New "Have a Look at This" thread

Ditzy_Mitzy

Green_hopeful said:

Spot the dog. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/143462981#/?channel=RES_BUY

Pfft.  If one really must have an ex-council house with a flat roof, Harlow is the place:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/137456888#/?channel=RES_BUY
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/137639528#/?channel=RES_BUY
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/126177488#/?channel=RES_BUY

That style, terraced houses with pavements at the front and roads at the back, was popular in the South East post-war.  Unfortunately, segregating cars and pedestrians led to the need for a sort of concrete hinterland behind the houses: service roads, car parks and lock-up garages.  After dark, and with a few lights put out, they could be the sort of places even skinheads feared to tread - at least back when it mattered, of course.  

Our Twickenham house is only one recession away from a similar fate, despite its hefty price tag.  It's a shame, because the design principle - having greenery at the front and services tucked away - is a very good one.  The problem, however, is that people, when given utopian conditions, fail to live in the utopian way; Lyons's model is the better one than today's twee Barratt boxes, but we, somehow, haven't quite got the wherewithal to conform to his vision or to live the lifestyle Lyons (and other radical modernizers) require.  

That said, the Twickenham house is all lifestyle and no life.  It's a house to be photographed rather than one to live in, as evidenced by the thoroughly impractical profusion of houseplants - enough to make any reader of Wyndham or Ballard's flesh crawl.  They will be difficult to clean and full of dust and insects.  No thanks.  And why so dull?  If one is to garden indoors, one at least ought to cultivate a few flowers.  I like houseplants.  I have houseplants.  I have no desire to cover every available surface with the things and ensure to have a bit of variety colour-wise.  

Anyway, the house probably looks good on Instaface or whatever...  

ProDave

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

Green_hopeful said:

Spot the dog. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/143462981#/?channel=RES_BUY

That style, terraced houses with pavements at the front and roads at the back, was popular in the South East post-war.  Unfortunately, segregating cars and pedestrians led to the need for a sort of concrete hinterland behind the houses: service roads, car parks and lock-up garages.  After dark, and with a few lights put out, they could be the sort of places even skinheads feared to tread - at least back when it mattered, of course.  

That style of housing is imho a failed town planning experiment for the reasons you highlight. It is not somewhere I would choose to live, and if I did I would be concerned for my car parked there out of sight over night.  Indeed some such estates I am concerned for my car when just parked there in the day to do work.

The planners seem to want to keep repeating the same experiment in the hope that one day it will be the pedestrian utopia they hope for.

Perhaps the outcome might depend on who the residents are but I better not say much more.

Green_hopeful

Re the plants … we have recently sold a house following a bereavement. I cleaned and painted and cleared. I then added plants to make it looked lived in! One or two per room. I think it makes rooms look better although perhaps not quite so many. We have to have our houseplants in quarantine (rooms the cats don’t go in) at home because of our despicable cats but if we were selling I would spread them around. 

Silvertabby

markin said:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12993027/pat-swindon-wiltshire-mould-rat-infested-house.html

This can't just be down to a broken boiler can it? At least it has a happy ending!

Lovely how generous some people can be, in time and money.  But it must have been more than just a bust boiler and no central heating.  I grew up in a 2-up 2-down with just a coal fire (when it was lit) for heating - but never a scrap of mould, presumably because the house was so well ventilated (ie, drafty).

Those internal doors are classic 1930s, so expect the entire damp course was shot for a start.  

lea_uk

That is not a utility room 
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/143941406#/?channel=RES_BUY

General_Grant

lea_uk said:

That is not a utility room 
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/143941406#/?channel=RES_BUY

Apparently, according to the floorplan, the house has a kitchen/utility room.

Green_hopeful

It used to be a second sitting room in the previous details. I think it was the dining area originally and a rather narrow extension is now being used as the dining room. 

ProDave

lea_uk said:

That is not a utility room 
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/143941406#/?channel=RES_BUY

I would rather the dining table be put back in the kitchen / diner, and the washing machine etc put in the "back porch" preferably with a door between the kitchen / diner and the porch to keep the noise of the washing machine out of the house.

Patr100

The "birthplace of Amazon" for sale for  $2.2 million

"From Redfin agents who toured:

Small home overpriced"
https://www.redfin.com/WA/Bellevue/10704-NE-28th-St-98004/home/506493

Silvertabby

ProDave said:

lea_uk said:

That is not a utility room 
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/143941406#/?channel=RES_BUY

I would rather the dining table be put back in the kitchen / diner, and the washing machine etc put in the "back porch" preferably with a door between the kitchen / diner and the porch to keep the noise of the washing machine out of the house.

That's what I would do as well.  Not that I would ever have considered this house, as it has one of the 'absolutely not' things from my house hunting wish list - ie, stairs leading off the living room.