Tell me about your house's imperfections please

[Pintof]

I have serious MH issues and I'm six months pregnant so I have a habit of blowing things out of proportion.

Basically, I want a perfect house. I want every detail done to perfection. I know that's not possible but I get so stressed about it.

The other day I had a carpenter in who put up some shelves but didn't conceal the brackets as I wanted so it doesn't look perfect. And he cut a hole in a bit of beading which the decorator is now going to fill 'as best he can' [his words]. Again, not perfect.

I know I'm being OTT. I know these things happen and every house ends up with small imperfections but I'm stressed out of my box about it.

Please tell me all about the tiny imperfections in your house which seemed like end of the world stuff at the time but now you don't even notice. Please, I need this

We sold the home I grew up in recently and the thing I miss most is this funny light switch that was mounted all wrong. Perfect houses don’t make perfect homes.

A wonky plug point in the corner of the living room. When I first noticed it I was raging. A few months on and it doesn't bother me at all and no one has noticed it until I've pointed it out. Don't stress!

@Kamma89 We actually have a wonky plug socket in our living room. I didn't notice it until we had shelves put up. It stressed me out so much I had doors put under the bottom shelf so I could shut it away

Thing is, we've done quite a bit of work in the house and every time there's always an imperfection you end up with. Every time I have a massive meltdown about it and every time it basically turns out fine.

Yet, I still fucking do it every bloody time. Aaaah.

We have so, so much wrong with our house and I find it really stressful too. At the minute we're having a big issue with the cat and dog competing to make their territory by weeing on the carpet in a particular spot. No matter how much I clean it, it stinks and is disgusting. I feel like I can't have guests 'round. It's awful. If I can't sort it soon I'll be taking up all rugs and redoing carpeted rooms with hardwood floors as we can't live like this!

Other things - I put up a new towel rail in the bathroom and it's all slanted. The carpet in our bedroom has a big mystery stain from the previous owners. Some of the electrical sockets have wires coming out (we don't use those ones and are about to have the electrician in). Our timber sash windows are rotting away as is out conservatory. DH doesn't "see" problems and doesn't care plus I do all the DIY so it's all on me. Overall if you can believer our house is a lovely big 5 bed Victorian with lots of original features and quite nicely decorated in many ways but it's just too.much to keep on top of. We are going to sell up in a couple of years and buy a much smaller flat and I can't wait.

Blimey , so much.

Yes yes to wonky and gappy plug sockets

Gappy skirting

Cracks in the ceiling

Windows that don’t open

Windows that don’t shut

@Whatsnewwithyou My DH is the complete opposite to yours.

He very much sees problems which makes me even more stressed. He'll say "Have you noticed that the carpenter has cut a hole in that beading, I wonder why he's done that" and it just makes me want to cry.
Yes, I've fucking noticed and no I have no idea why he's done it. I was trying to work it through in my own head and then he comes in with his massive size 12s. It doesn't help that he leaves all the organising of tradesmen to me so it's me that has to talk to tradesmen about shoddy work, which I find awkward and difficult.

We also have a Victorian terrace so I feel your pain of keeping on top of things. Ours is quite a small two bed though so not too much to keep a handle on

Oh, I could go on for ages. We’ve done an extension and the plasterers and many other tradesmen were rubbish, the whole process too stressful to argue pver everything and nothing is perfect.
Loft bedroom ceiling is wavy. Very visibly, I don’t normally have eyes for straight lines but this is ridiculous.
Kitchen peninsula is about 2 cms out, not in a straight line. There’s an ‘elbow’ kind pf screw that attaches the worktop to the cabinets... instead pf putting that in on the cabinet side, it’s on the open end of the peninsula and totally visible from the sofa.
The windows haven’t been fitted/measured properly, the frames are more covered by walls in some of the rooms than others.
(These are just the ones I have learnt to live with - but not to ignore yet - the project is not yet finished.)

The central tap on bathroom sink isn't straight.
Kitchen light socket slightly crooked.
Toilet seat crooked.

And entire house covered in a layer of dust!

We have a selection of 7 pictures in different frames of newborn DD which DP put up in our dining room. Not anywhere near fucking straight. He took so long and was really happy with them I don't feel like I can say anything and it's been 2 years now!

This is really, really helping me

Thank you so much, keep them coming!

Can't close or open toilet window (stuck open a crack) but what really really really gets me is that you can hear next door in the bedrooms (semi detached) so we go to bed and hear sex all the time. I dream of a house where I can have a soundproof space all my own. We've only just moved in and this is going to be a long-term house :s

I'm also 6 months pregnant and trying to get everything done , highly unlikely will get in done it time and like you now and even before I was pregnant it drives me crazy when things are not completely right and I hate the thought of botching things , so I know what you mean when he said he will fill it in as best he can , that would drive me crazy.
I had my shower replaced and where the old unit was taken out there was a gap in the tiles and I had in filled in but the new section of tile doesn't much that well , it annoyed me and every time I saw it I swore I would get it redone but I have had to let the 'small things' go to some degree , otherwise I won't get everything done.

I think if a room overall is done well the small imperfections become insignificant and other people definitely don't notice them .

If the carpenter didn’t do what you asked then why did you pay him? Surely you just tell him to fix it to the standard you originally agreed? And replace the beading?

pealing paint on the bedroom ceiling
hallway cupboard door doesn't close properly
ancient lampshades that are gathering dust
wall below kitchen light fitting needs painting where the wire was integrated into the wall
kitchen ceiling cracking despite having being repainted a few years ago

i don't wish to be a voice of doom but once your baby becomes a toddler they will try to destroy your house further (hopefully by this point you won't care ).
I now just try to keep the mess under control

Old badly fitted beige carpet in the hallway, stairs and lounge...would love to replace it with wooden flooring but cannot afford at the moment.

Dirty beige kitchen floor tiles, glue etc on them from last owners who left the entire house filthy when we moved in last year. Again hoping to replace with wooden flooring at some point.

Shower in ensuite no.1 is somehow leaving watermarks on ceiling of utility room below, so said shower out of use until we can get it looked at or replaced.

@BigBlueBubble

He finished yesterday evening and the decorator is here today - no time to get things re-done

The day we moved in to our house we saw an upstairs bedroom floor was bowing. It had been artfully hidden on viewing by a sofa. Had it checked out and the main beam holding up the front of the house was rotten. Didn't come up on home buyer's survey.
Had to rebuild the front wall. 30k.

@sittingaround Me and DH were talking about this last night. We've decided to dress the toddler in a Michellin Man suit with matching gloves at all times so they can't touch or destroy anything.

I'm joking mostly

@oldbirdy Oh my god, that's awful. That's why I went for the full-survey - I was terrified of that happening, especially as the house had been rented out and not particularly cared for for years before we bought it.

Pintof
Weirdly I am fine with it - I have real peace of mind knowing that it's got a lovely steel beam and all been through building regs etc. Lucky for us that we had 30k available though.

Cold tap in bathroom sink never turns off properly - constant dripping - tried to fix ourselves, unable to. Finally managed to close it so no dripping but now no-one's allowed to use it until we can either get a plumber in or learn to replace it ourselves.

All carpets totally worn and stained. Not sure whether to bother replacing at the moment because have cat who often throws up hairballs on dining room one, and children who play with slime and/or anything that is possible to spill in the sitting room.

Old wooden lean to conservatory that really needs replacing with modern but we can't afford it so it's patched and bodged together.

House basically far too small and much smaller than most of our friends' houses, whether those friends are younger or older. We're not big earners - both work full-time in just over minimum wage jobs, so maybe that's the problem!!

We built our house ten years ago and when people say you need to build 5 houses before you get it right they are probably about right. Things I got wrong include:
It's too big
Too many toilets/bathrooms (both points mean I've so much more to clean)
Not enough sockets
No heated towel rails in bathrooms mean they are freezing as the ufh doesn't suit how we have it all laid out
Too big
Expensive pretty flooring is far too difficult to clean
Costs a fortune to heat because it's so big
Not enough storage
Painted kitchen cupboards! The paint is peeling and they look awful, it's only 10 years old and cost a fortune but the company has gone out of business

so the next house will
Be small
Have a huge utility/laundry room and storage areas and otherwise small areas
Every material used will have to be seamless and easy clean
More sockets than I think I need and then some extra
Plenty of stoves, maybe even a back boiler so I am not dependant on oil
One bathroom for girls and one for boys (who will have to clean their own wee stained loos themselves)
Not have sacrificed shelter from the elements for a view
Be in the centre of town so I do not have to use my car
Have an Aga
Have a full complement of domestic staff
Separate living quarters for dh and dc

I'm getting carried away now!

Our coving has this big, lumpy seam. One wall downstairs is uneven in a particular place, like someone has tried to patch over a seam in a wall. The rest are all perfectly smooth so it stands out like a sore thumb, especially as it gets a lot of light. There is a very small gap in one of the skirting boards and I imagine spiders marching in and out of it.

When this house was built the owners changed their minds about where some of the doors would be during the build, but didn't move the light switches to reflect the new door placement. I've lived here for 8 years and I STILL reach for a light switch that doesn't exist when I walk into the sitting room.

We spent 6 years living here with a bucket in the kitchen to catch rainfall. And "special" towels for the floor to mop up the splashes from the bucket.
However I grew up in a gorgeous but tumble down house -you had to wear wellies in the downstairs loo and watch out for frogs at certain point in the year and there was only a coal fuelled aga to heat it the whole house so I did all my homework in bed under a duvet. There were serious structural issues which thankfully passed me by but must have the scared my parents. So my expected standards are quite low!