What do you loathe?

[JunoJunebug]

What type of home would you NEVER want to live in? Why?
For context. I love so many styles of houses I don’t know how to narrow my search.

I saved hard for my house too even though it's a new build.

I'm not bothered that you don't like them, we all like different things but your list reads like you have something better because you saved harder!

I would hate a massive manicured garden.

I purposely chose a small garden. I don't hate gardening I just don't have time and then it looks shit.

I also know I like either a newer house or a well renovated older house. I'm not into renovating and my 1970s ex council
House was crap!

I like decorating I don't want to replaster first!

Would never want a flat or terrace or to live in a town / city. Lived in village semi's most of my life and while a couple were fine (no noise transfer) one was awful so it is now detached for me.
No driveway & garage is a deal-breaker, all cars off the road at all times and available space for visitors.
A large established garden is lovely but such hard work as you get older so a more compact one is now the order of the day.

The much maligned newbuild is our final pitstop.
Solid construction so you can't hear people in other parts of the house. Large airy rooms with high ceilings, his & hers bathrooms, dedicated spare room for visitors, hobby room & study (his & hers again!), garage/workshop/shed (for him), plenty of private off-road parking, not overlooked at the front, relatively private garden (which after a couple of years growth will start to become a private haven) and of course the fact it is warm & quiet.

We all have dreams of where we would like to live but sometimes reality kicks in and we have to compromise. That said, sometimes the compromise isn't as bad as you thought it might be.

I really dislike pretty much anything built in the 30s, and anything “arts and crafts.”

Also dark beams, low ceilings, and rendered exteriors.

Anything leasehold

I really dislike:

• small windows

• no gardens

• wooden beams

• low ceilings

• square rooms

• 1960s/1970s houses

It doesn’t

I will never have a galley kitchen. The kitchen is the heart of a home as far as I'm concerned and needs it's proper place in a floor plan. Happy to concede on other features for a decent kitchen.

An estate. My bil live on one and his house is so tiny I feel uncomfortable every time I'm there. His garden is a 'pizza' slice shape where 7 houses all back into the point of the pizza slice. I think it's disgusting developers can even make these on top of each other homes. No privacy whatsoever.

A terraced house. Too many people to deal with if you get bad neighbours.
A house on a main road. Done this one. Pollution and traffic noise just urgh now nice and when I had young dc was always worried when getting them into the the car they'd run off onto the road

Not a fan of big open plan kitchen/diner/lounge spaces.
It feels like there's nowhere to go and you have to keep it tidy all the time. That and lingering food smells over the whole area.

Shared driveways bring a lot of angst.

I'd also be wary of trees too close to the house.

A new build on a big estate.
No character.
Urban environment (could never go back now).
Not being able to see stars and hear owls at night and not being able to soak up silence and peace.
No parking.
A lack of prettiness and beauty.
Anything fake or plasticky in interiors.
A lack of history.

My dream would be a Queen Anne rectory with a nice turning circle drive. Highly unlikely though! This thread shows how different tastes and dreams are though. I live in a very old, wonky, low beamed but pretty cottage and clearly that would not suit many people on here! But I feel safe and cosy and at peace in it.

Slightly random aside but I enjoy homes magazines as am renovating at the moment and I LOATHE people referring to “witty additions” in homes. Also the term “bolthole from busy London lives” aka second home for superior people who consider themselves Very Busy and Important.

Anything grade 2 listed. My sister is about to sell hers because it’s bloody freezing, too many stairs, they can’t insulate, aren’t allowed to change to double glazed windows and can’t become more energy efficient by adding solar panels. Sounds like hell to me. I love our house which is a detached new build and wouldn’t go back now. We have all the things she doesn’t (fewer stairs though as ours is two storeys rather than four)

Any estate designed for cars and profit rather than the people who live there. I rent on such an estate and the lack of greenery plus cars everywhere is actually quite depressing. In hot weather it feels oppressive, there's no shade anywhere. The houses themselves aren't too bad, plenty of room inside, but my type have miserable tiny kitchens - echo a PP that the kitchen is the heart of the home and one of my non-negotiables when house hunting is a dining kitchen.

Otherwise I don't really care. Although low-beamed historic cottage would be a no because I'm tall!

I briefly rented a new build inbetween selling and buying and hated it. I know it wasn't a reflection on all new builds but I felt like I lived in a goldfish bowl. One way into the estate, one way out, no privacy in the garden. I could be seen at all times. I noticed many houses kept their curtains closed a lot of the time.

Yes and yes and yes!!!

It’s curious, but if it exists someone will dislike it. New build estates faring the worst

there’s a massive estate going up a couple of miles from us. 3000 houses. We drove past it a few weeks ago and although clearly lots of work going on no visible houses. We drove past it yesterday and were astounded by two things

firstly loads of visible houses. It’s amazing how quickly they have went up

secondly they have planted loads of semi mature trees. As in all over twenty foot tall. It makes it look lovely to be honest. Very leafy avenues already.

usually it’s minimal cheap arse planting, but this was something else. It must have been a requirement of the planning but it makes a huge difference.

I think mature trees should be a planning requirement of all new build estates. My aging relatives moved to one. Quite a 'posh' development but nothing green over 3 feet tall and any significant leaf canopy above head height unlikely for another 20 years. Brick and tarmac and paving as far as the eye could see. As a PP pointed out it was a heat island in hot weather. And a flood spot in wet weather when the run off from all the hard surfaces overwhelmed the drains.
The house was detached, attractive, comfortable, well insulated, low maintenance, convenient for the shops. At their age they thought this was their last move and it would see them out. But the lack of greenery, the sense of being closely overlooked and the one road in, one road out of the estate meant they felt kind of kettled. It really began to affect their mental health. They lasted 2 years and sold up to move to a similar sized house in a non estate setting nearby with trees and space to breathe.

Thatch on a house or low ceilings with lots of beams

You can buy the lovliest house but can still end up with crap neighbours

From experience I wouldn't have a bathroom without a window and a house without enough parking. Could work around anything else.

I’m not a fan of new builds, actually nothing later than 1930s. I’d also never buy a period property with low ceilings and beams as we’re a very tall family. Our last house was a Victorian terrace over 4 floors with the washing machine in the cellar and our bedroom on the top floor. There was many a time I’d go to load the washing and remember I needed something else from 3 floors up so wouldn’t choose a house with more than 2 floors either.

I can get on board with either Victorian/Edwardian period terraces, or new builds, but I never want to live in a 1930s/50s semi again. The kind with bay windows and mock Tudor black and white gables. I grew up in one, and I lived in one and lost a fortune on it selling it out to my ex, and they make my heart sink into the ground. Just so lacking in any kind of soul or character.

I really really hate big, smooth, pale coloured floor tiles anywhere at all, but especially in living/dining rooms. Slate or terracotta tiles are fine because they have warmth and life, but those big pale ones are for shopping malls and airports, not homes. Not at all keen on the ultra-modern style of kitchen that looks like a shiny grey and white laboratory either, I much prefer a shaker or industrial style.

I agree with you and it is far too rare that it occurs. For all the cost of doing it in the big scheme of things. On the entrance to the estate I could see ten newly planted semi mature trees, five either side, all well over 20 foot andthere was loads more throughout.

the very large detached houses were also at the front of the estate, giving it a much more expensive feel as you drove past.

I was actually quite impressed by it. Compare it to another new build estate less than a mile away which is all just new brick, little green, lots of tarmac, crammed in houses immediately aapparent, and it was a very different animal in appearance. Ultimately the same, but the aesthetics of fitting in with the local surroundings had been managed better.

which is interesting because the not so nice typical new build estate was agreed by local district council planning. The nice leafy one agreed by homes England.

I’ve lived in all sorts - flats in a block, maisonettes, terraced Victorian house, garden/no garden - and currently live in an Edwardian semi.

All have their joys and their downsides.

I’m not madly keen on new builds, but they’re not a hard pass. I’d still consider one if the location and size were right.

No to:

• cutesy little cottages. We are all six footers in my family. Low ceilings and poky little rooms don’t work.
• Ground floor flats. I don’t want to sleep on the ground floor
• town houses. Don’t like the weird layouts.
• Suburban housing estates of any kind. Including posh ones. Hate that cul-de-sac, uniform houses vibe.

I hate houses which are asymmetrical, especially with a roof high up at one side and down at t'other in an effort to look modern - it's hideous.

Very small high windows so no view out of the garden.

A front door which is not at the front but at the side - or straight out onto the pavement.

White plastic front door.

Bi-fold doors, Juliet balconies.

Asymmetric windows, frames obviously plastic.

Meters at the front.

Very low fences at back affording no privacy.

Communal front gardens with garage area.
Black kitchen, black worktops, sleek cupboard fronts, metal handles.

Marble or parquet floors

Absence of bath, hall, storage, mantelpiece, porch or at least a canopy.

Cheap conservatory which looks like a greenhouse - no windowsills.

Please, please give me a kitchen/diner worthy of the name.