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Conservatories- Naff?

(189 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….

Whitewavemark2 Thu 20-Apr-23 09:30:51

We spend all the time in ours. What it does is to give your brain access to light all the time, which is good for many reasons. But apart from that on chilly sunny days like we’ve had recently, you can sit in the balmy sunshine enjoying the warmth and light amongst the indoor plants - so relaxing.

grandMattie Thu 20-Apr-23 09:31:11

Fashions come, fashions go…
My pet hates ATM are the obligatory kitchen islands and roll top baths. My taste, not yours!

henetha Thu 20-Apr-23 09:33:21

That's just silly. Who decides these things? I've never had a conservatory but would love one, naff or not.

Foxygloves Thu 20-Apr-23 09:36:17

I remember the roll top bath of my early childhood!
Icy cold - presumably cast iron? The water never stayed warm enough for comfort and very stained under the taps too. And anything which rolled under the bath was lost for ever.
My mum was never so happy as when she got a “modern” bathroom with a boxed in bath!

lixy Thu 20-Apr-23 09:37:19

Our bungalow has two! So is that £30K off then? One is our utility/table tennis/sewing room, the other is currently full of overwintering plants and seedlings as well as really comfortable chairs.
A solid roof is on the long list of 'projects'!

Hetty58 Thu 20-Apr-23 09:39:39

grandMattie, - I do agree about 'islands' - I have a table and chairs and wouldn't be without them.

Who wants to stand and work in the kitchen - or balance on a bar stool? I'll sit in comfort and peel the veg, with my tea and radio next to me.

Pet hates? High gloss anything, grey anything - and cold tiled floors without underfloor heating.

Grammaretto Thu 20-Apr-23 09:39:48

And what's wrong with old people GSM ?grin
There are some naff looking ones, I agree.
A porch with a glass roof that noone ever uses because it's a goldfish bowl, boiling in summer and freezing in winter or a conservatory built on the north side which looks shaded and chilly.

Germanshepherdsmum Thu 20-Apr-23 09:44:19

I’m an old person I suppose - we’re in our 70s - but that doesn’t mean I want anything in my life that I identify with old people! Such as a conservatory!

Katie59 Thu 20-Apr-23 09:45:38

DIL has a large one ideal as extra space for her 4 kids.
I have 2 one at the rear for washing machine, dryer, freezer and plants, one as a sun room on the side, I’m sitting now looking at my garden and the birds feeding. When the family visit the children take over the conservatory, adults use the lounge.

nanna8 Thu 20-Apr-23 09:52:16

I’d love one but probably not practical for us when you get the Summer heat. We do have an overhanging roof so we can sit on the deck upstairs as well as downstairs. Some enclose them but we never have.

Siope Thu 20-Apr-23 09:55:18

I would be unlikely to even view a house with a conservatory, unless it was obvious that it could be easily removed.

I do like small glazed extensions, glass corridors, and some little greenhouse-style conservatories on upper floors.

I, however, am not some kind of style arbiter, so wouldn’t describe anything as naff, just because it’s not to my taste.

pascal30 Thu 20-Apr-23 10:06:20

I don't much like conservatories, I much prefer going straight out into the garden and I have 2 sets of french doors which makes the house wonderfully cool in the hot months.. but I do love the sound of Kittylesters upstairs room..

Primrose53 Thu 20-Apr-23 10:15:20

Do people actually care what others think? I don’t give a stuff 🤣

I don’t have a conservatory at our house because our lounge leads straight on to the garden and we have huge patio doors and a window on one side and a 13ft window on the other, so it is always warm and sunny.

We do have a conservatory on another small property we let for holidays, which was already there when we bought it. Loads of people leave comments in the Visitors book that they have enjoyed sitting in there with the doors open and hearing the birds singing. Naff or not, people like it and it’s an extra room.

Primrose53 Thu 20-Apr-23 10:19:43

Calendargirl

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

grin

Ha ha my brother and his wife think they are a cut above everyone else and have a “garden room”. 😝 even “orangery” is not posh enough for them.

Germanshepherdsmum Thu 20-Apr-23 10:31:30

Oh dear. We built a garden room at our last house. It bore no resemblance at all to a conservatory. Just a large room with bifold doors all along one side.

Whitewavemark2 Thu 20-Apr-23 10:36:25

Germanshepherdsmum

I’m an old person I suppose - we’re in our 70s - but that doesn’t mean I want anything in my life that I identify with old people! Such as a conservatory!

I had no idea that they were identified with old people😄😄.

You joke of course

Germanshepherdsmum Thu 20-Apr-23 10:39:24

No, deadly serious. I’m keeping my eye on Rightmove atm and every ‘single storey residence’ (I refuse to use the B word) has an effing conservatory! Nooooo!

mamaa Thu 20-Apr-23 10:42:04

There was an article in the online Daily Fail, yesterday about this. Judging from the comments it engendered, of which there were many, most were in angry disagreement, mine included… by early afternoon it had dropped off the main headlines page completely. Total tosh imo!

Norah Thu 20-Apr-23 10:42:47

We've a wonderful huge addition along the entire back to our house, gorgeous huge windows, room for plants, fireplace, air con. We call it 'the conservatory', wouldn't be nearly as happy in our old home without said space.

Not naff. Currently a garden room/ grandchildren playroom. smile

Whitewavemark2 Thu 20-Apr-23 10:45:19

Germanshepherdsmum

No, deadly serious. I’m keeping my eye on Rightmove atm and every ‘single storey residence’ (I refuse to use the B word) has an effing conservatory! Nooooo!

Yes - you might not like them and I have no opinion about that but how are they identified with older folk.

Although honestly if I think about it - in the scheme of things does it matter? So I’ve now lost interest in that so don’t waste your time replying ☺️

Calendargirl Thu 20-Apr-23 10:51:39

Oh GSM, what is wrong with the ‘B’ word?

I love my BUNGALOW.

smile

Farzanah Thu 20-Apr-23 10:52:04

I’m not a fan. They seem to be used as cheap extensions, and in houses I’ve seen where they lead off dining/sitting room or even the kitchen, they make the rooms dark.

I would be deterred from buying a house with one.

Marydoll Thu 20-Apr-23 10:53:26

We built a large conservatory about twenty years ago and because it has central heating is used every day as an extra living room. In hindsight, putting a solid roof on it may have been wiser. My neighbour has just done that to hers.
It looks on to our garden and I enjoy watching the changing seasons.
I absolutely love it!

Visgir1 Thu 20-Apr-23 10:54:11

20 years ago we thought about having one. My cousin an Architect said don't have a Sun Room, works out better value, won't date either. He was right.
It's brick built to match the house , with massive conservatory windows which are 3/4 of the wall up.
Solid roof which on the outside is shaped a bit like a Pergola.
It has been so worth it, we all love the room.

kittylester Thu 20-Apr-23 11:00:11

I'd lose weight if we got rid of ours going from front to back of the house via 2 staircases!