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Original poster

To feel uncomfortable about comments on our bungalow...

155 replies

boogieboogie · 06/10/2022 15:11

So we moved into a detached bungalow
2 years ago. I love living here, our road is wide and we have a field behind us in a semi-rural area.
It's 3 bed with an en-suite off our bedroom and a large living room.
DH and I are both 35 and DD is 3 - what's upset me on a number of occasions is comments from people such as
"Why have you gone for a bungalow!?"
"Isnt that for retired old people?"
"That's a funny choice for a house"
And many more...

I had no idea until we bought the house people perceived bungalows in such a way, to me it's just a detached house - anyone else out there in the same boat?

OP posts:
lobsterkiller · 07/10/2022 06:47

I was born in the bungalow my parents still live in, my brother and sister also live in a bungalow. They're great houses for long term homes.

People are being rude about your home, none of their business your choice of home.

Sweetheartyparty12 · 07/10/2022 07:18

I live in a bungalow and its been great so far. We have lived here since my DD was born and its been perfect for night feeds and the toddler years. Now she is 5 years old, she happily plays in her room while we are in the living room just in earshot.
The only issue is that its a bit noisier if someone in the house works shifts. If you don"t then its an ideal set up for kids.

Original poster
boogieboogie · 07/10/2022 08:55

So I have to say I don't feel selfish for buying our bungalow because it was on the market for over a year and no one snapped it up before us. We also got it cheap, 40k below the original asking price and DH has had to do a lot of work to it, not structurally, but it really needed a new bathroom and flooring ripped up.
So to me it wasn't a house that was perfect for an older person and we were taking it away from someone who needed it.
We bought it so that we would never have to move again, and therefore never have to give the govt stamp duty ever again!

Lovely to hear from those in a simile property of the same age!

OP posts:
Harridan1981 · 07/10/2022 10:47

Ah we loved living in a bungalow. Generally bigger plots, easy with kids etc/ Win Win

Blondeshavemorefun · 07/10/2022 11:56

Lovesacake · 06/10/2022 15:37

Thing that puts me off bungalows is I like sleeping with my bedroom window open but on the ground floor I’d worry about intruders…what do all you bungalow dwellers do in a heatwave?

This

on holiday we rent a ground floor apartment and the have bars on outside of windows

not sure I would want that but equally wouldn’t sleep with windows open so ………..

but

tho as I have ankle problems and dh has knee issues no stairs would be fab

Huntswomanonthemove · 07/10/2022 11:58

I grew up in a bungalow. It was just home to me. People are weird making comments.

DashboardConfessional · 07/10/2022 13:55

I can understand two stories being desirable when you have minimal land and need to squeeze on as much house as possible, but if land isn't an issue, I can't comprehend why you'd build multi- over single story.

In the UK people search by bedrooms. If you are a developer and buy a plot of land, you will get more money for a 4 bed 2 storey detached than a 2 or 3 bed bungalow. If you have the plot space for a 4 bed bungalow you can still stick 2 bedrooms upstairs and make it a 6 bed.

If you self build, obviously people can do what they want. But in a small village near me, every 1970s bungalow gets knocked down and replaced with a 5 bed detached, kitchen/lounge/diner and bifolds. It's very boring.

KirstenBlest · 07/10/2022 14:27

People are just weird. I know some people who can't cope with me living in a house, and even they can tell I live in a house, they still say 'your flat'.

JaninaDuszejko · 07/10/2022 14:52

I grew up in rural Scotland, where the only two storey houses were manses (built to a standard plan across the country). Why if there is plenty of land would you build a two storey house? An L shaped house with one wing for living in and one wing for bedrooms is perfect (I live in a 3 storey house now I'm in a town).

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 07/10/2022 16:25

my elderly parents (late 80s at the time) made a conscious decision to move to a three storey terrace home ... lovely location, everyone assumed they should be sensible and move to a bungalow... they manage the stairs perfectly well and it keeps them active Grin.

Absolutely 100% their choice, of course; but I would be very hesitant myself if I were their age, as it's deliberately introducing a likely problem before too long. They may be fit and healthy now, but things can change quickly once you're into your 90s.

antelopevalley · 07/10/2022 16:27

Most elderly people live in houses with stairs in the UK.
Bungalows are generally more expensive.

DashboardConfessional · 07/10/2022 16:29

antelopevalley · 07/10/2022 16:27

Most elderly people live in houses with stairs in the UK.
Bungalows are generally more expensive.

Yes, both my grandparents ended their days in 2 bed 2 storey terraces.

Radiatorvalves · 07/10/2022 17:37

We’ve had several people - especially MIL and SIL - commenting on the number of stairs in our house. You can’t win!

BlueMongoose · 07/10/2022 20:20

ChelseaRobertsofMalibu · 06/10/2022 18:41

As someone who is desperate for a (generally quite rare) bungalow for disability reasons, I can’t say I wholeheartedly 'agree' with perfectly able-bodied people buying them, but I certainly wouldn't ever hold it against anyone. They're up for sale for anyone to buy

I think what others are getting at is that most people go for houses with an upstairs as going up to the first floor in a house can make it feel bigger. It's easier to disappear upstairs and escape too!

You actually lose a lot of space for stairs, so it does make sense to have everything one one level. Ours is a mostly-bungalow, people think it's huge because they forget it doesn't have the same area upstairs...

HappyPeach · 07/10/2022 20:27

Housebuyingfamily · 06/10/2022 15:23

They are typically for elderly people who have difficulty using the stairs.

They're not 'for' elderly people, but some elderly people see an advantage in them being all on one level. OP I'd love a bungalow. They usually have good proportions & a great plot size. Ignore twerps making poor comments.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 07/10/2022 22:49

Most elderly people live in houses with stairs in the UK.
Bungalows are generally more expensive.

I'm guessing that a lot of elderly people end up effectively living in bungalows - i.e. using the ground floor all day and only sleeping upstairs. Some quite probably end up moving their bed downstairs and then never going upstairs at all.

Whereas, with a bungalow, any spare bedrooms could be used for whatever purpose as regular additional daily living space.

antelopevalley · 07/10/2022 23:03

Bungalows for every elderly person would be brilliant. But it is not possible. Where I live most bungalows when they come up for sale are bought by developers and turned into houses.

Ohnonevermind · 08/10/2022 08:35

We’re in ireland in the country. It’s much harder to get planning for a two story house outside towns, so the majority of houses are bungalow or dormer bungalows

We’ve a dormer bungalow (rooms in the attic) - but we’ve a gym, cinema room and library upstairs rather than bedrooms. It makes it feel really preteen/ teenage friendly as when they’ve friends over they disappear upstairs 🤣. It’s got a concrete first floor so really quiet too.

I’ve patio doors from my bedroom into the garden, and it’s very safe to open as we’re in the countryside. We don’t even lock the doors at night

We’ve galleried ceilings in parts with 12 foot high ceilings so ordered a 9 foot Christmas trees happy days

JaninaDuszejko · 08/10/2022 09:05

@Ohnonevermind I want to live in your house! DBro and SIL have done similar with their (Scottish) farmhouse, the attic rooms are my teenage nephews' space.

user1471538283 · 08/10/2022 09:15

I'm looking for a bungalow!

I was raised in apartments and bungalows. I love a bungalow!

Ohnonevermind · 08/10/2022 09:26

We just moved in during the summer hence the Christmas tree shopping

Ohnonevermind · 08/10/2022 09:29

I grew up in a two story house in the city , my parents and their friends are converting living spaces into downstairs bedrooms and putting in downstairs full bathrooms and stair lifts

CrotchetyQuaver · 08/10/2022 09:38

M

HairyMcLarie · 08/10/2022 09:41

deeperthanallroses · 07/10/2022 06:21

This is so weird. Here in australia we call them houses and many people including us with our young family live in them. People renovate to add on second stories to add more space while keeping the garden for playing. But if you’re in the country with large blocks why would you build two storey when you can just have a large one storey house (‘bungalow’ apparently) and still have lots of garden? I’m not going to add an upstairs until my dc can clean up after themselves, because one level is very convenient.

Yes! In NZ most people have single storey houses. We tend to have bigger plots though. All detached and we are obsessed with 'indoor/outdoor flow' from bedrooms and kitchens etc.
Alll 3 of my previous homes in NZ would be called a bungalow in the Uk and no one's buying them with an eye on being old and infirm! They just make more sense!
Also you get round the open window thing by having these louvered sliders on the side of each bifold door

To feel uncomfortable about comments on our bungalow...
CrotchetyQuaver · 08/10/2022 09:46

Moved to our bungalow 23 years ago with young DC, it's nice to know we can stay here as long as we want to. Really only chose it at the time as it ticked the boxes, I had wanted a house. Having been through the problems that can come with elderly parents and their house just wasn't suitable to adapt to downstairs living (they really should have prepared for that, by putting in a downstairs accessible bathroom then would have saved thousands on care home fees).