Have we lost the ability to make our homes comfortable and cosy?

We’re all so different. I like big spaces, hate lots of small rooms.

Greige as I call it has been around for a long time now. I'm fed up with it. I think that several boutique hotels have been decorated in that/those colours and home owners copy it. Many people are insecure about their taste so they replicate schemes that they have seen.

We briefly owned a late 60s house with the interior staircase wall painted in orange. The original paint. The estate agents suggested that we repainted. Everyone seemed to like it.

We now live in a modern single storey house (American designed and, according to one tv series that I saw, is listed in the Americans' top 10 favourite houses)

The house is raised up above the ground and we have a ramp leading up to the entrance - large enough for a wheelchair. We have one long open plan living/kitchen dining room, south facing, with sliding glass doors along the south wall. A blank canvas as some would say. We started off with it painted white and are gradually introducing colour. We collect pottery and art and so have plenty of wall space and shelving to accommodate all this stuff.

The beauty of this house is that there is no wasted space. We used to live in an 18th century cottage with all a corridor, a landing and a couple of halls. That's a lot of space that cannot be used.

At the moment it is very hot here (outside temperature in the shade 103F today and higher tomorrow) and we have retro-fitted an aircon system. In the winter we don't heating during the day provided the sun shining. Even on the coldest day, we will be wearing t-shirt in doors.

To the OP - it's easy enough to get new doors made for a kitchen. When we bought our 60s house it had the original kitchen cupboards etc. I was thinking about ripping them out but the price of a new kitchen put me off. Instead we had new doors made covered with formica, in a retro 50's design. The kitchen was half of one room at the back of the house. The rest was the dining area. My DH made 9again retro) a room divider which comprised shelves supported on copper pointing. This was then filled with plants, books and some pots. It worked very well.

One idea for choosing colours that go together is to find a plate which you like. Invariably, whichever colours are on it will all work together in a room.

Your house sounds perfect.

Doodledog
I agree, we half heartedly think about downsizing, and, colours you can change easily, but if I look at one more house with an island the size of my kitchen, and bifold doors, I think we’ll stay where we are.
A house a couple of miles up the road from us was being renovated, I really liked it, and kept an eye out for when it came on the market.
But, yes, kitchen spreading about a half a mile across the rear of the house, and bifold doors.
An enormous island, and the whole downstairs open plan, the developer had completely ruined it.

Our house is a converted 19th century Board School. It has lots of original feature but has large, light rooms. We have lots of colour but little pattern.

My DH made 9again retro) a room divider which comprised shelves supported on copper pointing. This was then filled with plants, books and some pots. It worked very well.
That sounds lovely.

Here’s one for you Monica 😁

I must be in the minority here in that I love grey. You can jazz it up with bright accessories.

When we marketed our house last year we were told to ‘depersonalise’ it for the photos. It hardly looked like our house in the pictures and we wondered why we were moving. It worked, though, fifteen viewers in a week and five offers at the closing date ten days later.

We’ve bought a new build, which we love for the convenience of maintenance but the white walls are boring. We can now paint them as the house is over a year old. I didn’t have any choice for the colour kitchen units so they’re grey unfortunately, but I’ve countered that with bright colours in the dining and family areas. Scotland is so grey anyway that I feel the need for colour in rooms and that’s what they’ll get, bit by bit.

I’m in the minority here . We had a large extension a few years ago and have an open plan kitchen, living , dining area and absolutely love it. It’s the heart of the house . It’s not cold as we have underfloor heating and a wood burner and not hot due to velux windows in the roof and yes , bifold doors , both of which have a coating to deflect heat in summer and increase it in the winter.
We use a combination of textures and fabric in the soft furnishings to soften the room and not a splodge of grey .
And yes we have an island which I love and allows space for the two of us to cook or prep together .
It’s also lovely to be able to chat to others whilst cooking, rather than being isolated in another room .
As for cooking smells. Open a window . It’s also easier to keep on eye on our greedy lab.

We put our house on the market last month. Painted it white throughout so that potential buyers can imagine their own colours and furnishings. EA advice.
No grey in sight and no open plan living. We have underfloor heating and hard floors downstairs, we have shutters not curtains throughout, so very little dust harbouring. We think it’s quite a nice house and have two parties interested but each has a house to sell.
We want to downsize to a small modern property where we can hang our hats and get on with life without worrying about maintaining a big house and garden.
We hope a big family can enjoy our house.
I crave modern, minimalist, easy peasy maintenance, stylish, colourful and a life of gadding about.
We want to be somewhere with all amenities within walking distance and good transport to go further afield. Not sure how we’ll fare with neighbours other than cows and sheep but I’m sure we’ll adapt.
Exciting days ahead for us.
Good luck with your search Monica.

Going back to the OP, no we haven’t lost the ability to make our homes cosy and comfortable. We’re all different and want different things in our homes.
And our views on cosy and comfortable vary .
I rarely read home magazines or watch daytime tv . I decorate my home to my taste , as I’m sure many others do

On an estate agent's website, I once read 'cutting-edge bathroom'. Sounds dangerous!
Seriously, though, I wonder whether stone floors are a hazard if somebody falls.

Funny, I was wondering about all the black and white vases, modern prints, buddha ceramics that will end up in a landfill, never on antiques roadshow!

I know someone who has recently moved in to a large new house, and every day it seems there are packages arriving with knickknacks to fill shelves, but all in black or white.

My shelves are filled with vases purchased or gifted from potters discovered on holidays, framed prints I have gathered over the years, family photos in all manner of frames. The odd Hummel figurine and Quimper bowl, etc. Much more interesting, I think.

I know threads take a route of their own, but no one seems to understand quite what I am getting at. It has got nothing to do with any individual's personal style, or choice of decor but whether the final result gives an inpression of being comfortable and welcoming.

One minimalist house can give you a relaxed welcome feeling the moment the front door opens, another can feel cold and unwelcoming.

This evening DD sent me two houses, one was not in a style or colour I liked, but it felt wonderfully welcoming and cosy, it was difficult to say why, given there was little about the decor i actually liked. The other was in my favourite style, colours everything, but it felt as welcoming as a walk-in freezer in a freeze-up.

Hollysteers your picture sums up my point beautifully. The picture you show is of a house desperately out of date, no one would want a house like that today, but it gives an immediate impression of a house that was lived in. It takes very little imagination to people the room, the family sat round the fire and enjoying Christmas.

So many of the tarted up and dressed up houses you see these days, look as if the owners would be horrified if anyone actually went into their highly styled rooms and used them, creased the cushions, put a coffee cup on the coffee table, or horror of horrors let a child go anywhere in the house.

It is the certain something the illustrated house had, which most houses in the UK used to have, but so many do not havenowadays.

hollysteers

Here’s one for you Monica 😁

OMG! I have that standard lamp!

(Well, the lampshade).

I thank heaven that my house isn't likely to go o the market in my lifetime. I could never make it look even marginally tidy.

Lots of old bits of furniture (not classy antiques, just 'old) acquired from older family members and no grey anywhere at all...

I used to enjoy house hunting when I was younger because you'd see so many different sorts of decor. I couldn't bear to look at house after house of grey and clinical.

Good luck with your search, MOnica

I'm so not on trend. I like colours and carpets and comfort. Definitely no grey. No chance of moving so I can just wallow in my un-trendiness. I do drool a bit though when I see beautifully decorated houses on TV.

Hollysteers
I wouldn’t want to live in it, but I think I would be happy to curl up in one of those chairs, it looks quite cosy to me.

I’ve been watching a rather unpleasant tv programme called Wolf.
I’m not enjoying it much, but I have serious house envy, I absolutely love the house it’s set in.

Now house envy- that's a whole different kettle of fish. When I grow up I want to live in the house in " Somethings Gotta Give".
I'm going to look like Diane Keaton, too.

Blimey MOnica. I’m sure my Great Aunt had one of those plaster Alsatians!

Sorry MOnica. It wasn’t you who posted that pic.

I don’t think we’ve lost the ability to create a warm and cozy atmosphere it’s just that we all have different ideas.

My cousin has a beautiful house but quite minimalist and she is so houseproud that she whips your cup away as soon as you finish your drink and wipes the surface. I never feel comfortable there.

I like colour, light, warmth and a lived in look.

M0nica - exactly! I've noticed the same problems. Some places have been totally ruined by 'renovations' - so not even worth viewing. My particular pet hates:

Lockdown grey - everywhere
Shiny porcelain floor tiles
Gloss finish (grey) kitchens
Interior shutters
UPVC windows and doors
Decking, paving, gravel - no lawn
Parking - no garden
Showers, no bath
Ugly radiators
Tiny subdivided bedrooms
Kitchen islands, no table/chairs
(in fact, any modern, sleek, sparse, science lab kitchen)
TVs in every room
Outdoor bars, outdoor 'rooms'

All of the above, crammed into a thatched, beamed cottage - absolutely criminal!

Estate agents tell people to remove everything and put it away, out of sight - including towels, loo roll, tea towels, rugs, even houseplants - why?

kittylester

I have a dreadful Right Move habit, as has DD3, we share our finds every morning.

I get really excited about the interiors with mid century furniture - but they are few and far between.

You would like our house, then. Lots of mid century Nathan furniture, mostly bought in charity shops. I much prefer homes where the owners have their own style and personal bits and pieces. The uniformity of today’s homes is striking. I really dislike the Fifty Shades of Grey that has been around for so long. Grey is my least favourite colour as it is so depressing. Surely there has to be a compromise between slavishly following every trend and datedness. My house has lots of bits and pieces pieces that have been collected over the years. It is individual to my husband and me and, I like to think, is homely.