Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

michaels

!00% agree but of course one should design for the market not one's own preferences.

Interesting you mention the attched option, there is a garage that is unlikely to be used as such as it is down the shared driveway and I was thinking it could be semi-attached as a sunroom/gym/study having been tanked, insulated etc.

PasturesNew wrote: »

No idea ... but the right size/shape/location of utlity means you've got a perfect "coming in from muddy outdoors" area, space to hang washing out of sight, a second sink for putting things in soak or doing odd things in a sink that's not getting in the way of kitchen things, room for dirty hobbies (I don't mean those that involve a fast spinning washing machine), but things arty crafty. I've no need for a study, but I do want space to make stuff, glue things, leave things to dry or to set, room to spread things out and leave them left out....

A utility is on my list of must haves.

I'd accept a utility that was separate from the house, so long as there was a covered verandah style area connecting the two.

PasturesNew

Spirit wrote: »

I have no design eye at all. Once on consulting an architect on extending our cottage I gave him and my OH a 'rough plan' of what I had in mind. It was badly flawed in that it included a room with no doors. Final plan got knocked back at planning and then my healh nosedived and we did not want the risk of a big change.

We bought a lovely rainfall shower fitting last year. It is in its box under the spare bed as our cottage height ceiling means Mr Spirit would not fit under it if we install it.

Present (and longstanding) design dilemma is how to build on a downstairs loo, an additional bathroom and extend the third bedroom. We have a north facing semi detached cottage on a narrow plot....and simultaeneously loads of ideas and no real idea.

I want Doozergirl's skill set, or even just some of it.

It's not just me then/.... I never had curtains at my house, I got some expanding curtain poles and put voiles on, then after a few years I got some cheap (but good) venetians fitted.... but I could never understand how you worked out what size curtain poles you needed, or what sort - and what sort of curtain fixings etc you needed to be able to hang curtains. And then I'd have needed to find somebody competent enough to put them up - and so many 'builders' are actually bodger-artists.... If you have small flat windows it's probably not so hard, but I needed to work out how to do huge bay windows with 90" drops and it was just all too hard.

I spent hours and hours and drove hundreds of miles and spent a lot of matcher pots, then paint .... only to end up with colours that looked !!!! in situ. That's when the genius plan of "everything white" came into fruition - and that bl00dy works!!! White's genius.

I also can't actually paint. On a flat wall, I've had enough after 1 square metre. I find it lonely, distressing, depressing and soul-destroying and it makes me cry.

silvercar

What would people expect in a 4 bed semi for families - master with ensite in the loft, 2 doubles plus single and family bathroom on first floor but gf I am thinking entrance hall, lounge, kitchen open plan on to dining/family area with folding sliding door, toilet and small utility area. Only prolem is shared side drive which is where I would want to put the utility/back door. Does a utility add value and help to sell or is it just a nice to have and a study would be better?

With young children, I would have had an issue with sleeping on a different floor to them

I would think a study adds more value than a utility. Old house had a study; hidden behind concertino doors was a washer, dryer and boiler. I've seen utility areas stuck in all sorts of places, including downstairs loos.Downside is you lose the door to the outside, but at least you get the clothes out of the kitchen.

PasturesNew

michaels wrote: »

!00% agree but of course one should design for the market not one's own preferences.

What about designing for a home to live in, to suit your needs and lifestyle?

Have you gone over to the dark side of tarting up houses then selling them for more?

Doozergirl

Spirit wrote: »

Despite my small stature our ironing board is set up at its highest.
Mr Spirit does all the ironing.

Now there's a keeper!

Doozergirl

I fear you may have answered your own musings...

michaels wrote: »

Interesting you mention the attched option, there is a garage that is unlikely to be used as such as it is down the shared driveway and I was thinking it could be semi-attached as a sunroom/gym/study having been tanked, insulated etc.

michaels wrote: »

100% agree but of course one should design for the market not one's own preferences.

Buyers, in general, get very upset if they don't have a garage to put their crap in, especially one that is a family home. They also seem to be incredibly optimistic that they are going to use them for their cars and not the inevitability that they will use it for crap. We've never sold a house that I've driven past and the buyers have kept the car in the garage, yet viewers seem to love checking that it's the right size to hold a military tank before they'll believe it'll fit even fit their Fiat 500 (maybe they are really sizing them up for the amount of crap they own, but pretend it's for the car!)

Even if they want a gym (which I think is very personal and not really something for the "market"), most people will still put garage before that gymspace on their wishlist. People hold storage space sacred.

If it doesn't have a loft and it doesn't have a garage, you are into very dangerous territory.

neverdespairgirl

PasturesNew wrote: »

Therefore I bet that place is a new dwelling cut out of what was a basement.

I'm sure you are right. The EA has the brass neck to describe it as "light", when it actually doesn't have a single window in the basement.

silvercar wrote: »

I multi-task, I do the ironing while watching HutH.

I never do either - we don't watch H ut H here, and OH does any necessary ironing.

zagubov

Doozergirl wrote: »

I fear you may have answered your own musings...

Buyers, in general, get very upset if they don't have a garage to put their crap in, especially one that is a family home. They also seem to be incredibly optimistic that they are going to use them for their cars and not the inevitability that they will use it for crap. We've never sold a house that I've driven past and the buyers have kept the car in the garage, yet viewers seem to love checking that it's the right size to hold a military tank before they'll believe it'll fit even fit their Fiat 500 (maybe they are really sizing them up for the amount of crap they own, but pretend it's for the car!)

Even if they want a gym (which I think is very personal and not really something for the "market"), most people will still put garage before that gymspace on their wishlist. People hold storage space sacred.

If it doesn't have a loft and it doesn't have a garage, you are into very dangerous territory.

This is all reminding me too much of my theory that South East England garages are for storing bubble cars/ photos of cars/ tins of paint. I sometimes feel the housing market is staffed by the characters from the Phil Silvers Show
TBH I ‘m starting to realise that the reason for the decline of the real garage is that people have to be able to hop in a car and drive off at a moment’s notice if they need so much a s a box of matches, as local shops have declined and all retail and services become more centralised. What people really need are driveways.:p
I drive to work down narrow lanes filled with rich peole’s cars that struggle to pass and nobody seems to think there’s anything weird about that. :mad:Yeah, and they also act like they’d used the village idiot as a driving instructor. :eek:

PasturesNew

Doozergirl wrote: »

We've never sold a house that I've driven past and the buyers have kept the car in the garage

The one time I owned a garage I religiously kept my car in it every night, without fail.... and I will have a garage at my next house I buy and I will keep my car in it

vivatifosi

PasturesNew wrote: »

The one time I owned a garage I religiously kept my car in it every night, without fail.... and I will have a garage at my next house I buy and I will keep my car in it

A lot of my neighbours keep garages full of junk rather than cars. Ask them why and they say because their car doesn't fit in the garage. My house is not even particularly old, yet cars have grown massively since then. Even the Mini looks as though it is on steroids. One of our cars is small, so that one goes in the garage.