What do you regret?

[TheBeesKnee]

Every time I get into the bath I kick myself for getting a small, cheap one.

I am not a small lady and the water never submerges me the way I wish it would.

I regret not splashing out sorry on a big, deep, luxurious bath.

Misery loves company so tell me what decision you regret about your home?

Hideous lino floor tiles in both bathrooms. They looked tasteful and marble-like in the catalogue. In reality they look like government-issue prison washrooms in the 1970s. And they never look clean. There's a horrible yellowish sheen on them unless scrubbed, hard, with bleach every week.

• putting the same bath (large, with a rounded shower end) in both bathrooms. It takes an age to fill and isn't nearly as comfortable to lounge in as our old one which had a more sloping end.

• having the TV/satellite cables moved/ installed in a different wall of our living room when we redecorated. We thought it would make sense, but it actually means that we end up craning our necks from the sofas at right angles when watching TV!

• having a handmade oak front door. It's lovely and a reasonably good fit, but there's still a noticeable draught and DH is adverse to me putting curtains up (dark hallway).

Funnily enough, all these home 'improvements' were led by DH and so I don't trust him to make sole decisions about anything now!

After a very expensive bathroom refit that meant all the money was spent behind the walls, we could only afford a cheap bath. Huge mistake. After putting up with leaks and damage for years, I'll have to put in a much better quality one that won't move when used.

Also using expensive terracotta tiles on the kitchen floor. Complete waste of money. They've never been revarnished so will take a lot of time and effort to get back to looking great. That was my big idea/ mistake when we did a refit 15 years ago.

2020 will be spent getting the house back to normal after having tenants in for 5 years. I've saved up and worked out what I want. DH will not be involved. He hasn't a clue and isn't interested.

Not posting my floorplans to be critiqued on here when having an extension (only a small one). I spent ages looking at other houses on Rightmove, was sure I knew what would work and still something was changed mid-build. And I still wonder if some other layout could have worked better - only small tweaks but enough to make me doubt myself.

And not thinking through the layouts properly in some rooms. I'm sure the hive mind on these boards would have helped.

Flooring in the kitchen/diner. We should have put in underfloor heating or chosen a different flooring option. Floor is always freezing although the room itself is fine. It didn't fit with our budget or timescales at the time though and it's far too much disruption to do now.

Not pushing ourselves just a bit more when buying our forever home

This too, we were super cautious when buying, ensuring we could pay the mortgage on one salary only even with interest rate rises. But our household income has gone up massively since and we wouldn't have struggled at all if we'd gone for something detached in slightly better location (we're in a semi on a reasonably busy road).

Not buying the orchard beside us for £6k in1979
Seemed a lot then and nothing now
Could’ve had playroom and extra loo/ showeroom
Houses there now

Not being firmer with our builder when he did the renovations on our ground floor. I've never dealt with builders before so took everything he said as truth. We now have a very uneven floor with lots of dips. At least i knew this wasn't my forever home and know when to stand my ground next time

Lunaballoon

A bath with a side filler valve and central drain instead of regular taps and plug hole at the end.

That's actually what I wanted! Interesting to hear that it's not actually a great idea. I've only ever experienced this set up in a hotel and loved it so much that I wanted to recreate it at home

Hoppinggreen

Not pushing ourselves just a bit more when buying our forever home

Same here. DP is determined to pay off the bloody mortgage ASAP so we actually took a 21 year term on a cheap house on an estate. I hate the area too and have to travel out of my way to the naice parts of town for any decent shopping, cafés etc. I always look at houses on Rightmove wistfully as the bus whizzes past huge leafy streets. Mine are filled with litter rather than trees.

Nice house and area but the actual street is problematic as parking can be terrible. When we have tried to sell it has put other people off.

Buying the damn thing. My upstairs neighbour is a massive arsehole who has caused a lot of damage over the years and is loud and aggressive. Guy next door holds loud parties in his living room right next to my bedroom. It's very old and badly insulated and heating bills are high. I just hope I'll be able to sell and move elsewhere eventually, it's so depressing to think of living there forever. I get so envious of people who live somewhere nice. Which is everyone else I know.

Buying a house with 25 steps up to the front door. We were desperate to get into the catchment area as DS was due to start primary school so just went for it. We may be in a position to move house later this year and will be looking for something with way less steps at the door!

Not checking the white goods left/included in the sale - one of the cooker plates didn't work. Fortunately the rest were just about fine.

Not removing the skirting board and dado rail in the hallway before plastering. Just doesn't look good.

Trying to figure out what to do with one of the worst rooms in the house - the dreaded sun room aka conservatory of doom.

@TheBeesKnee we have a side filler and central drain in our main family bathroom and it's lovely. It doesn't take that long to fill and we've never accidentally let water out. 😊

My regrets are buying on a busy-ish road and buying a house that has limited potential to extend because the garden is not as big as we'd like - so there's no chance of extending the footprint of the house, we could only go into the loft.

Having the external glass upvc double doors on our new kitchen opening outwards. I had visions of flinging them open and enjoying the summer air. The reality is this: they are impossible to pin back - the right hand one, when open (we rigged up some string and a hook to hold it back) obstructs a path to the garden, so you have to squeeze round the open door. When it rains (light summer rain) you have to shut them because they end up soaked and rain marked. (When I had an inward opening back door it was only ever shut in summer if the rain was actually blowing in.) Finally, they are in full sun in the afternoon which makes the pvc expand so they are impossible to shut until it cools down. I am planning on having them turned round so they open inwards instead.

Moving into Dh's house, all these years ago. On a main road. The road has got noisier?I'm sure Dh is partly deaf! He says it doesn't bother him.

Road Tarmac has been re-laid. We had all our windows replaced and the sound coming in is awful. The old windows were much better made. These new ones are flimsy shit.
God how I hate living here. Can't afford to move. Can't find anything better, for the value of our house. God I hate it.

Buying furniture online, including bathroom stuff. Boy, that was a mistake