on here are completely OTT.

Ericaceae · 10/01/2022 20:15

Raising a glass to your ongoing restoration project @NatriumChloride
You know, from under my blanket, beside the slightly damp patch on the fireplace wall that I'm sure I'll find a solution for one day. I do wonder how many of those posting have been told things like "yeah, every joist in that room needs replaced..." The joys Wine

D1sc02000 · 10/01/2022 20:18

That’s West Didsbury for you! At least those houses haven’t been separated into flats like 50% of the other houses around there.

Tigertigertigertiger · 10/01/2022 20:19

After is horrible

sst1234 · 10/01/2022 20:19

Looks much better and less miserable than before.

sst1234 · 10/01/2022 20:21

@daimbarsatemydogsbone

Also it's a hideous waste of the earth's resources at a time when we're supposed to be considering climate change.
Do you live in mud hut?
ChardonnaysPetDragon · 10/01/2022 20:23

Vandals.

GirlInACountrySong · 10/01/2022 20:24

@sst1234

Looks much better and less miserable than before.
I agree!! it looked like it had been fake tanned before...all orange and sludge!

where are these character selling points people are mourning the loss of?

Honeyroar · 10/01/2022 20:25

I much prefer the before pics ( even though it did need some work). I hate the grey that is trendy now.

Where I live the cottages are 300 years old and people are doing things like this too. They want the country views but modern houses. I hate the changes.

Robin233 · 10/01/2022 20:26

Thanks for putting up the pictures.
I think tired and dated jumps to mind.
I like clean lines and the minimalist look.
I like modern.
Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I prefer the second one.

Blossomtoes · 10/01/2022 20:28

where are these character selling points people are mourning the loss of?

Fireplaces, original wood floors, coving … perhaps you missed them?

Missushbb · 10/01/2022 20:30

i can't see the before pics.

justasking111 · 10/01/2022 20:32

Shocked at how poor the EPC rating is, that should have been better.

TeeBee · 10/01/2022 20:33

Oh lord, that is soulless.

FOJN · 10/01/2022 20:34

I also thought you might be being a bit precious but that refurb is fucking hideous. I think its perfectly reasonable to update houses to keep them fit for modern use but it was unnecessary to destroy so many beautiful features, all the lovely wooden floors gone. If you want a house with a modern interior then buy a modern house