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

When we moved from our last house after 35 years thr estate agent said it looked homely and suggested some "improvements" to present it eg make it bland as each room was different. I totally ignored him apart from redecoration of the bathroom and toilet which had been arranged before we decided we needed to move. When I asked the people who bought it why they decided on ours they said they could envisage living there as a family. They carried on to say that every other house they had viewed were so bland they looked as though they were part of a hotel chain and didn't look welcoming.

LauraNorderr you wrote ^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.^

We sold our house to a family with three children, we were very happy to think that it would be filled with youngsters once more.

We also moved from a rural area to get more amenities. I do miss the greenness around me but I only have to walk for five minutes to get that. In the other direction five minutes walk takes me to a garden centre, a pub and bus stops and ten minutes to a large supermarket. The other big draw for us is being two miles from our DD and GC. It’s a delight to see them every week. We’re also able to travel more easily to see our other children.

Good luck in your move!

That sounds like the perfect situation, SueDonim. I’m sure you’ll be very happy there.

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 might get excited about my bedroom.
Definitely old-fashioned mid century G Plan teak
Let me know if you're popping round, I'll get the duster out 😁
And the kettle on

Mine’s comfy and cosy and cottagey. I have plates round the top of the walls, lots of wood panelling and lots of mementoes from stages of our lives as well as many pictures, some done by my arty daughters, some embroideries that I have done and some art nouveau ones I like. We have an open fire which burns logs when we bother to light it and a couple of cuckoo clocks. Nothing minimalist here !

I’m not actually keen on too much clutter.
Photos, lots of books everywhere, plants and candles.
A few odds and ends the grandchildren have bought me over the years, but no ornaments.

I grew up in a home where if it didn’t have a purpose, we didn’t have it. My mother was ahead of her time, our house was minimalist in the extreme.

The decorator turned up every few years to repaint the rooms exactly the same colour as the time before, and no attempt was ever made to make it look comfy or cosy.

So I think I’ve gone in the opposite direction, I was so excited when we bought our first house, it was the early seventies, and there was a lot of orange and purple, we even painted the kitchen units orange, colour makes me happy.

I hate minimalist but my house is so full of stuff that it is quite the opposite and I am struggling to get rid of things.
I am about to have the main bedroom redecorated but am useless at choosing colours.
If I wanted to put this house on the market I would have to get a house clearance firm in first! Or hope a buyer would see it as homely.

Our dining room is mid century - by choice and normally very uncluttered. However........

That photo hollysteers reminded me of this
www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zqhyb9q/articles/zpgggk7

Our dining room currently

Thanks Juliet27, nice article👍

M0nica

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.

Different people and different times. I would have thought a 4/5 bedroom house on a new estate is more likely to appeal to people younger than the average age on Gnet and they will have decorated according to their own tastes.

The point of a neutral background is that items that bring in the colour can be changed comparatively cheaply as fashion, and therefore your "eye" changes.

My daughter and SiL have just bought a 4/5 bedroomed new build. It has the open plan kitchen/dining/snug expected - all now with beautiful wooden floors as are the hall, loo, study and utility room. The sitting room, stairs and all upstairs except bath rooms are carpeted and yes, they are all grey, but it seem an entirely practical choice to me.

Just as she bought this, one of our old homes, my daughter's childhood home, came on the market. It's a very old house so we were interested to see what the later owners had done to it. My DD, having looked at the square footage, expressed suprise that it was at least twice as big as her new home. Thinking about that, I was glad she had found it homely - I had wanted a great place for them to grow up in. I decided it was because it wasn't a rabbit warren of small rooms.

When I was looking to down-size into what hopefully is my last home, I decided I would rather have fewer, larger rooms than more smaller ones. Anything else, carpets, decorating, etc., can easily be changed.

I like having a kitchen-diner, though they are two distinct areas with a large archway between, but I like having a separate lounge area.
One problem with just one large open-plan space is one of you has to go upstairs if you want to do separate activities eg to listen to music without the TV, or for a quiet comfortable place to read or work. That will suit a teenager but maybe not an older couple.

MOnica, you say the picture Hollysteers posted gives an immediate impression of a house that was lived in, that you could imagine people sitting round the fire enjoying Christmas. But if the Christmas decorations and toys were tidied away and the Christmas tea removed from the table, as would be the case if the room were being photographed for RightMove, what would be left? You admit that the room is old-fashioned, so imagine replacing the furniture, carpet and fireplace with more modern items - it’s a small, nondescript room. The only ‘homely’ features are that it’s small (cramped) and has a fireplace which in these days of central heating probably wouldn’t be used as it would make such a small room suffocatingly hot. Give me a more spacious and tidy room any day.

You're not buying the furnishings though, you're buying what will be an empty house.

I agree with MOnica that some houses just have that feeling of being 'right' and welcoming, however they're furnished, and others just don't.

Actually the first thing I look at when buying a house is the floor plan and then location. The photos are often very misleading and I don't look at what's in the room, kitchen and bathrooms can be redone if not to our taste and tbh I'd rather redo them than live with something recently done which I don't like. When we considered down sizing I went on google street view and rejected most houses purely on the location. I think I know instinctively if a house is "right" and we've made offers on the day for every house we've owned. We helped our daughter choose her first and second house and again as soon as we walked through the front door we knew it was the one, neither was greigy but they soon were!

I'm not sure I understand the OP, particularly given the subsequent post saying that we don't understand the OP .

I am in agreement with GSM that if the point is not about the furnishings, we are left with the layout of the house and the size of the rooms.

To me (and I think this is definitely another of those 'each to her own' things) a 'homely' and comfortable atmosphere is one where people can do their own thing in relative peace and quiet. Open-plan is not for me. I also like 'wasted space' such as hallways and landings. My hall has a sideboard, a table and easy chair in it, and there are bookcases on every landing, as well as a huge storage cupboard at the top of the stairs . I don't see those spaces as wasted, as I like to sit down to put my shoes on, or use the hall table (a drop-leaf one which is usually down but opens to give a useable space) to sort out things for the printer, or organise 'stuff' to go upstairs. The sideboard houses large cooking pots that would take up a lot of kitchen space, and the drawers have other bits and pieces that would otherwise take up space. The books on the various bookcases are the sort of thing that visitors might pick up on their way to bed, and the storage cupboard is crammed with towels, sheets, tablecloths, spare duvets and so on.

My previous house was a similar layout but smaller, and our first one had no 'wasted space' at all. There was no hallway, so you had to use the sitting room for everything, the 'dining area' was basically one end of the sitting room, and the only storage was a small under-stair cupboard which opened into the sitting room. Even with just the two of us there was nowhere to go to be alone unless you wanted to go to a bedroom, and everywhere seemed to double up as something else. I did the spare room out as a 'den' with a sofabed, as I realised that I do need my own space at times. It was a very small house, but the problem was less the scale than the layout.

I don’t really understand the nostalgia for old “characterful”houses. They look attractive, but unless have undergone major renovation work, in which case they are no longer original anyway, they are unsuitable for modern lifestyles.

Their historic tenants would be amused I’m sure by the modern nostalgia for their cold, damp dark, often poky houses.

Now I’m older I want modern, easy to clean, maintain and heat, and most importantly a nice area. I can then add my personal style to anything.

SueDonim, your new home sounds just the ticket.
I’m sure most folk know how to make their home welcoming in a style they makes them happy.
I agree with those who say a house is the walls, ceiling heights, window sizes, room sizes, etc. a home is created by those who live in it.
Hard to judge a home on rightmove which is full of clutter and dark colours.
Most sellers would surely take the advice to create a blank canvas and de clutter. TV programmes like Escape to the Country demonstrate that not everyone is capable of looking past clutter and decor.
Large rooms which are clearly over furnished are described as small and often people will remark that they don’t like the tiles or the wall colour. A blank canvas and less stuff will help the unimaginative.
I also think that in the past we bought quality things to last and it seems sacrilegious to throw them away, so we hoarded. Today’s younger homeowners have grown up in a throw away society where things aren’t made to last so out goes the old in comes the new. Therefore no clutter.
The only homes I have seen on rightmove that look cold and unwelcoming to me are what I would describe as footballer houses, often the size of pitches, obviously put together by ‘designers’ to impress, and kept sparkling by cleaners.
Nothing that a coat of bright paint, a bit of dust and some knickknacks wouldn’t improve.

I agree Farzanah, especially with your last sentence.

MaizieD

You're not buying the furnishings though, you're buying what will be an empty house.

I agree with MOnica that some houses just have that feeling of being 'right' and welcoming, however they're furnished, and others just don't.

I agree there is a "feeling" you get about properties and whether they can be a home for you and yours.

Being able to imagine your own possessions in another space which is decorated to someone elses taste is a very particular talent which most people lack. Thats why we are not all interior designers.

Many years ago when I was still a tenant (and the LL had decided to sell up) the agent wanted to show prospective buyers around and said to me "It would help if you did not have so many personal things from your travels on view because people are looking at them and not being able to imagine their own stuff here" I asked the EA how much they were offering to pay me to pack my own possessions away, neutralize the place and have a bunch of strangers walking around. I said I would do it for a 50% rent reduction. The LL would not agree. Thereafter the EA found it very difficult to contact me to arrange any viewings. There were mobile phones back then but I told them I didnt have one.

Im Im going to declutter my home there has to be something in it for me.

I loathe minimalism, but I wouldn’t think it’d take too much to ‘cosify’ such a house - would it? - and isn’t grey passé now anyway?

Talking of stark interiors, a Swedish friend moving back to Stockholm after many years in the UK, sent me masses of details of flats when she was looking to buy one. Except for one, that did have a hint of colour somewhere, they were all stark, relentless, white, black and grey. So depressing!
She’s made the flat she finally bought lovely though, warm and welcoming - with colour!

Farzanah

I don’t really understand the nostalgia for old “characterful”houses. They look attractive, but unless have undergone major renovation work, in which case they are no longer original anyway, they are unsuitable for modern lifestyles.

Their historic tenants would be amused I’m sure by the modern nostalgia for their cold, damp dark, often poky houses.

Now I’m older I want modern, easy to clean, maintain and heat, and most importantly a nice area. I can then add my personal style to anything.

I'm afraid I'm rather fond of my 300+ year old house. It has thick stone walls that keep it cool in hot weather and retain the heat in the winter. Wooden framed double glazed windows stop draughts and it isn't damp. I'll admit it's a bit dark but not unbearably so.

It's got history and character.

I've never lived in a house any more 'modern' than a 1950s build and it was the one I liked least. I don't fancy anything 'modern' at all. What is a 'modern lifestyle' anyway?

It's all down to personal taste, really, isn't it?

Having thought open plan would not work for me, I have had to change my mind and caveat that Doodledog. It really depends on the number of people that are sharing the space and how many other spaces there are.

So an open plan kitchen/dining/sitting area with an additional sitting room and a couple of rooms that can be studies or playrooms is not going to leave a family feeling short of different spaces. Equally, if you are on your own, you can use rooms how you choose, in order to have different spaces. I really think lack of space, especially when children are with you and growing up, is the most difficult scenario but often the one where there is the least choice financially.