When you walk into someone's house, whats the first thing you notice?

delain

self explanatory title really.

do you notice mess, and think worse of someone, or do you see past it??

ktez

I'm afraid I think, what a mess! That's why I'm always battling to keep mine clean.
My sister however has a different approach and always says if someone arrives unannounced to a mess at her house, she tells them to find her as she is - if they don't like it, that's their problem. I wish I could be more like that.

Alikay

I probably notice smell first....cooking, dogs, strong air fresheners etc. I notice an uncared for house by it's fusty, dust-binny, stale biscuits sort of smell before I notice the mess that goes with it

sickparrot

The smell. Anything else is probably temporary so i'll forgive them that, but once a house has a smell it has it for good.

ktez

Alikay wrote: »

I probably notice smell first....cooking, dogs, strong air fresheners etc. I notice an uncared for house by it's fusty, dust-binny, stale biscuits sort of smell before I notice the mess that goes with it

Forgot about the smell...yes smell comes first, then mess!! My neighbour has 8 dogs and I dread when I have to go visit as the smell is overpowering and actually makes my eyes water although her house is clean and tidy IYKWIM, they are just smelly, big dogs!

Ebe_Scrooge

My mum is a community paediatrician, and when she visits kids in their own home, she often says that the mums apologise for the "mess" on the floor - the "mess" being toys strewn all over the place. She always tells the mum not to worry - she'd far rather see a happy toddler with lots of toys to play with, than a spic 'n' span house. But a smell of rotten food or overflowing dustbins, for instance, is far more worrying, from a child health point of view.

So yes, smell is far more important than appearance.

cattie

I guess because I've always been a very tidy & orderly person that I notice if the house is in a real mess or if it is crying out for decorating & some tender love & care.

Sometimes you can go to houses where they have unneutered male toms & the smell can be overpowering because of them spraying. In this kind of instance I think the smell is definitely the first noticable thing.

shop-to-drop

Definitely smell first, then dirt, then mess/clutter and usually pleased to see mess as makes me feel less bad about my clutter but I do love going into a nice tidy house.

herbertthehelper

Smell and dirty carpets!

busiscoming2

First the smell , then dirt especially around light switches (pet hate) and on doors usually made by people who don't wash their hands after reading the newspaper :eek::eek:

luxor4t

Oh yes, smell...especially stale cigarette smoke. If somebody smokes then their house smells of it, no matter what they do.

After that, I think there's two kinds of mess, 'clean' ie untidiness and 'dirty' - dustbins, stale kitchen, drain etc