Older houses - how much has your been 'messed with'?

[BarkingUpTheWrongRoseBush]

Ours is 120 years old and comparatively untouched. A small bedroom was turned sypmpathetically into an ensuite.

We've just taken out conservatory that was added in the 80s and are putting an extension on the back instead - putting in a new back door - and have knocked down the original detached washouse and loo. Knocked through to dining room and reinstated a fireplace.

I wonder if people will look back and think we were vandals.

Houses we looked at when buying - some were unrecognisable from their original footprints - with weird additions and unneccesary walls.

Ours is from the 1840's and is almost unrecognisable from the original. That said, it was 'upgraded' by the previous owner - large extension, underfloor heating throughout, mullioned windows and leaded lights, new raised patio area at the front etc.

If you didn't know what it looked like before it would t necessarily look out of place, because it still looks 'traditional' (just a higher class of traditional than it started out).

The planners did quite well - we have some of the original plans he submitted and didn't get accepted - which would have been much less reasonable.

Mine was originally two tiny cottages. The front room of one has been turned into a hall, stairs and a downstairs loo. It works well.

The problems started with the last owner who rewired and replumbed without any training. It was lethal. And built a garage without any bricklaying knowledge.

So far I've had it rewired, all the doors and windows replaced, the kitchen replaced, the roof insulated. Repointed the foundations which they had filled with bathroom sealant
I've done it all as sensitively as I can. At least now it is warm, dry, safe and secure.

Ours is a Victorian property original doors and one original fireplace left but the others have been removed and replica ones (which I guess they thought looks fancier) we’re out in.

All the original floorboards are gone too which is a shame

Beautiful original covering, dado rials and seeing roses all left

Our non-listed, detached cottage was built 400+ years ago. It used to be a small mill but was converted to a residence during the Victorian era. At that point lots of the original character was lost. Until 1999 it was owned by the mansion on who's land it stood and was lived in by estate workers.

Apart from occasional maintenance I don't think much was done back then with any thought for the fabric of the building as the (Victorian) front door for example had so many layers of paint it was untrue! At the front the lovely old windows were replaced by ugly, single glazed 1960s type. Also, at some stage, the original stone roof was removed, sold and replaced with slates....grrr! After the cottage was sold off in 1999, the new owner did loads of unsympathetic stuff - although they did finally add indoor facilities 😉 - such as not using lime mortar for repairs and plasterboarding over everything.

The next owners (2006-2017) only lived there for about three years before letting it out (then getting repossessed), so didn't really care for/understand what an old building needs. They added inappropriate but easily removed stuff such as glass blocks for borrowed light and polycarbonate roofing on an extension, not forgetting very mundane bathroom/kitchen fittings.

Considering it was formerly a mill (wheel etc long gone, but dried out leat and some evidence of its history remaining in the undercroft beneath the cottage), when we purchased it there was no water supply! Previously for some years this had come from a nearby farmer's well but a dispute had resulted in the supply being cut off. We installed a borehole on our own land.

Some old quarry tiled floors and a couple of Victorian fireplaces remain and we've added other reclaimed examples of the latter. We're also gradually putting some character back in, in the form of hand-painted in-frame kitchen, panelled walls, timber (DG) casement windows and period style bathroom fittings. Also using period-appropriate colours/wallpapers to decorate whilst giving the place an eclectic twist 😉 Eventually the outside will be repointed in lime. We're also creating a proper cottage style garden which it seems to have never really had.

Although three-storey and obviously a former mill if you know what you're looking at, very little evidence of its earliest history remains and it would be impossible to reinstate that aspect going forward.

Mine is an 1820’s farmhouse. Interestingly there is an exact copy of it on the other side of town that was built a the same time - two brothers got bits of land as an inheritance and just decided to get houses built to the same plan. The other house has been massively extended - all the old outhouses are granny flats or separately sectioned off cottages. My house, on the other hand, has had most of the gardens sold off in various packets which have had houses built on but all the old outhouses and lean-to buildings are still there (and mostly still full of absolutely lethal Victorian farm equipment).

We bought a 1851 cottage that hadn’t really been touched. No indoor toilet, original doors and windows.

We had to replace the front and back doors as they were rotten which was a shame as the front one was heavy oak. We kept all the heavily painted, pine, latch doors but stripped and waxed them all. We had to remove the Victorian long bath as we fancied having an inside toilet and there wasn’t room for both. A friend 6’3” had it for his self build.
We removed the old sink to the garden and initially had a stainless steel 2 1/2 bowl sink. One for animals- horse, cat and rabbit bowls etc.
Three years ago we put our second kitchen in and replaced the Belfast sink and Shaker style units with an Everhot range. Initially we kept the Rayburn and knocked down a wall and replaced the one unit/ sink unit with cherry wood units and shelves.
We took out the horrible brown tiled 1930’s fireplace and found an inglenook which we put a beautiful wood burner in. We had to replace it after 25 years and have a Charnwood 16 country. More modern but more efficient too.
About 8 years ago we replaced the windows out of necessity but had replica sash, small panes but doubled glazed made by a brilliant young joiner.

We have some inherited pine and oak furniture and I bought some Victorian pine chest of drawers and bedding boxes. I have an 1880’s wrought iron and brass bed. So it is a mixture but sympathetic to the time I hope.
I love old houses and two of our children have bought an 1851 terraced cottage, an 1800’s cottage and a 1900 terraced house which has lovely original coving. The other two are in rented.

1897 farm workers cottage.
Modernised by previous owner in the 1970’s therefore all but one fireplace bricked up and the ceilings artexed and pine doors veneered over.
A Door and window bricked up to accommodate integral garage and extension .you can still see the outlines.
When we had our kitchen replaced, it was interesting to see some sort of curved brickwork in what would have been an outhouse ? The fitter said he thought it might have been where an old copper stood and they had the same in the adjoining cottage.

Ours is 1930s. There are 2 rooms (the bathroom and one of the bedrooms) that are still used for their original purpose. The rest has all been moved around/extended. The old living room and kitchen are now bedrooms; one original bedroom is now the dining room; new living room, kitchen and conservatory were added at some point.
The interior is completely unrecognisable as 1930s, which is a bit of a shame.

Ours was built about 1880 and we have a photo of the front from about 100 years ago. We have replaced the cheap uPVC windows and front door from the previous owners with modern sash windows in white and a black composite door both in the same style as the original. Inside the previous owners didn't leave much in the way of original features but we have put in a traditional fireplace and traditional style woodburner in the two reception rooms.

1950's semi.

We've ripped it apart to put the old back in. I hate how people strip old houses and take the old doors etc out.

If you want a modern look, buy a modern house!

I could actually cry when I look at my family childhood home on right move. They ripped out the original oak staircase and put in a crap B&Q one and ripped out all the old Edwardian doors. The beautiful garden at the back has all been ripped out and fake grass put in and the stunning hallway (original parquet) all ripped out and crap vinyl put in.

Some people shouldn't do interior decoration !!

1870s house. All period features gone, I think only the (too steep) stairs are original. Weird narrow covered walkway on the side with a plastic porch for the entrance hall. All ground floors ripped out and concreted. Ply doors with the sort of aluminium doorknobs you get in offices. Still some polystyrene ceiling tiles although we have removed the fake dropped ceilings. And extended at the back so very long and thin. Nice big rooms at the front though.

We have just moved into a Victorian end terrace. The downstairs bathroom and kitchen were knocked through to make a huge modern kitchen with utility and downstairs loo. There is an extension upstairs with a family bathroom and ensuite. However, the living room and dining room at the back still have the original layout and character, with floorboards, fireplace and old beams, same with the bedrooms and their sloping ceilings. I wouldn't have had the kitchen quite so trendy, but I think we have the best of both. The garden has an original Victorian wall, which is lovely.

I'm loving some of the George Clarke restoration projects where owners are preserving barely standing barns with glass and steel. It looks impressive but I do think we're a bit obsessed with preserving stuff that shouldn't even still be standing.

I live in a 1780s Weaver's Cottage. Its never going to represent its original purpose all these years later, it's a comfortable home which is sympathetic to its history. It's got the original outside staircase to the third floor (no access though) original fire places, curved window frames, oddly shaped chimney breasts, some bare brick walls, lots of beams with allsorts or unexplainable holes in. And, lots of damp.

All the updating has nothing to do with me as as I've only lived in it for a year. I bought it for its character and there's nothing I want to change.

Our house is medieval so has had many changes over 100's of years! It has different style fireplaces from different periods. I love old houses.