Is there anything you can do to improve pebbledash?

[PaintingOwls]

DP and I are looking to buy our first house but for whatever reason a lot of houses in our budget are pebbledashed and I am 'vetoing' those houses because I find it so, so ugly and am at a loss of what we can do about it.

Take this house for example - www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-67129880.html - it is not the fact that it needs gutting that puts me off, but that hideous exterior.

A similar house down the road which has exposed bricks is about £40-70k more expensive...

Please give me some hope about pebbledash. Ways to make it look better, cover it, reinvent it, anything - inspire me!

Jesus Christ, I am not moving to the fucking North, thank you.

I can’t think why you’re not tempted by gems like that lovely terrace in elswick. Sure, there’d by a 6 or so hour commute each way, but that’s nothing!

(Note for anyone tempted to take this seriously: I’m not actually serious about this).

Painted pebbledash looks fine. In fact, I’m pretty confident that a bit of paint, possibly a new door, a nice fence and some gardening and you could make that house look pretty nice from the street. The totally botched extension at the back would be another story entirely.

All our houses have been like the one you’re looking at. Each housevhad it’s own merit but we are very lucky to now live in a stunning area.

Visualise off white painted pebbledash. Contemporary door. Mature garden. Contemporary Swedish Cornwall feel internally. Wooden floors.

Jesus Christ, I am not moving to the fucking North, thank you.

Good, cos with that attitude we don't want you!

Paint it, paint it :-)

@PaintingOwls I've pmed you.

There was a site which was linked to on here a few times for someone who did the most amazing transformations of the outside of houses, I'll see if I can find it (or does anyone else know what I"m talking about?)

www.backtofrontexteriordesign.com/projects/finished-projects/

Ooooh thank you Laira!

*Who wouldn’t want to live in love lane?
*
Er, me. Mitcham is a hole.

The St Helier estate isn’t that bad. A real mix of people, generally a bit rough around the edges.
I still wouldn’t touch the OP first house with a barge pole, keep looking.

m.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/45238517?search_identifier=34ad0d3fccf5b5df3b6a01d5abf20f51

Very typical house for St Helier estate. Less than a mile from the hospital.

m.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/44235667?search_identifier=90d33496f5eae7f9676a3e06a0b1d9e8

Stay in the fucking South OP and pay over £300,000 for a slum- we don't want you in the North. No one was suggesting you move here.

In Scotland it's still quite common to pebbledash/roughcaste houses, particularly timber frame ones. But it doesn't seem to look so bad on a house in rural Scotland.

I also thought pebbledash was done for durability? It's pretty tough stuff and put on lots of the old cottages up here to protect them from the elements, however I expect that's probably not so much of an issue in London.

Anyway, even in London when I used to live there I remember seeing well maintained/painted white pebbledash and it looked fine.

@FrankiesKnuckle those are WAY nicer and better value than the crack-den wreck!

BordersMumNow123 I'm in North East Scotland, and since moving here I have warmed to pebble dashing! Even some of the castles/stately homes round Aberdeenshire are pebble dashed, and lots of the naice suburban new builds which have gone up recently are pebble dashed (in grey contemporary colours).

I think some of the reactions to op saying she doesn't want to move North have been pretty harsh. She wasn't being offensive, she just wants a house in the part of the country where her job and roots are - what is the point in showing her houses hundreds of miles away, no matter how cheap and beautiful they are?

Plus, if every Londoner moved to the same, cheap, lovely Northern town you would see house prices there rocket!

squishysquirmy exactly it's everywhere up here and doesn't look awful maybe I am just getting TOO accustomed to it

I don't mind the OPs reaction to moving up north, I feel the same about moving back down south tbh

You do become accustomed to pebble dash living in Scotland. I always thought it must help with insulating or something. It’s everywhere! There’s a woman near me (down south) who included the removal of pebbledash in her planning application. It was refused. She was allowed to make loads of changes to her house, but not to remove the pebbledash. It’s painted white now, and you don’t really notice it.