To think these houses will soon look dated?

[OutForBreakfast]

Our neighbour has a detached 1930s red brick house that he slapped grey rendering over, outside uplighters, plantation shutters and grey pvc windows.
AIBU for thinking this will be the avocado baths of the future that many people dislike?

There's a large thirties house near us that has been rendered in dark grey, had dark grey shutters and the front garden replaced with hard standing.

We called it the Grey Lubyanka.

And bits of brilliant white somewhere too, my neighbour's done this, looks horrible and it's in the middle of a terrace.
Looking on rightmove so many properties have been done totally in grey, inside and out, it must be like living at a submarine.

We did the opposite, got rid of the old wood door and replaced it with composite. You could see daylight through the gaps in the door so it needed replacing but no way was I having something I'd need to paint hence going for composite. I want as little maintenance as possible!

I would be very suspicious of a grey painted house, I would assume it's been done as it's cheaper than having it repointed.

Agree that the dark grey rendering is really ugly. Our house is a 1930s semi but built out of awful dark brown brick rather than red - I'm struggling to work out how to improve it so any suggestions are very welcome!!

YES - these doors are hideous. There is a house in a village near me and they have done the grey and white thing and have covered the whole of their front area with dark grey chippings. It is awful. On the other hand I have seen some lovely coastal properties usually bungalows that have updated the look by the cladding.

That's interesting. What are they using for privacy instead? Something like voile panels or window fils?

Film

Have it rendered - but in cream or another more cheerful shade?

Completely agree

I drive past a house (photo is from street view before it was painted) and they have painted the white window surrounds in a matte dark grey and it’s a complete eye sore and stands out for the wrong reasons.

Their front door has been replaced with a modern one also in the same flat dark grey.

Why not buy a modern house if that’s the look you want as it just looks awful when older houses are given contemporary styling which ruins the character of the property.

The car in the drive is also the same dark grey!

i like the anthracite windows and doors, imo it makes upvc look less 'plastic-y' then white ones

My daughter lives in Putney and you walk streets and streets there of high priced houses and most have shutters.

I agree, they look better than most other options.
I think the render must be insulating render which allows a choice of colours but is still awful compared to Victorian brick. At least those houses are warm inside.

A gorgeous house that I tried to buy but missed out on has done this. It makes me sad every time I drive past, it looks awful and clashes with the roof.

They already look dated.

A house in our village has been renovated. It now has white render, a grey roof and windows, one of those hideous composite doors (grey, natch) with the ubiquitous long steel handle, a grey resin drive and big white rendered planters.

It looks bloody awful and utterly devoid of character.

The all grey everything look already looks dated, it’s very mid 2010s

It’s tricky isn’t it. So much of the UK’s older housing stock is energy inefficient and leaks heat. Finding stylish solutions is not easy and internal wall insulation makes your rooms smaller.

I think the grey thing is a different point.

I always think white or cream render is just creating more cleaning work for yourself when they get dirty. At least dark grey is low maintenance!

They probably have ‘live love laugh’ in both the toilet and kitchen too, outside chance they went for the hat trick in the hallway too.

I've seen black render in my area full of Victorian houses. I have also seen dark brown (can't beat that one!). It is a dilemma. I think I would rather have smaller rooms by sacrificing 10cm here and there.

I do really like crittal doors but can see them dating. I also like kitchen islands but only in a big enough space- I've seen loads crammed into kitchens that are too small just for the sake of following a trend.

Totally agree about all grey decor/render etc though, I hate it. Although, there is a 1930s house near us that maintained their red brick/got it tidied up but then have changed the windows to that dark grey colour. It sounds like it would clash horribly but it looks surprisingly lovely. It's clear they've been careful to maintain certain original bits and their front garden and driveway is also full of greenery rather than stark grey gravel.

Looks better than bricks.

Yes! That’s the word for it forboding, hardly a warm welcome home, they look so austere.

Fair enough. 10cm would make quite a difference to our room size so we’re going for external wall insulation. But I take your point on style.

we’ve had an architect and energy efficiency advisor in to help plan the best way to retrofit our house so we’ve considered it the best we can.