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

[QuootiepieTheNewYearsAss]

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!

i think you can have a small place and decorate fabulously - i always aspire to have a decadent boho parisian style flat as featured in magazines but husbands taste and my baby stand in the way.....!

I worked in a magnificent house once - the banisters were made from TUDOR wood. I remember the owner (she was really lovely) once screamed at her daughter cos she was swinging on these banisters quite wildly, her mother screamed "get off those banisters they are 500 years old"!!!!!!

I would love a massive house with one big, big room for a beautiful black steinway. I can dream!

Have just moved into a house that is a complete state. Nice house, though. Just very unloved. In the process of a serious tarting-up job and despairing at the lovely houses in these magazines. I have always been a bit of an interiors addict - I devour the magazines, but the editors would laugh themselves stupid if they saw the inside of my house. I have what I consider to be good taste (inherited from my mother) but, sadly, not the budget to accommodate it. However, those houses with seriously ostentatious trimmings are inhospitable really, aren't they? I hate really expensive stuff, and prefer tastefully comfortable. DH's boss lives in a fabulous house where we went for drinks on Christmas eve. It was like being on a film set, but in a good way!

The price of new furniture is ridiculous. I bought what is a really lovely dining table but it was completely over priced in my view. Then got a cubpard for the TV room where all the DVDs, xbox etc stuff is kept via an anitque dealer on line from 1800s and if you look at the relative price and quality and even looks it's hugely better value. We got it when they were just celebrating the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo and it's so much nicer to think that's been around since then than the new table and its over pricing. I've done some work in interiror design disputes and it's incredible the mark ups put on things.

Have just had a phone call from a friend who's having her home photographed for Ideal Home mag in 6 weeks time! It's a gorgeous cottage, they've worked really hard to get it looking fantastic (no kids yet so they can keep it looking fantastic too). It genuinely always looks fab so I'm sure it'll look brilliant in print.

Thankfully she doesn't live too nearby so doesn't get to see the horror that is my house but I might ask her for some tips anyway.....

erm... I'm not going to be very explicit about where I did get this information from or the name of the very well known owner of the house at the risk of getting the designer in trouble but... there is someone out there whose budget for curtains was £3,000,000.00

My house has not being a feature in those magazines but some of the work I did at a point was.

is that 3 million? That's disgusting.

A little look around the Chelsea Harbour centre for designers it's enough to realise about how wealthy some people can be, there are wall papers made to order at the modic sum of £800 per roll, and I have seen a contemporary sofa (not an antique) sold by £14,000.

Im not quite sure I could. If I won millions, I could never go mad with it, especially not decorating a home. Id do charity work with it mainly... I find that quite sickening. Id obviously treat myself, but... £14,000 for a sofa? 3 million on curtains? All that hospital equipment that could be bought, all the good work that money could do. I felt bad spending £22 a roll on Laura Ashley wallpaper when we havent really got much money at the moment, but though the house should look nice. Goodness!

One of the things I remember about that little world was that during a training in lighting for beginners (most of the students very wealthy themselves), the presenter said:
"Sooo, we were called to do the lighting of this house and when we entered the living room...Oh Dear Dear! there was just a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling!!!! "

I don't know what I found more shocking if the person making all that fuss about a stupid naked bulb or the deep sigh of horror that came from the public!

1/2 our light fittings are bare bulbs at the mo.

Mine are all prudely hidden since the day of that conference!

My friend from work has a wonderful house which she is selling for £1.2m+. She has decorated it beautifully and has 2 young kids and keeps it tidy. It really should be featured in a magazine.

She started at my company at the same time as me and I have a 2 bed ex-council house. She must have had much better appraisals than me!!!! (not that I am envious!)

No - I think her husband is the main breadwinner - she is down to earth and is quite lovely. I quite like that fact I have been to a house which is worth in excess of a million.

Message withdrawn