New houses - how to make sure they're not sterile?

[Weta]

We're thinking of buying a house in a new development, but I've always been a bit worried about new houses seeming a bit sterile.

Any tips on how to make sure that's not the case, or am I just prejudiced? We will go for parquet floors and an open-plan kitchen/dining room/lounge...

I could live in it first for a while if you like... and never do any cleaning?
Or did you mean sterile atmosphere rather than cleanliness?

Just think of the fact that stuff works. The heating is new, the kitchen, bathroom, decor - it's all new and in great condition. I wouldn't give the sterile stuff another thought. I am sat in my house waiting for someone to come and fix my 15 year old heating - if you think thoughts about the new house being sterile, think of stuff working well.

You can put your stuff in it anyway, it will be fine!

books in open plan bit (perhaps to divide the sitting area from the rest)

50s and 70s second hand furntiture will look lived in but won't jar with surroundings

nice rugs in perhaps clashing colours

get a canvas and get the children to decorate/paint it
put it up unframmed

Huge artworks contemporary but simple furniture.Shelved walls with books and bits on.Mirrors and flowers in tall glass vases can look great.

Yes, sterile atmosphere :)

Thanks for the suggestions... we do have nice colourful rugs already as the house we rent also has (old) parquet floors. And our furniture already looks lived in :)
Love the canvas idea... and I guess you're right that books make a big difference.

And I kind of have this vision of all new houses being painted white throughout, but I guess you can choose colours?!

How old are your children? I cannot imagine anywhere my 2 lived looking remotely sterile, more like an explosion in a toy factory! (Both under 5)

Some people have a fireplace put in for a focus point, but that depends if you have toddlers/crawlers...

Kids are 7 and 3... my house would look like a toy factory explosion too except that my (French) DH is obsessed with tidiness so they're not allowed to leave crap lying around the lounge for long and have to tidy their bedrooms after breakfast and in the evening (well not the little one, but his room is so tiny he always plays in his brother's room or elsewhere).

Spooky! My DH is French too... but he obviously came from a messy, carefree departement

Actually MIL is Dutch and vacuums/dusts/mops EVERY DAY, so maybe that's where it comes from!