Hot Tubs / sex ponds, like large enclosed trampolines, they went from aspirational middle-class must-have to everywhere, to about as desirable as a discarded shopping trolley next to a rusty old banger on bricks on the front lawn in a few short years.
Best £500 I spent this side of Covid-19. But it’s inflatable so I could put it away / move it on if I could be arsed. And I’m a total snob.
I try to write Tongue in Cheek with these sorts of things, but I know a couple of who bought who are even more snobby than you and I, the honeymoon period ended after a few months, then it became a faf to maintain (I know, I know, it's dead easy really) and eventually they could never use it when they mood took them because they hadn't bothered with the maintenance. Once they were being offered for £100 in B&M Bargains and being fought over by rough people due to lack of supply, they wanted rid under cover of darkness, lest their neighbours saw they'd ever had one.
No big deal with the grey paint going out of fashion, an afternoon and £20 and it can be changed.
Alunimium, but brown and embossed (so it almost looks like wood) looks really nice and more natural.
I don't get the craze with gray things, I don't want to feel like I'm sat in some sort of dystopian re-education facility.
Looking at houses recently - WTF are people doing fitting those old fasioned free standing bath tubs with no shower? That would be comming straight out!
Watching too many Caburys flake adverts, methinks.
Muted colours are good because it's the accessories that stand out rather than the walls them selves.
I couldn't stand all the flowery wall paper and dado rails back in the 90's. ****ing awful, I'd rather have nice pictures that stand out.
🤮
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The door that Kayak posted is aesthetically challenging now, never mind not aging well.
Again it's personal taste but soffit downlighters look shit now.
I think grey frames will look dated, white will be more common again.
I think grey frames will look dated, white will be more common again.
I'd be quite happy if I never saw white or rosewood again.
Unless your actually a developer turning houses over for a profit rather than for a home.
i used a location house for a shoot once, it had just been finished and not yet sold though i think the developer was thinking of living there. it was right on the river a stones throw from Hampton Court Palace. it was white. i mean everything white. Floor to ceiling and all furnishings, lamps, sofas, chairs, tables etc. apart from the TV and the remote and the hob. middle of summer and you had to wear sunnies indoors or get a headache.
Horrible place, and i’m guessing 4-5 million?
at least if it was grey you could actually see tones in the space and imagine living there with your added colour and style.
it’s white i have a problem with rather than grey.
and as for windows? you can now get UPVC spray painted whatever colour you like in situ, friends had some painted grey when they moved into a new (to them) victorian house, looked way better than the white but obviously not as good as period correct sash windows (which were never white) but they are cold, noisy and draughty.
I don’t get the craze with gray things, I don’t want to feel like I’m sat in some sort of dystopian re-education facility.
That reminds me, almost time for my meds.
I actually like that, I’d prefer the proper headroom but in the right place it makes sense.
I was being a bit flippant actually @squirrelking, I still like them but seem to make sense with sweeping views to take in. Less so in a built up city. The price and need for building control sign off put me off...
Pokey little en-suites tacked on to pokey little bedrooms.
Gopping ‘feature wall’ wallpaper.
I had to redecorate every. single. flipping. room. in our current house as someone had gone wild. Our bedroom was last to go, it had gold and silver glitter highlights over large tulip flowers...
I will add - driveways and garages designed for three cars.
I too think the grey window thing is overdone and on many houses looks odd. At least you can paint them.
Bi-folds tick
Nicely lit tick
Hormann front door tick (about to get a garage door)
White render tick
Grey roof tiles on the want list
Thought about a bit of timber cladding
About to redo the down stiars loo with gold fittings !!
But it was a no descript 50/60 build ??
No wood burner or poncy coffee machine mind
I'm going to chuck one in, how about two storey houses?
What is the point in building small two storey houses then having random empty space in a loft. Land is a premium, why not make better use of the land buy building higher houses with three floors as standard?
poncy coffee machine
There's a family on Googlebox, they've got one of those little white and plastic chrome pod machines on display in their living room.
I find it challenging to look at, and I can't stop seeing it whenever they're on...
I'm not a snob
I'm not a snob
I'm not a snob
I'm not a snob
I'm not a snob
I'm not a snob
I'm not a snob
I'm not a snob
I'm not a snob
I’m going to chuck one in, how about two storey houses?
What is the point in building small two storey houses then having random empty space in a loft. Land is a premium, why not make better use of the land buy building higher houses with three floors as standard?
A lot of the new builds going up by us are 3 storey, I think they call them 'townhouses', I like the idea and it, seems practical, but House Builders being House Builders they ruin it by cramming in as many as they can, meaning 5 houses in the space of 4 (or even 3). Tiny gardens even by the standard of new houses and taller buildings make it fell very claustrophobic to me.
I will add – driveways and garages designed for three cars.
Until public transport becomes fashionable that's a sensible design choice.
I was being a bit flippant actually @squirrelking, I still like them but seem to make sense with sweeping views to take in. Less so in a built up city. The price and need for building control sign off put me off…
Yeah of course, location makes the difference.
There’s a family on Googlebox, they’ve got one of those little white and plastic chrome pod machines on display in their living room.
I find it challenging to look at, and I can’t stop seeing it whenever they’re on…
You are not alone. I share your pain.
Until public transport becomes fashionable that’s a sensible design choice.
Think back to the 1970's designs. Now 40-50 years old.
Fast forward that 40-50 years. I do wonder if there will be acres of garages and parking spaces unused.
(And I really object to the Americanism of garages 'forward' of the front of the house, making the garage the dominant feature of the house).
I will add – driveways and garages designed for three cars.
Until public transport becomes fashionable that’s a sensible design choice.
Indeed currently the fight over parking spaces on the street and the lack of emergency vehicle access is the current defacto design choice.
Doesn't make it right but it's a necessary evil for the time being. The good thing is most garages are too small for cars and the drive way could be returned to garden when the time comes. As is I wouldn't buy a house without private parking.....even if I didn't currently own car. Simply because I've had that situation and it's pretty shit because everyone else around you will have 2 or 3 cars and there will be no space.
I've spent alot of time in America.....I'd have said the opposite ...Americanism of garages would be to put the drive up the side of the house and have the garage at the back. ......but lack of space here drives the garage to the front as it means the houses can be closer together and you can get more in.
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I’m adding in awful hexagonal tiles, like they always use on DIY SOS/big build.
Huge outdoor wood fired pizza ovens
I’m adding in awful hexagonal tiles, like they always use on DIY SOS/big build.
There needs to be a couple of broken away one as if it's an ongoing game of Tetris for max points.
Huge outdoor wood fired pizza ovens
Heretic!
Bifold doors in the UK.
Had them 10 years. I would seek them out in a further move. We have a sunshade and it opens up the house all summer.
I quite like that avocado bathroom. Sold.
I love our open plan house with our bifold doors and I love sitting on the decking looking in at the grey kitchen walls, and I don't care what you all think (no hot tub or led lights though).
Had them 10 years. I would seek them out in a further move. We have a sunshade and it opens up the house all summer.
If it's not too personal, do you mind saying what they cost, approximately?
I'm sure they're a LOT cheaper now then they used to be, a friend was quoted £10k-ish from a couple of places 6-8 years ago, I'm being told £3k or so for the same sort of thing now.
Outdoor LED lights
Instead of just changing a bulb when they die, you have to replace the unit, one of ours died within 2 months of moving in.
£30 a piece
LED bulb £1.50
Those uppy/downy exterior lights that make your house look like a high security prison...

Those uppy downy lights are rubbish.
Will just add.
New builds (99% off) are disgusting soulless horrors that would destroy any shred of self respect I had left and leave me a shuffling lifeless moron if I bought one.
And I live in a 1940's ex cooncil hoose so I know what I'm talking about haha.
Fake grass has to be the biggest “what were they thinking?” for me. Ugly, sterile and bad for the environment.
If it’s not too personal, do you mind saying what they cost, approximately?
Came with the house we moved into 😉 It was a significant attraction having a glass rooflight extension. I think about 5k for 4x600mm panels.
A lot of folks are saying how they love things. That's not the point of the op, if I may be so bold.
Folks used to love Avocado suites too.
How about painting everything the one colour? Walls, cabinets, ceilings, covings, floors, everything.

I quite like it to be fair and we have a fair bit of it in our house, but yeah, might become a bit avocado.

We have an avocado bathroom, I like it. Shows up the toothpaste something rotten though
I quite like it to be fair and we have a fair bit of it in our house, but yeah, might become a bit avocado.
Easy fix though.
And I live in a 1940’s ex cooncil hoose so I know what I’m talking about haha.
Yeah but the difference is your cooncil hoose was built with proper sized rooms that can actually take the described bed size PLUS furniture. Late 40s/ early 50's are pretty decent.
waterfall style taps. bloody horrible imo
Plain smooth blandly coloured surfaces.
One thing about the old 70s style crazy tiles, textured walls and swirly carpets was they're very lifeproof. Able to shrug off stains and take a beating.
With big plain smooth surfaces any wear , blemishes or marks make them look terrible and destined for the skip.
"Rustic plaster"
our house was decorated in a Moroccan style when we moved in, which essentially just meant the lounge has really shit plastering...
Oh and Burgundy wall paper, twice I've had to live with it now...
Those up and down lights are in fashion round here. Just highlights the crap brickwork.
LED lights in kitchen unit kick boards. Why you’d want the attention brought down to the floor is a mystery to me...
I was thinking of something that's just appeared on a pic up there :
Belfast sinks.
Looked novel at the time but really not that practical in my view, particularly for bathrooms.
Other one is those massive island units in kitchens, people put them in cos it's the done thing rather than whether it actually works in the space...
people put them in cos it’s the done thing rather than whether it actually works in the space…
Aye the guy at the kitchen place tried his hardest to get me to put an island in.
Moar space for units to sell innit
Fake grass has to be the biggest “what were they thinking?” for me. Ugly, sterile and bad for the environment.
This x 1000 as well. I think there are some applications where it definitely makes sense - say a small north facing back garden with kids where your alternative is muddy grass 9 months of the year.
Around our way now folk have had it down a few years the "crisp" look is starting to go and it's not aging well.
Islands are fine if your kitchen is a massive square shape, it's either an island or a huge table to take up the space, otherwise it looks daft with nothing in the middle.
My belfast sink is awesome, I couldn't care if it's unfashionable in years to come, it swallows the massive roasting trays on a sunday!.
