Have you ever been to a house that you thought was too tidy

[nkf]

I know too tidy is relative and most people wouldn't think tidiness was a problem. But I recently saw a house that was so clean and so tidy and so empty that I couldn't imagine how they lived in it with children. Perhaps upstairs was chaos but I don't think so.

yes sils house. i dont like houses like that. you feel you darent sit down incase you wrinkle the sofa. i also feel sorry for the children living there.

No, but then it depends how it is decorated etc. The fact you then say empty makes me think that it is too tidy, in a way.

My health visitor said my obsessively clean house was a sign things were not right and I had PND. Friends also said they found it difficult to relax in my home as it was so perfect. Not a problem anymore though.

Yes, MIL's house. You weren't allowed to put your hand on the wall to steady yourself whilst you took your shoes off. DD2 (18months at the time) got a smack from XH for dropping a crisp on the carpet, and in general it felt like people weren't welcome there. You were there to admire her housekeeping skills, not to enjoy yourself.

Yes my mother's

MIL.

But we caught her out once, when we turned up unexpectadly and the house was a mess .. she got all flustered

Yes I have
A relative of my hubbys

They are so particular and tidy that they dont actually let you in, your taken through the garage into the conservatory

BUT I did get in once when hubby was fixing there heating and I needed to talk to him.

was scarily, tidy, empty and clean

dont see the point when you dont allow anyone in to see it

each t their own though, they dont have kids licing with them anymore

I hate ones that look like show homes, I prefer, friendly lived in ones where you can tell that the people have lives beyond dusting!

I once had a wall-plaque that read

"Dull women have immaculate houses".

I placed it in full view for MIL to see. She really was the most boring creature alive, ever. Unless it was related to household chores, a Daily Mail article, or OK magazine, it didn't warrant space in her head.

oh god riven, that is crazy

do you findit hard to be at hers to visit with your children
I know I would

SILs house - its scary and she's got three kids, get the sense they wouldn't DARE to leave anything lying around! She'd be horrified by my house

I have a very tidy house bar one room which during the day gets trashed (the playroom but it all gets put away at bedtime) but I really really can't sit in mess so because its tidy anyway it doenst take long to keep tidy and I tend to have a big clean once a week when dh takes dd1 out for a run/bike ride etc and dd2 sleeps

My HV walked into my house and said 'thank goodness a normal home'. It was organised chaos but she said the previous person she had visited had one of those shell like houses you have mentioned.

Yes. I have a friend who we visit occasionally and usually stay the night (as she's down by the coast and we come from London). I find it very hard work being in her house with my 3 yr old, as she has so many house rules it's like walking on eggshells. Her 3 yr old son has a little playroom and it is literally the only room in the house he is allowed in. Everywhere else he goes he is constantly chastised for 'making a mess'. She sweeps, mops and hoovers constantly. She always seems to be washing and drying bed linen, too! i find the whole atmosphere in her house exhausting.

No I don't think so but I think the houses that have been mentioned as too tidy have actually been unfriendly, the same level of cleanliness/tidyness with a friendly welcoming person inside may not be viewed the same way.. IYKWIM

I used to iron the beds after making them. Every night aafter dd had gone to bed I would scrub the house. Cushions were always perfectly plumped, Taps polished, magazines perfectly fanned on the coffee table. Even tins in the cupboard were perfect. Books all aligned categorized and in alphabetical order [I still do that] I cringe to think about it, how empty must my life have been?

A friend of mine with no children has an uncomfortably tidy house. If you got there for a dinner party she will leave the guests for an hour while she does the washing up. She regularly refuses invitations to do interesting things because "I am sorting my airing cupboard that day" or "that is my night to go through my receipts". She is 26.

My house is tidy and clean enough but I wonder whether she will look back aged 80 and think "I am so glad my airing cupboard was always tidy" or whether she will have a few regrets about opportunities missed?

She is planning to have children in a year or so, gawd help them all!

Hmm, this is true Greyskull. I suppose I do just tend to associate that level of cleanliness with unfriendliness now

Yes, we once went to friends' house (before any of us had children) where their books were srranged on the shelves in SIZE ORDER and the rest of it looked like a show-home.

Riven, you hit the nail on the head with 'manicured garden'. Not kidding, ex MIL used to crawl round the garden with nail scissors, levelling up the grass. Crazy, I tell you!

Polly Toynbee thinks Oxford college lawns are "manicured", according to the recent review of her book.

My house is clean but it is very much lived in. My DS2 once cried when we went to stay in an ultra tidy house-he found it so alien!