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Original poster

Do You, Or Anyone You Know Live In One Of Those Houses You See In Magazines?

89 replies

QuootiepieTheNewYearsAss · 30/12/2006 17:08

Just been flicking through a home magazine, and im at them really. Do normal people live in them? There was some woman who did up her house, I saw total cost £250,000 - thought that was the whole lot, buying house and all (tiny place). No, was the cost of decorating! Baths at £2,500, wallpaper maybe £100 odd a roll... I just can't think who could live a life like that! Apart from a celebrity. How normal is it, being that wealthy? And having homes like that? Obviously, I dream of having a big house, and decorated nicely etc. etc. but this seems pretty off the scale! And it's the same in most magazines... Am I really poor or something ? Don't even get me started on style magazines though... £1000 being a bargain for a whole outfit? That wouldn't even buy the handbag though!

Please tell me im not alone in this!

OP posts:

Kristingle · 31/12/2006 00:05

have you ever noticed teh childrens bedrooms in these magazines? They never have any of teh plastic tat that small kids love or all teh junk and nasty posters that teenagers want? Do these peole not allow their kids to have teh things that other kids have because it is tasteless?

Judy1234 · 31/12/2006 00:22

It's hard. The twins are allowed to put up posters on the back of the door but not the walls. They get tatty and I try to persuade them to let me take them down. Teenage boy has girlie posters up some of which are very good if you like that sort of thing. Daughters' room - one likes clear spaces and is good at design; the other's has fairy lights around her shower room door and things all over. It certainly helps that every morning the week there's someone here to tidy up which isn't me or the chidlren so there's a constant tidying process there and then I'm quite tidy too but it's still a battle to keep the house how I want it to be... amusingly when I manage to divest myself of all 5 I will probably miss the mess and noise.

expatinscotland · 31/12/2006 00:28

No.

I've got a first cousin who does.

People feel uncomfortable in her house.

I wouldn't know, I've never set foot in it and probably never will.

It may as well be on Mars to me.

It's like another planet to me, something I know exists but will never and don't care to visit.

I can't say I well and truly care, though.

I have other things to occupy my time.

expatinscotland · 31/12/2006 00:30

Xenia,
Good grief! Haven't you got somewhere fab to be?

Are you a character from a 'chick lit' vehicle?

Skribble · 31/12/2006 00:31

I like to think my house is homely and comfortable .

expatinscotland · 31/12/2006 00:32

Quootie,
Tell me you don't waste money buying these periodicals.

Do yourself a favour - take that money and put it away and then buy yourself a creative writing course and make up stories about people who supposedly live in these types of abodes and sell the schlock for a bit of money.

It's a fun side business.

Original poster

QuootiepieTheNewYearsAss · 31/12/2006 01:10

DH bought me one today First time in donkeys.

OP posts:

VeniVidiVickiQV · 31/12/2006 01:35

I do know a few folk that do.

snowfunwhenyoureknackered · 31/12/2006 09:00

quootie, just found this thread!

we live in a tiny, cramped house with no space left and we are all constantly on top of each other. drives us mad, but yey ho!!

do you feel better now?

tegan · 31/12/2006 09:05

one of my bm's lives in one of these houses, well really it's a mansion.
You know 10 bedrooms, lobby the sixe of a football pitch with the biggest window you have even seen from floor to ceiling, 3 living areas, 2 kitchens (one for her 5 year old daughter to learn to be a mummy) 4 garages, well the list goes on.
The worst thing is she has white carpets right through her house so I try not to visit that often.

Jimjams2 · 31/12/2006 09:11

our neighbours house is used as an advert for an interior design company. They've spent 2 years doing it up and it is beautiful (and ridiculously large for 2 people). The houses that have been done up on our road are noticeable as they're quite different (would be a millon plus in a lot of London- nowhere near where we live though). Our house is big (not as big as our neighbours), but looks like a bad student let, and is full of clutter. My NY resolution is to get rid of the clutter. I've made a slow start. We've had to spent a fortune doing structural/leaky/electrical things and hopefully will start on the inside soon, but need more money first. No point getting precious about interior design when you have a severely autistic child though (see my plaster thread from earlier in the week). We have things like original carved decorative staircase bits (for want of another word) but they have to be covered to stop ds1 trying to squirm through them 3 stories up. The house needs to be safe more than it needs to be beautiful. I would never have bought this house if we'd known how severe he was going to be. It's a constant battle for safety.

lucykate · 31/12/2006 09:20

i used to buy quite a few interiors magazines for work (i work in textile design) but the homes that i preferred were the ones that were more eclectic, full of junk shop finds etc. can't stand over primped houses with over the top curtains, ghastly chandeliers (sp?), and that look staged rather than lived in

jabberwocky · 31/12/2006 09:39

Both of my brothers have huge houses. One of them just spent $5000 on his outdoor kitchen Our house is older and we have remodeled it slowly over time and love it. We haven't put ourselves in the financial bind that they have regarding their mortgage either so I don't envy them in the least.

Now, if I could pay cash for a house like that...

PartridgeinaRustyBearTree · 31/12/2006 17:16

My sister lived in a house like that - but my BIL was an ambassador... It did feel abit like living on a film set, and being waited on by a butler was a bit intimidating to me though my nephews seemed to take it in their stride & would come down to breakfast in their dressing gowns.The family did have a small separate 'living area' with their own books & stuff, which was much more comfortable.
My house only resembles anything in a magazine if it was the 'before' picture in a makeover....

FairytaleOfNewNORKSBRIDE · 31/12/2006 23:26

We have a fairly big house but it does not look like a magazine spread as it's very much a real family home and there are ALWAYS toys left out in every room. Plus lots of mud. Biscuit crumbs. Broken crayons. Crumpled up drawings. Etc.

It's only the dog that drools over this house

Mirage · 01/01/2007 22:03

My house would never appear in one of those magazines.I own too many books for one thing.

It is a lot smaller than our first house & I struggle to find a place for everything & badly need to declutter more.It also needs loads of work,nothing had been touched since the mid 70's-which is costing us far more than we'd budgeted for.We live in a very sought after area apparently & dh reckons that as soon as tradespeople see the address,they mentally add a couple of £100 on to see if we will wear it.They must be so disappointed to find a wreck of a 3 bed semi when they turn up to quote.

At the present rate,I may get a decent kitchen by 2017.

suedonim · 01/01/2007 23:13

I'm so glad I'm not the only one with a wire problem. All the dc are home atm so I am having to contend with wiring for five laptops and a pc, as well as sundry games gadgets, Ipods and of course, Xmas tree lights. I'm amazed I haven't fallen to my death or been strangulated by the miles of cables I have to negotiate!

My friend with the showhouse home (funnily enough she's an estate agent, lol!) has no books to clutter up the place. She never has any newspapers around and I've no idea where she hides her paperwork, utility bills etc. Something else which mystifies me is that her bathroom never shows any sign of being used, never a splash of water anywhere, on the basin, bath or even the taps. Towels are set sqare on their rails, the loo roll is never down to its last two pieces and the toothpaste tube is never squeezed flat.

The most annoying thing is that she puts no effort whatsoever into keeping her house like this, it all comes naturally. But her dh is incredibly tidy as well so clutter doesn't stand a chance in their house. Thankfully she's not precious about it and is happy to slum it amongst the wires and cables of my house.

NotQuiteCockney · 02/01/2007 08:34

I know a couple of families with very tidy, very well-decorated houses. We are not among them, though - I'm just not an orderly person. Our house is pretty nice, the living rooms are huge (tiny bedrooms, though), and we've had lots of it redone recently, and am really happy with the results.

But yeah, way too many books for that sort of thing, anyway.

Anchovy · 02/01/2007 13:09

Our previous house was featured in a lot of magazines/newspapers. It was a very unusual house - a classic 1930's house, painted white and with the curved Crittal windows etc, dropped into the middle of a road of ordinary semis. You would sometimes see people parked outside looking at it. It is a style you either love or hate (we loved it!)

When we moved in, the kitchen was very small - apparently when houses like that were built there was no concept of eating in the kitchen etc. After a while, we had the kitchen extended, and had to have an architect (very unusual shaped space, needed planning permission etc). After we had the extension done, the architect asked if he could use it in some publicity shots: we thought that it was fair enough, as it was his business, they had done a great job and it really did look nice. So he took a number of photos and sent them to various magazines etc. A couple followed it up and one - Homes and Gardens, I think - centred a supplement around it. We said we were happy for the house to be photoed but stipulated that our real names were never used, the price was not disclosed and the address was not given (the idea being that we were happy for the arhcitect and designer to get credit, but not for it to be a "here are Mr and Mrs Anchovy in their lovely kitchen"-type article).

Of course the photos were very styled and a lot of our things were moved out of the way or into cupboards and the stylists props took over. We were just having our first child at the time and in real life there would have been all of the usual paraphrenalia of a small baby. It was a lovely kitchen, but in those photos it looks sensational!

So in answer to the OP, yes some people have houses a bit like you see in the colour supplements, but I can guarantee that they don't look like that all of the time!

There was a really nice end to the story which was someone saw it in the Telegraph and wrote to us - she had lived in the house as a child in the 30's and her father had designed and built the house. She told us some lovely stories about the house and sent some fantastic photos of the house in the 30's and 40's, so it was worth it for that alone. What was really nice was that she said she really liked the our kitchen and her father would also have loved it as he always thought the kitchen was too small!

KTreePee · 02/01/2007 13:12

It sounds lovely anchovy - why did you move?

CatherineEarnshaw · 02/01/2007 13:23

mine has been in homes and gardens in the 70's - it was owned by some fab hippies!

becaroo · 02/01/2007 13:25

I once worked for an upholstery manufacturer (a posh one) and people routinely spent about £10/15k on a sofas. (and this was 6 years ago) A sofa ffs! When I think what people/charities in need could do with that money it makes me feel nauseous. Because of working there I vowed never to spend more than £1000 on a sofa and I never have. The thing is, they werent even nice. We did a leopard print one for a d list celeb and it made my eyes bleed. We also did a lot of stuff for sporting people (boxers, footballers etc). All foul, all ridiculously priced. I suppose some people really think the value of something is what you pay for it. Needless to say....my house is a hovel and I love it! I spend my time and money on my ds.

clemsterdarcy · 02/01/2007 19:57

our flat was in a mag last year ... as with most of the homes featured it was to profile my fil who is a furniture maker.

if you read the profiles of the owners they are udually designers of some sort or looking to flog something!

and the rooms arent that tidy -- just a good phptographer and staging with props ... look closely and you'll see the same vase of flowers moves from room to room etc!

our feature was hillarious ... i had been working away and flew home the day of the shoot so had no camera-friendly bright clothes and was too jetlagged to realise they had be chopping peppers with a breadknife!!!

LittleSarah · 02/01/2007 20:15

I know people with nice houses, but no magazine standard ones!

I live in a nice, small rented flat so there is no chance of any magazine features for me!

I just want to be comfortable, a small house or a spacious flat for me and dd would be lovely. Maybe when I finally graduate and hopefully get a decent job it will be possible!

BaileysMilkshake · 02/01/2007 20:35

I have a good friend with a big house and she aspires to have it nicely decorated. But with two young sons who don't know the meaning of tidy up. And a husband who works all the hours and then comes home to slob out - it doesnt get the attention she would like to give it.

She's just had some work down as a result of an insurance claim though and it's looking pretty good right now. So she's on a mission to replace some furniture and continue the current trend. Her boys have been baned from the living room except at special times - and it's done the trick so far.

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