Help me love a house I hate

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Let me start off by saying that there is nothing objectively wrong with the house except that everything needs ripping out and that I know I am in a fortunate position to buy a house at all. I know this.

But I've always thought I would live in a naice period property and I currently rent a flat in a converted Victorian house with lovely high ceilings, gigantic windows and spacious rooms. By comparison, every house I've looked at has seemed poky

The only houses we can afford are these types and we're due to go to the estate agents today for POID and POA checks and my heart is just not in it.

We've put an offer in but I don't want the house but we can't afford anything that I do want so what is the point of waiting around and wasting money on rent?

Has anyone been in this situation and learnt to love their house? I don't know what to do.

Buy a nice victorian converted flat instaed ?

Yes! We’re in the same situation. My recommendation is to redecorate as quickly as possible and, if you can, set aside a decent budget for buying plants and bits for the garden to make that lovely. It makes a massive difference if the house looks nice as you approach it IMO. Doesn’t have to expensive either - a few cheerful pots and hanging baskets make a big difference. I don’t love my house now, but I like it and I’m happy to be here as part of a ten year plan.

I'd love a period house too but have a 1990s house. We had to move with DH's job and this house is more to his taste than mine. It's not my dream home but it's my home iykwim. We are about to change the old kitchen and revamp the garden. You get to put your stamp on it.

It was the best house that we could get for our money at that time. I know what you mean though.

We bought an ex-LA semi. Every other property we saw was a flat, dark, two beds max., damp, cold, no garden. Then we saw our house - 3 beds, driveway, garden, nice street. I've never regretted it. The house didn't have a lot of character so we really had a blank canvas. We had the house re-rendered and painted it Brilliant White externally, knocked it about internally to make the kitchen and living room semi-open plan. And just added a big rear extension last year to give us a kitchen-diner, 3 double bedrooms and a second bathroom upstairs. It's warmer than period properties, dry, really bright and airy and very convenient. Believe me those turds really can be polished. If you buy a Victorian flat now then you'll want to move in a couple of years; buy an 'ugly' house and you can put your mark on it and stay there a lot longer.

Yes, those houses are fugly, but huge amounts can be done with gardens as a pp poster said. Also, decorating the inside sympathetically will help eg mid century furniture can look good in modern houses in a way that Victorian stuff might not.

Carpet colour can make a difference, as can choosing sympathetic whites, don't fall into the trap of coloured walls and brilliant white skirting, it will never look as nice as it does in old houses. If you're replacing stuff, look at deeper skirting boards, newer houses often have very skinny ones and deeper ones can look nicer, particularly if painted the same colour as the wall.

Poky can be cosy, have a look at the Farrow and Ball website for tips for decorating small/dark spaces.

Avoid letters spelling LOVE on the windowsill, and motivational decals in the dining area.

We spent soooo long looking for a house, honestly id wait longer.
I felt like you so many times, we went as far as getting a survey on a house I felt this way about, before we pulled out.

I eventually figured out what I actually needed, and the house we bought meets non of my original criteria, but meets the actual important things and I love it. It's not my dream home or forever home, but it is the perfect house for right now.

It feels impossible to find something at times, I'd say reassess your criteria and be on Rightmove constantly.
Good luck xx

If you do but that house though you could totally make it look cute.
But will you just always be unhappy? - no point wasting your money if that's the case

I’d splash £200 on a F&B colour consultant to help me paint it gorgeous colours, and I’d put a massive trellis up the front and grow a climber to cover quite a lot of wall - maybe Japanese honeysuckle as it’s evergreen.

Render it, paint it white, put new doors and windows in, ideally in light wood effect pvc, get a wooden apex roof porch (open sided) put over the front door, and plant a really nice garden. You’ll up the value too!

We have a 90s house because we couldn't afford period.

What made this one okay, amongst all the others we looked at, is that the location is great. We're the last one on a terrace, offset to other houses so garden not overlooked.

Also it's the kid of street kids can play out on.

Those things matter much more than the lack of fireplace.

Decorating is key. There are lots of nice things you can do, it's worth setting aside a decent budget and really thinking about what you'd like and how you can make it the kind of house you are comfortable with.

By and large with a 90s house you don't need to rewire etc. If you get an older place you might have to put a lot into it to get it right.

Make this one as beautiful as you can.... until you can afford to move to the property you really want. You have to start somewhere; it's not called a property ladder for nothing. (And remember you'll be living in your own home; not with in laws, or parents, or sharing. Your own)

When you’re in and it’s cold and you get your first energy bill, you will be pleased you aren’t in a Victorian house. I speak from bitter experience...

Concentrate on the plus points. Is it in a convenient location? friendly community? Is it spacious, with well proportioned rooms, good sized kitchen diner, practical layout? Or good sized garden? So many period properties don't have these.

Forget about period features for now.... but by getting 'on the housing ladder', you may find it easier to trade up to something more expensive and to your taste in a few years.

Personally, with a house like those you've shown, I would replace the plastic white front door with something wooden and put up trellis for honeysuckle/ wisteria/ roses etc.
(Ideally I would replace the windows too but we're probably talking silly money, which you would spend on a period house in the first place, if you had it...)
Then concentrate on the interior

The first picture no, but the second picture is actually decent. Aim for a semi or end of terrace. Look at the area and if the garden is overlooked.

The rest you can change with time and money.

You don’t have to buy. God knows now is not a good time anyway.

We have always gone for period properties but recently fell in love with a 60's house the same as your 2nd picture (they took it off the market unfortunately). They really lend themselves to Scandinavian interiors - keep everything light, white shutters etc. The one we saw was amazing inside despite its exterior. Have a look on Houzz/Pinterest. Also significantly warmer than a period property and less maintenance too.

We put in a wood burning stove.

I agree with PPs that location helps and the scandi thing can work well.

Stuff I've loved about normal boxy houses in the past: huge windows (60s), garden not overlooked except by immediate neighbours, big trees in the back, set back from the road so private, ORP, 10 mins' walk to everything. Also if you are redoing it that'll help enormously, especially if you are DIYing.

This:

www.google.com/amp/s/aliceinscandiland.com/2017/03/12/how-to-extend-your-home-with-style-for-less-than-you-might-think/amp/

This only works on these houses precisely in my opinion. My friend did it exactly and it looks incredible, truly life changing.

It's grand. I think we all dream of the romantic period property but have to live with a duller reality.

Loads you can do but agree work on love at first sight-I added a border to my outside front with just buxus balls & small trees alternately & it has made such a difference. If you could change the front door & a couple of nice pots either side would help.

Love pp's link with the extension. Worth asking an architect for advice on the inside space. Also find who you can get bits of plants from to save money in the garden. I love giving bits of plants! (I'm NI if you happen to be and want plants! 😂)

Yep. I bought mine because it was all I could afford. Wasn't too keen at all. It's gone up considerably in value thanks to sheer luck. My friends who bought at the same time have all now moved on to bigger and more expensive houses but I've fallen in love with our home slowly over the years.

Been here six years now and I don't want to move, ever. I do toy with the idea of remortgaging and extending with a conservatory type thing that PP has linked to, and have enough equity now to do so if I wished. But the low mortgage payments have been a blessing during two unexpected redundancy situations in the last six years.

I think definitely save some money for decorating, furnishing and landscaping how you want, if you are able, and be mindful that you might not be there forever.

We lived in a 1970s rental. We created a focal point in the living room by installing a wooden fire surround, with a fake wood burner. Had we owned it we would have put in a real wood burner.
I painted the door a nice happy blue, sort of forgetmenot blue. We had lots of plants in the front garden, a silver birch, peonies, lavender, irises, a honesuckle, some cotoneaster plus bulbs and perennials.

I grew up in a house just like that - down to the entry through to the back - council house, built 1951, outskirts of London. It was a really nice house, very well built (though ours had nasty metal window frames then) & with big garden front & back, decent sized rooms & lots of storage space.

I know what you mean about naice period properties but honestly, it's really a decent house with good use of space

I personally rather like those 50s houses, and you can make them really stylish, and really cozy. HOWEVER I'm with @Shaytoon - keep looking. I thought I'd have to really compromise on my first place, but then found somewhere I absolutely head over heels loved. It does happen. Keep talking to estate agents. What can they show you in your budget? What are your absolute bare essentials? Be willing to view widely apart from a very few red lines and something will come up. (So never book to view just one place- always ask if there's anything else they can show you at the same time)