What do you think of these wooden ceilings and the house in general?

[Whatam]

We are looking to buy our first house. We have not been in UK for very long and have never owned a house. Will really appreciate your inputs on this house? The wood ceilings look very odd to me. What do you all think? I wouldn't like to keep it that way. What do you think of the house as well?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-68886384.html
Thanks a lot.

This is madness, I'm really excited about that house (admittedly I don't have much to do today )

I said after this house I'm never taking on another project but that house could be made stunning with minimal disruption to the household and so much space.

I agree parking may be an issue but the notes do say there's a driveway at the front.

Unfortunately, I don't need Reading.

The ceilings are a high point in an otherwise undistinguished but perfectly OK house. Don't paint. If you buy, live with them for a year.

What jars here is the horrible carpet and furniture. Get back to timber floors and rugs.

Can you tell I live in a wooden house?

Google mid-century home with wooden ceiling to get some ideas. Houses of that period have so much going for them - they are so light and spacious - but you have to embrace the style. You could just rip it all out, but personally I’d be spending the money of some fabulous mid-century modern furniture instead. I think if the current owners had done that then people would be saying how much they loved the ceiling.

I actually quite like them. At least they are liveable for the time being until you decide to rip them out or paint them. I like the house but don't know the area at all. We have awful wooden ceilings in our bathroom and did have them in the kitchen (have recently had a kitchen extension so ripped it all out) but our house is period and was last decorated in the 70s. We will definitely be taking ours out but our whole house needs renovating!

The wooden ceilings are just in the extension. I think they are kind of cool but you need to get rid of the oranging varnish.

But that's the least of it. I'm assuming you are looking for a family home since you are looking at a 4 bed so I'd be concerned that extension has eaten into the garden and I'd also want to check if the garden has secure boundaries if you have small children. Personally while I think the layout upstairs is fine (2 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms is good and this is a more practical layout than 101 en suites) the balance is wrong downstairs. As a PP said you'll need an internal (spiral?) staircase to the current games room and the small kitchen is dated. But I wouldn't want to turn the current dining room into a kitchen diner because of the stairs to the living room, you basically end up with one large living space which people love with toddlers but as kids get older doors between living spaces are important. It might make more sense to turn the games room into a kitchen diner (depends how you work out access though), current kitchen to utility since it has garden access (and moving the door back to the hallway) and knock together the current utility and study to make a bigger study. Then you need to think about how you separate the function of the current dining room and living room with those connecting stairs if they are both living spaces and you want the flow through the house to work. I'm not sure, it probably needs an architect to look at it and it depends how your family works as well.

I feel like this house has got a lot of potential. I like the different ceiling heights and split levels.
Think it adds a lot of interest.
Could look super cool in scandai/mid century modern vibe

Get back to timber floors and rugs.

I'd assume in a house of this period there might well be concrete under the carpets, not wooden floorboards.

I like the house and room sizes. Needs updating as it is very bland. Those ceilings remind me of Scandinavia and I would try and keep them as they are. I would go for a modern skandi style. Lots of white and neutrals, natural textures, huge log burner, candles, no clutter etc.

Houses of this age are highly unlikely to have timber floors but I would put them in. At no stage in the 70s would you fave found mid century modern in house design - long gone by then! My friends lived in houses like this built in the 60s and 70s on bog standard developments and I can assure you the chalet look wasn’t installed by builders! Wag too expensive. This has been installed, somewhere bizarrely, in the extension.

You could make it work. The extension is ugly and doesn’t visually enhance the house from the kerb but it could be improved. It depends on price and how much work you are prepared to do. Lots would need to be done for me to be happy with it. But whether it’s worth it I don’t know.

Plaster was very hard to buy at times in the 70s, so a solution was wood - panels for walls and also on ceilings. Why not paint it white first and see if you like it ? If not remove and plaster.

Not a modern house fan but that's quite nice! I like the split level.

The ceilings aren't the problem, it's the combo with the pink carpet. I think they're cool if you go with a retro 70's vibe

I like it. It’s a nice area to live as well. Makes me feel homesick!

We had wooden ceilings in our house. We had them covered with plaster board and then skimmed. The difference was amazing so much !ighter.

@Cactusowl

The ceilings look really oppressive to me but a coat of white paint would vastly improve them. The house looks a good size.

Yep, white paint will help. My parents had the wooden ceiling in the kitchen of their new house, it actually looks quite nice now it's been painted.

They feel very Scandinavian, as does the house actually. I’m Swedish and I like it. But in Sweden a lot of wooden ceilings have been painted white over the decades - we are fundamentally light worshippers. ;) You have to cover every knothole in the wood with a blocking goop first and then paint, or you risk something (let’s call it wood juice) leaking from the knotholes and discolouring the paint. This I’ve learnt off the telly watching many many home decorating programmes where “exploded sauna” cottages get a makeover.

I'm also not a modern house fan but I quite like that one. Not keen on the furnishings, but presumably you won't have to live with them.

As somebody else suggested, I'd live with the ceilings for a year then if I didn't like them, paint them (white probably) or plaster over.

@banivani

They feel very Scandinavian, as does the house actually. I’m Swedish and I like it. But in Sweden a lot of wooden ceilings have been painted white over the decades - we are fundamentally light worshippers. ;) You have to cover every knothole in the wood with a blocking goop first and then paint, or you risk something (let’s call it wood juice) leaking from the knotholes and discolouring the paint. This I’ve learnt off the telly watching many many home decorating programmes where “exploded sauna” cottages get a makeover.

What? Wood leaks juice ?

Not fussed from the outside but I'm a sucker for 70s style and a renovation project! Reminds me of this house now off the market that I fell in love with

Beaks Hill Road, Kings Norton, Birmingham
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70937205.html

[quote showmethegin]Not fussed from the outside but I'm a sucker for 70s style and a renovation project! Reminds me of this house now off the market that I fell in love with

Beaks Hill Road, Kings Norton, Birmingham
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70937205.html[/quote]
I dream of getting my hands on a house like that. I have a whole vision in my head of how I would decorate it. I love ugly 70s houses.

Do not remove the wooden ceilings, they are fashionable again!
The interior can easily have a sleek, modern feel with a mid-century vibe if you get rid of the carpets and boring furniture.

This is basically my dream house, I love the ceilings. But it's very much a look you need to run with, if you don't like them then I'd remove rather than trying to paint.

Why would someone buying a house have the vendors furniture? That goes with the vendor surely? The extension is surely newer than the house. Very few shortages of anything. It needs a refurb all over but it’s obviously down to what you like.

I hate the ceilings.

I love that it has two bathrooms for all and not one plus an en-suite.

It is a lot of house for the money, given how great transport links are in Reading.

Just paint them white. Problem solved.

As others have said, this is a classic 1970s house, so you could choose to embrace that, do your research and buy in the bright swirly fabrics, or you could just appreciate the space, high ceiling and big windows and decorate however you want.

It's a nice house.