What property features would you never have again?

[AnxiousRose]

What features from your current or previous property would you avoid if you were househunting again?

For me, it is three storeys. I had this in my last house and did not expect to dislike it as much as I did. My bedroom was on the top floor and I hated all the stairs especially with young kids. Three storeys usually means the downstairs space is small for the number of bedrooms.

I've just moved into a three story house and love it. It feels so cosy and I love feeling I can hide so much junk away on another floor and that feeling of forgetting about things as they're on a completely different level. Stops me getting bored also, different views from different levels. I've only got one DD though. I keep thinking if I had another, where would everyone sleep so that I'd be on the same level as all children.

LPG central heating

Costs a bloody fortune, especially in an old granite house where the ambient temperature is approximately 9 degrees.

Bloody Cornwall. People think it's warm. It isn't.

I would never choose a small Master bedroom where you have to have the bed against one wall or only have a tiny gap so you have to sidle up to bed.

Large bedrooms, with room for a chair and a dressing table are a luxury I am willing to pay a lot extra for. (Well, for adults/older teens at least, little kids don’t need huge ones).

We also use a box room as a dressing room for me, only DH’s stuff is in the main bedroom. I’d strongly resist a setup that needed both our wardrobes to be in the bedroom.

My ensuite has a window, both an opening transom and a "normal" opening window. If i was someone who was building and didn't want an ensuite loo, I'd put in an ensuite shower or bath and handbasin and allow space for a loo to be added if the next owner wanted it.

I hated having a downstairs bathroom.
Also hate when there's one shower room for the whole family, they always feel grotty and cramped and I like the option of having a bath.
Tiny kitchens- my current one is small but the previous one you couldn't walk through whilst I was cooking unless I came out as it was so narrow.
Also I problem we didn't anticipate with our current house is that there was previously an alleyway between the houses which has now been incorporated into our house so we have a hallway/utility room. It's useful as we have our dishwasher, washing machine and fridge in there, but it is a total heatsink and we have to keep the doors to it closed all winter otherwise it just sucks all the warmth out of the entire house. I would maybe avoid that in future.

We've discussed it with our council they won't change it they say a child's bed can be put in there

We ummed and ahhed over this…..in the end we went for LVT right thru hall, family room , kitchen and utility…..flows lovely ….expensive but never regretted

You clearly haven't been in many houses then! I've seen a few without windows, but definitely in the minority. We have 2 ensuites and both have windows.

I agree but we've gone through the rigmarole with the council, they say it's a 3 bed house and a child's bed can be put in there.

Conservatory. I barely use ours. It’s either too hot or freezing cold.

Ours is a lovely big rented stone Victorian semi - but my god I never want to see thick cream proper tiles in a hall or kitchen ever again - impossible to keep clean and show every speck

@Threewheeler1 my FIL at 85 has just bought a 3 bed bungalow ( well in process of ) but one thing he wanted was no front facing bedrooms.

I think en suites aren't guaranteed to add value/saleability. In my price bracket an en-suite usually means a lack of useful space in a bedroom. At a push, one attached to the guest bedroom for their privacy would be ok, but inevitably if there is an en suite it will be attached to the master. Plus who wants all that extra cleaning if you work full time?

I would never have a p-shaped bath again. Takes way too long to fill.

Open plan downstairs. Need separation from cooking area/washing machine noise.

Stairs in the lounge, especially if open tread. Always a pain keeping heat in. Also if someone is working from home/ill when you have visitors it's nice to be able to sneak into the kitchen without having to see visitors. (Also goes for open plan)

I have mature camellias and magnolia trees at the front of the house. They need pruning every 3-4 months to stop them growing so much that they prevent the sun getting to our lounge room.

My house is in a 1/4 acre block. I seriously take my hat off to you living in a 2 acres property with a constant growing season.

See image - loads of houses round here have a setup like this with an ensuite - it's off the main bedroom but not just carved off with a stud wall, it's a proper separate room with a window. Took me about 30 seconds to find one on rightmove! It's literally no different to being in the bathroom , I have no idea why people would object to a setup like this.

@Another2Cats

Open plan, especially dining room and living room, as you’re all living in one room. Dining room and kitchen , with separate lounge isn’t so bad.

We are looking at buying a 5 storey period property - yikes, this thread is giving me pause for thought!

I'd never have ceramic or terracotta floor in kitchen again - everything that you drop breaks and leaves shards that end up in your bare feet, also cold on said bare feet. Storage solutions for corner kitchen cupboards - don't bother, everything just falls off every time you open the cupboard.

Shared driveway/garage.

We have quite a large/long front garden so will be converting part of it to be an additional drive at the end of next year. Sad that we’ll have to cut down some trees, but parking is abysmal here.

Our shared drive neighbours are fine, but its only long enough for one car each and we have two, and when neighbor is home theres no way to open the car door wide enough to fit in a car seat.

other neighbours with much longer drives than ours insist on parking on the road outside their front door/garden gate?!?, meaning we can’t park infront of our house either as the street is too small. Probably going to start parking infront of our house too when baby arrives, which will ruffle some feathers as it seems they love to ‘claim’ spots on this street.

@BrerRabbit90

Because most people would put the bed where I have marked in blue and the proximity of one's head to the loo is disconcerting.

We had a house with garage that occupied the entire width of the plot, no way to get anything to back garden except through the garage and kitchen.
Always kept a path at least wide enough for a barrow.

Shared drive; bow window; "fake" chimney breast/no proper fire place; "open" porch surely a porch has a door? ; small bathroom without a shower.

It bothers me when I wake up in the morning needing the toilet, but it's too cold to think about going downstairs (duplex flat).

Mine is like that.
Our ensuite is bigger than the family bathroom.

Just scroll on if you don't find my comment useful.

Could you put a woodburner in?