Things I hate on homes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You all would probably hate my house. DW and I work in the suburbs, so we have a new-built (to us in 2006) McMansion type house out in the suburbs. Commute is 20 minutes for us, but we couldn't be happier. We like our new house and the amenities. We love the fact that we could design in many features that we wanted and loved and didn't have to live with the choices some other homeowner made 100 years ago. Houses with "character" are cute, but that often means that they're small, or older and in need of some repair, or cost more per sq ft than we wanted to pay. I'm glad you all love your homes, but I also like mine. I'm not sure why there is so much vitriol here for a home you don't have to live in, but if you want to live your life with so much "hate", have at it. Fortunately, we didn't buy your house with character and you didn't buy our house, or there would have been two very unhappy families.

+1 I completely agree. I despise older home layouts, they don't make sense anymore. No walk ins (did they wear more than 1 set of clothes back then?), segmented rooms (did everyone want to be contained away from each other, did everyone have servants making food while guests dined in the dining room), Tiny bathrooms, no garage (did the horse drawn carriage not fit in one?), no insulation (was energy so cheap you could burn it at will without running up the bills), radiant heating blah (wastes tons of living spaces at the edge of each room), low ceilings (were people short back then), huge useless front yards (did everyone hang out in the front yard back then) the list can go on... I want to start a new thread "what i hate about older homes pre-1990s"

[Anonymous]

When did this thread become a battle between older and newer houses? Let's face it--you can find unappealing features on either.

[Anonymous]

I hate faux wood front doors. You can always tell the wood is fake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When did this thread become a battle between older and newer houses? Let's face it--you can find unappealing features on either.

ITA ugly can be new or old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure that most families want a two story entrance. The builders are doing less of that now because there is less demand for it. I for one do not want a MBR that dwarfs the rest of the bedrooms.

ditto. I see 2-story foyer and think that it is a waste of space and an energy suck. And it bugs me to no end when the Master bedroom is gigantic and the other bedrooms could double as closets.

It can seem like the children are an after thought...like "when you outgrow this tiny room, please leave".

No, it's that the children don't play in their bedrooms. No biggie. And I love my large master bedroom/sitting room combo.

What happens when they become teens, or god forbid, 22 year olds are living at home (gasp)? Those rooms are so tiny that no adult sized person could stay there. If I want to have my mother live with me, there are few homes wit good sized bedrooms other than the gargantuan MBR.

[Anonymous]

You want your mother living with you?

[Anonymous]

I used to hate split levels until I moved into one. And brick. And vinyl siding. Guess what? We weren't going to find a house we could afford in a neighborhood we liked around here that wasn't a rambler or split-level, and half-brick / half-vinyl.

Turns out split-levels are super functional. Who knew? And when I drive through my neighborhood these days, I think "what a nice place to live" instead of "these houses are all so ugly".

I still really hate the decorative glass plating on our front door though

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure that most families want a two story entrance. The builders are doing less of that now because there is less demand for it. I for one do not want a MBR that dwarfs the rest of the bedrooms.

ditto. I see 2-story foyer and think that it is a waste of space and an energy suck. And it bugs me to no end when the Master bedroom is gigantic and the other bedrooms could double as closets.

It can seem like the children are an after thought...like "when you outgrow this tiny room, please leave".

No, it's that the children don't play in their bedrooms. No biggie. And I love my large master bedroom/sitting room combo.

What happens when they become teens, or god forbid, 22 year olds are living at home (gasp)? Those rooms are so tiny that no adult sized person could stay there. If I want to have my mother live with me, there are few homes wit good sized bedrooms other than the gargantuan MBR.

Make an inlaw suite in the basement with kitchen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to hate split levels until I moved into one. And brick. And vinyl siding. Guess what? We weren't going to find a house we could afford in a neighborhood we liked around here that wasn't a rambler or split-level, and half-brick / half-vinyl.

Turns out split-levels are super functional. Who knew? And when I drive through my neighborhood these days, I think "what a nice place to live" instead of "these houses are all so ugly".

I still really hate the decorative glass plating on our front door though

Agree, this is the general consensus if you want to live in a good area and aren't a millionaire you will need to live in an older uglier house than a newer nice looking McMansion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I used to hate split levels until I moved into one. And brick. And vinyl siding. Guess what? We weren't going to find a house we could afford in a neighborhood we liked around here that wasn't a rambler or split-level, and half-brick / half-vinyl.

Turns out split-levels are super functional. Who knew? And when I drive through my neighborhood these days, I think "what a nice place to live" instead of "these houses are all so ugly".

I still really hate the decorative glass plating on our front door though

Agree, this is the general consensus if you want to live in a good area and aren't a millionaire you will need to live in an older uglier house than a newer nice looking McMansion.

Correction: if you want to live in a good area and aren't a millionaire you will need to live in an older house with character rather than a newer hideous looking McMansion.

I personally like mid-century architecture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure that most families want a two story entrance. The builders are doing less of that now because there is less demand for it. I for one do not want a MBR that dwarfs the rest of the bedrooms.

ditto. I see 2-story foyer and think that it is a waste of space and an energy suck. And it bugs me to no end when the Master bedroom is gigantic and the other bedrooms could double as closets.

It can seem like the children are an after thought...like "when you outgrow this tiny room, please leave".

No, it's that the children don't play in their bedrooms. No biggie. And I love my large master bedroom/sitting room combo.

What happens when they become teens, or god forbid, 22 year olds are living at home (gasp)? Those rooms are so tiny that no adult sized person could stay there. If I want to have my mother live with me, there are few homes wit good sized bedrooms other than the gargantuan MBR.

Make an inlaw suite in the basement with kitchen.

I would not put my mother in a basement to live out her last years.
I am just talking common sense, some families are OK with grandparents living in, the new (and some old) homes don't seem to have that idea in mind.
Perhaps a MBR on the upper floor and one on the first floor would be nice.

[Anonymous]

OP here. BTW, there are nice new homes out there.
In the old days, houses looked better because they used natural material which is always easier on the eye. The shortcuts that we use, we eventually pay for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
+1 I completely agree. I despise older home layouts, they don't make sense anymore. No walk ins (did they wear more than 1 set of clothes back then?), segmented rooms (did everyone want to be contained away from each other, did everyone have servants making food while guests dined in the dining room), Tiny bathrooms, no garage (did the horse drawn carriage not fit in one?), no insulation (was energy so cheap you could burn it at will without running up the bills), radiant heating blah (wastes tons of living spaces at the edge of each room), low ceilings (were people short back then), huge useless front yards (did everyone hang out in the front yard back then) the list can go on... I want to start a new thread "what i hate about older homes pre-1990s"

+2. Happy to contribute when you start the new thread.

Nothing I hate more than the squat little red houses that litter DC, Silver Spring and Arlington with their ugly additions and bump-ups.

[Anonymous]

seriously, not everyone thinks mcmansions are the end-all-be-all. when we were looking to move to a cheaper area, we were shown some of those type of houses, and I honestly did NOT like them. Even though we could have afforded one there, we actually much preferred the more mature neighbohoods with more modest sized homes.

Oddly enough, we wound up here in a neighborhood much like the ones we liked there. Even got the most wanted amenity, which was all 3 schools walking distance to our house. Wish we could have bought our house for $50-150K less, but at least here my husband has pretty good job security.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not sure that most families want a two story entrance. The builders are doing less of that now because there is less demand for it. I for one do not want a MBR that dwarfs the rest of the bedrooms.

ditto. I see 2-story foyer and think that it is a waste of space and an energy suck. And it bugs me to no end when the Master bedroom is gigantic and the other bedrooms could double as closets.

It can seem like the children are an after thought...like "when you outgrow this tiny room, please leave".

No, it's that the children don't play in their bedrooms. No biggie. And I love my large master bedroom/sitting room combo.

What happens when they become teens, or god forbid, 22 year olds are living at home (gasp)? Those rooms are so tiny that no adult sized person could stay there. If I want to have my mother live with me, there are few homes wit good sized bedrooms other than the gargantuan MBR.

This is the subliminal message I want to give. Once you are an adult, I expect you to go to college, and only come back to live with me while you are finding a job. I have no desire to make my kids so comfortable that they will never want to leave.

Gasp away.