Why are so many houses so similar?

[PoorOldCat]

I get updates from rightmove every day and I think about 90% of the houses have really similar interiors.

Everyone seems to have laminate floor, brown leather sofas, the ubiquitous 'feature wall' in some awful oversized floral pattern, steel and black framed things and huge tellys. And the kitchens and bathrooms all seem to be the P shaped shower bath and the varying shades of beige tiles.

I don't understand why, it's like looking at a display in B&Q over and over again. It's so ugly. But most of all it's so dull.

Do people like this stuff or is it just fashion, which no one really likes aside from the fact it makes your house look identical to other people's?

Finding a house to be proper nosey at, that has some sort of identity of its own is hard work.

I'm not sure what I'm trying to do or why it pisses me off so much, and I certainly don't want to offend anyone who does like their house this way...all the agents seem to say these are beautifully presented and will be very popular, so maybe it is just me who hates it, in which case, I'll take the flack

But why is it so popular to have your house like this? Because I just don't understand.

My parents like how their house is. Theyve been thru more fashion turnarounds than u or i an wouldnt give a moment's consideration to somebody that disapproved of their carpets or pvc windows!! They'd be thinking (but would never say) well we own this carpeted bunker-( outright)

I think a lot of people have very little choice. It's when they do, and they choose to update in this way that it bothers me. Maybe it is mostly about maximising profit. I don't think someone like your MIL has anything to feel guilty about.

Fwiw I am compromising with our new house, because of what we can afford. It has some laminate (just one room), some UPVC - one day I might remove that and put in older style wooden windows, but tbh, once the origila glass is gone, you can never replicate it. It's never quite as smooth as modern glass. So I may not bother.

But out of about 14 windows there are only 3 that are PVC and the rest are old - most don't work though apparently

Does anyone know how easy it is to take up laminate btw? I think I'm going to leave it for now as the woman downstairs might appreciate the noise insulation properties...but one day I will want to rip it out.

I have a 30's house which I always feel I have to defend against other peoples ideas of what I should do with it.

Apparently my original parquet just had to go - a new oak floor would look so much nicer ( according to my DM) . I had it renovated instead and although it still looks a little rough around the edges I love the fact that it is the original floor.

When are we gong to knock through the kitchen and back room? As if it is now compulsory to have the huge kitchen/family room with a massive island in the middle.

I quite like the feel of those types of rooms but why would we need to do it? The kitchen is quite big already ( enough room for a table and chairs) and I like having a separate dining room.

I do have to defend brown leather sofas though. With two cats and two kids and a regular canine house guest there really is no alternative unless we had enough money to replace the sofas every couple of years. Our brown leather ones are now almost ten years old and although the springs are going they still look new.

OP you are not wrong.

I used to buy Living etc, but got sick of it after two years of countless articles on " my wonderfully original white minimalist house"!

That said, a great deal of my house is magnolia, which is how it was painted when we moved in a year ago.

We have a few larger persian rugs everywhere, which are brilliant with kids and really practical.

I am a paint chart bore, and love Fired Earth ranges- they have three or four. Kevin Mccloud is really good on why certain colours don't work well in the northern countries, such as the UK.

If anyone wants a shocking shade for an office, I can recommend that dark inky blue by Fired Earth.

I have never done a new build. Mostly period houses and flats. Poor old you can get that old glass if you really like it

Far too much brown in that house you linked to PoorOldCat. I dislike brown as a colour anyway, but I wouldn't buy that house because the first expense would be to replace all the carpets.

I really like modern kitchens. I have had enough of period/impractical kitchens, so it is modern all the way for me. I am the same with bathrooms. I do like period features in other rooms, but loathe dusting so picture rails and dado rails would be out.

I really like the tiled Victorian hallways - so spacious and so practical for dealing with muddy footwear. But something like that would look very out of place in my 1990s house.

"And PVC windows in an old house always look wrong"

If the building is listed they wouldn't be allowed. One of my friends lives in a 17th century old schoolhouse and she needed planning permission to replace her old rotten windows. One of the stipulations being that they had to have wood frames.

That over developed totally soulless look really puts us off houses too. I find it quite sad really and part of what's wrong with the property market in the UK. Houses should be homes that people can afford to live in, rather than investment opportunities.

Green, I went off Livingetc for that exact reason. So unimaginative to paint everything white and plonk some design classics in! I remember having a massive rant about it once.

Living etc has got a bit better recently, but I can see grey being the new white and becoming overdone .

I like the idea of barn conversions. Quite a few nice ones round here.
But the reality makes me feel panicky and worried.
I am not cut out for open plan living! I like being able to shut the door of a room I am on.
And the heating bills are astronomical.
Ditto cottages...love the idea of them. But the reality is often small, dark, cramped rooms and tiny windows and not child friendly.
I would adore a Victorian or Georgian period home.
I really would.
Will never happen :(

Angelswithsilverwings, i know exactly what u mean! My hoyse 70s but it is as though certain improvements compulsory and u have to defend not making them!

Our home was built in 1540, I'm glad it doesn't have all the original features.
(We do however have a grade 2 listing which limits any future "improvements")
What we do still have is huge fireplaces, mullion windows (single glazed), oak beams.
Improvements include carpets throughout (can't understand why people want bare floorboards), electricity (but no gas), and a Coalbrookdale stove.

Grey IS the new white. I had new carpets in January and the sales teams in two shops say that everyone is asking for it! It has replaced beige, apparently!

That said, I can understand why those low muted colours like beige, off white and grey are used as a backdrop. I often use them myself, as they are so easy on the eye. But not as a "scheme".

Re kitchens, the best one I ever had (she weeps), and the most practical, was not "modern". It was wood, hand built and topped with speckled brown and black granite in my last house. It was designed to work and enable finding things. I never lost a spice hat and my shelves came our in runners. It cost £7000 plus the oven, and that included painting. The ikea one I had in the 2000s and the modern one I have in this house are not a patch on it.

I don't think it's just about colour or current fads. I think that some people have a knack of making a room 'work' and feel inviting, and others just don't. That can be as simple as how the furniture is arranged or use of lamps as opposed to harsh overhead lighting in a sitting room and so on. I suppose it's feng shui really.

There are some houses I visit, or see online, and I'm inwardly twitching to move a double bed away from the wall, add a valance to hide a divan base or shift the sofas in a sitting room away from the walls a bit so it doesn't resemble a waiting room and people can see each other to chat.

My current bug-bear is not so much about laminate/hard flooring in houses, but how many people don't bother to "warm it up" by adding rugs here and there. The house just looks and feels cold and echoe-y.

I love original features (my house is rented but there are loads of little bits that I would restore properly if I owned it and if I ever get to buy I would choose a house like this) BUT isn't the advice to make it look as plain as possible so it will sell?

"BUT isn't the advice to make it look as plain as possible so it will sell?"
No, that's not the advice, but it's what people have heard and are slavishly following. It's a good idea to de-clutter and stream-line, but people often take it too far and end up with an empty shell that isn't very appealing.

I love terraced houses. The proper old fashioned ones. I sometimes feel like I'm in some kind of house share when I can hear the neighbours talking, but it is a good, warm, sturdy home, for a good price (rent is about £500 pcm on a 3 bed, they sell for about £90,000, and that is walking distance of the small city, university and big train station)

Not by removing original features! Original features add value,it baffles me that people remove them.

I am so fed up with grey Def the new magnolia and actually not that nice to live with afetr a while.

Clam i dont want a rug . Ihave laminate wood floor.. bone white walls. It still looks busy imo

Dont want grey in sitting room but i am thinking qbout grey kitchen cupboards

90% of new kitchens are grey. I do think its starting to look cheap even though it can be beautiful.

I got rid of our rugs because they slipped around on the lamination floors

I'm not going to hold up our house as a bastion of style because we haven't done anything to it except de-magnolia the walls, we haven't got the money yet.

We''ve got a wall of Ikea cupboards in the front room for the same reason. There was never a fireplace and there is bugger all storage so needed something cheap and efficient.

It's going to be awesome in a few years time when we've got the builders in, and not at all original 1994 style.

this is what I mean Picture 3

As I said, cold and uninviting. It's not about "busy-ness." How could you sit in this room and have a cosy chat with someone on a different sofa. Apart from with a megaphone.

But this Picture 2, is even worse, for totally different reasons.

And don't get me started on the prices.

clam i agree just nothingy