Gransnet forums

House and home

Conservatories- Naff?

(188 Posts)
Calendargirl Thu 20-Apr-23 07:23:49

Just heard on the radio that having a conservatory is now the height of ‘naffness’, and can knock £15000 off the value of your property.

Oh dear! Well, if we ever put our house up for sale, the conservatory will have to be designated either ‘the sun room’ or ‘the garden room’.

A rose by any other name….

Calendargirl Thu 20-Apr-23 07:25:40

Or even ‘the orangery’ if we are feeling very posh.

grin

Oopsadaisy1 Thu 20-Apr-23 07:26:02

We love ours and wouldn’t be without it.

One man’s Naff is another man’s happy place.i

GrannyGravy13 Thu 20-Apr-23 07:27:00

Definitely The Orangery 🍊🍊🍊

Spinnaker Thu 20-Apr-23 07:30:11

Ours too Calendargirl 😔

We had the roof replaced a year ago and yes, it's made it much more usable as a proper room. But you know what - it'll always be the Conny and we love it.

Blondiescot Thu 20-Apr-23 07:31:49

In fairness, there are some very 'naff' conservatories out there - just as there are some very nice ones indeed. I'm thinking of the ones which look as if they've just been tacked on to the house and don't complement the existing property in any way. I'm amazed how some ever got permission in the first place. Others are a lovely space which makes me quite envious (our house is a listed building which wouldn't lend itself to a conservatory anyway).

Oopsadaisy1 Thu 20-Apr-23 07:37:30

A lot of conservatories won’t need Planning as they fall under permitted development, although ours needed Building Regulations Approval.
Doesn’t apply to Conservation areas or Listed buildings of course.

Retread Thu 20-Apr-23 07:42:11

Nowadays the trend seems to be for bifold doors on to a patio. In our house it's a lovely, sunny area. We do have a removable awning, like a sail, that is simply attached by hooks and folds up for storage.

cornergran Thu 20-Apr-23 07:45:17

I’ve declared our conservatory a protected species. I love it and as we’ve no intention of moving won’t be fussed about attitudes when our home is eventually sold.

Eshma Thu 20-Apr-23 07:48:34

Not naff, but probably not fashionable either.
It wouldn"t put me off buying neither would I offer less because of it unless it were dangerous

Grammaretto Thu 20-Apr-23 07:56:45

I am just envious!
When unsolicited calls came offering conservatories, I would delight in saying can you build one on the first floor?
I live upstairs and have to make do with my sunny greenhouse, where I have 2 cane chairs.

Greyduster Thu 20-Apr-23 08:02:23

The huge conservatory on the back of our house was one of the things that really sold it to us. We’ve always loved it. We had a solid roof put on it which made it more like a proper living space. Most of the houses here have conservatories and it doesn’t seem to stop them selling.

NanaDana Thu 20-Apr-23 08:03:19

So someone on the Radio has just claimed that Conservatories are the "height of naffness"... so it must be true, and we should all most definitely take it into serious consideration when we are pricing for either buying or selling a house. Total tosh. Who makes this stuff up? Ignore and move on.

kittylester Thu 20-Apr-23 08:22:18

Ours is upstairs grammaretto.

It connects two bits of the house and is called the glass corridor.

We love it in all weathers - sitting among roof tops in heavy rain or snow iis fabulous.

karmalady Thu 20-Apr-23 08:33:10

I love my dd`s conservatory, there are glass sliding doors between it and the living room. I did turn down a property, when I was looking, as the conservatory had no wall or door between it and the lving room. I could only imagine the winter cold and summer heat. I do love a good conservatory but as a conservatory and not a room extension

I think it is nonsense that they would take 15k off a house value.

Casdon Thu 20-Apr-23 08:36:41

That sounds fabulous kittylester, I doubt it will detract from the value of your house!
I must admit that although I like conservatories, I really don’t like those which are built out from the sitting room, because I want to be able to see my garden from the sofa, and it puts me off a house if the conservatory is in the way.

Freya5 Thu 20-Apr-23 08:41:32

NanaDana

So someone on the Radio has just claimed that Conservatories are the "height of naffness"... so it must be true, and we should all most definitely take it into serious consideration when we are pricing for either buying or selling a house. Total tosh. Who makes this stuff up? Ignore and move on.

I give you a big cheer. I haven't one, but daughter has, and I love sitting in there, rain or shine. Who listens to the, often, rubbish spouted out by radio presenters.

EkwaNimitee Thu 20-Apr-23 08:49:13

DH and I absolutely loved the conservatory in our last property and spent as much time in it as possible. Now alone in a new house, I haven't felt the need for one as I have french windows opening onto the patio and garden and have the sun flooding in all afternoon (when it's there!). I'm living on a large new estate and have noticed that not one house has put one on. On my previous estate, most were doing it..this is ranging back 20 years. They just don't seem to be fashionable now. No floods of advertising from the conservatory companies, do they still exist? I think if you have a bigger, posher property, an orangery is still considered desirable.
I don't consider a conservatory naff though.

Yammy Thu 20-Apr-23 08:53:37

My late mother's house had a Conservatory and the house proved difficult to sell. Driving passed one day we noticed that the new occupants had taken it down and made a huge patio with pots and outdoor seating. The house did look better I never went inside but gave lots of room for sitting out in the sunshine instead of a boiling hot old-fashioned conservatory with a perspex roof.
Ours is a sunroom integral to the house and has a heater for cooler days,the GC love it and even have all their meals out there and call it their corner cafe.

bikergran Thu 20-Apr-23 09:14:14

Love my little conservatory, my lounge was so tiny (new build 24 yrs ago) so we built small conservatory as we don't get sun in lounge but get it in conservatory which bring it in the lounge.

Mine is here to stay house move or not, if the new owners don't like if I ever do sell, then tuff tit*y.

Oopsadaisy1 Thu 20-Apr-23 09:17:46

Ekwanimitee most new housing estates have a clause that nothing can be added to the property for the first 5 years.

Dickens Thu 20-Apr-23 09:17:52

Calendargirl

Just heard on the radio that having a conservatory is now the height of ‘naffness’, and can knock £15000 off the value of your property.

Oh dear! Well, if we ever put our house up for sale, the conservatory will have to be designated either ‘the sun room’ or ‘the garden room’.

A rose by any other name….

I assume it's simply someone's subjective opinion rather than the result of a national poll?

I realise there's a huge variety of design in these rooms (each to their own) - but what is intrinsically 'naff' about owning a conservatory I wonder?

I cannot imagine that having one would actually knock down the price of your home - it's another space that can be utilised.

Do I have one? No - but I have a utility room (small) with a high glass roof where I stick all my plants that have grown too tall to be accommodated in the rest of the house... and visitors call it a conservatory. grin

Oopsadaisy1 Thu 20-Apr-23 09:21:24

We have a wooden floors, full central heating and aircon for the summer, we use ours all year round. We opted for Pilkington Glass roof which shrugs off anything that might land on the roof, I can’t remember what it was called, but it was over 20 yrs ago, our footings go down almost 4 ft so if an extension was needed and the conservatory pulled down it would be an easy build.

Hetty58 Thu 20-Apr-23 09:23:56

Calendargirl, just call it a 'glass extension' and it will be an asset, the height of fashion. I call mine a 'garden room' as it's full of plants.

A neighbour (next door but one) had an old extension knocked down and a beautiful conservatory replaced it. They then sold the house. The new conservatory was promptly removed - and replaced by an extension!

Germanshepherdsmum Thu 20-Apr-23 09:30:34

Can’t stand the things. They scream ‘old people’ to me.