shanvan Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 ...your kitchen is outdated (like the ones you see on Househunters where the people make comments like 'Oh, well, that would just have to be gutted.") ...your 'master bath' is down the hall. ...your main bathroom is the size of the powder room in newer homes. (And you see people on Househunters complaining about how small a bathroom twice the size of yours is.) ...your appliances are not 'matching' b/c you only buy a new one when one of the old ones dies. (We bought a new dryer about 2 years ago. Just bought the washer last week. I can see the horrified Househunter couples now--the dryer top isn't even with the washer top. They are in my basement, so I really don't care.) ...you have one or more 'vintage' appliances (like my harvest gold fridge, which I am waiting to see making a come-back in home remodeling magazines. Its just waiting for the stainless steel craze to die down.) ​...you have some wallpaper that has started to curl around the edges. ​...your TV is old enough that it has middle age spread and is over 12 inches thick (Not a flat screen). Some of these things I care about and some I don't. I wanted to take down wall paper and paint, but my Dc are somehow attached to it. :confused: (As in emotionally, not meaning they are glued to the paper!) They don't want me to get rid of it. Either way, they are our reality currently and I'm not taking out a loan or upping the mortgage to remodel or find another home. I just wondered who else out there lives in similar circumstances. When we bought our house most of the things that are now outdated were 'in' style at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Strawberry Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Me. Our kitchen is vintage 1951. I am only now removing the original contact paper. It's scary. We removed the wallpaper at least a year ago. We still haven't painted. We only have new appliances because the old ones didn't work/didn't exist. We are on our third refrigerator in 7 years. No one has a dishwasher here. We have one bathroom. It's the size of a linen closet. We have no shower. It's undergoing the slowest renovation in the history of bathrooms. Our closets are laughably small. The kids' closet is 18 inches square. My washer and dryer match, but they are 11 years old, rusty, and live in a tumble-down shed. I have disassembled each at least once. I hate House Hunters. I refuse to watch it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liber Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 That was our first house. In our current house, our second, there is master bath, but no tub and I think the previous owners redid it before they put it on the market. The kitchen is 80's which is an improvement from our previous house. We did renovate our first house before we sold it so I got to enjoy it for a few months. And I'm appalled at how picky some of those people are on house hunters. Actually worse than picky. Some are down right whiny about things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Most of my cabinet doors have rotted and fallen off. Our vinyl is harvest gold and so are the formica countertops. Our appliances do not match and not all of them work - at least totally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 yup. My house was built in 1930s updated in the 1970s. My kitchen has dark wood cabinets, the counter tops have avocado colored leaves on them and the light fixtures match that green. The livingroom when I bought it had mirrored tiles on the wall, orange shag carpet and orange velvet drapes matching. That "wood" panelling wall stuff, yup entire front entrance. TV is huge, bought it 14 years ago, it still works so why update it. None of my appliances match, they get purchased as needed not just to update. 1 bathroom, the washing machine lives in there but the dryer is in the room on the otherside of the bathroom wall so you have to walk through the house with a basket of wet laundry to put it in the dryer. Tiny bedroom for the boys, the girls have what was the original master bedroom, I have the larger master that was an addition way back when. I have this bizarre room off the master that I think is supposed to be a dressing room of sorts, I don't know it was part of the addition way back. Also they removed a section of the exterior studs to fit in the cream-ish colored jetted tub. I am slowly updating the house, mostly cosmetically last year I did the livingroom though I messed up doing the laminate flooring and it needs to be redone. and a few weeks back I removed the mirrored tiles from the alcove between bedrooms and repainted. The kids rooms and that alcove still have the electric blue indoor/outdoor carpeting to be dealt with. I refuse to go into debt or take out a 2nd mortgage to update it. I just do what I can little by little as I have the funds to do so, and improvise as I go. The kitchen will never be gutted and redone, but I will eventually repaint the cabinets and counters and I will rip out and retile the backsplash (beige and dark orange tiles). The bathroom is going to be gutted, tub ripped out etc. It is unsafe, the wall is falling down (one of these days I will be in the shower showing all my bits and pieces to the whole town when the wall caves in) and the subfloor has water damage so that will be a big task and I would rather save up and spend my money on that rather than on a flat screen tv etc. The washer will still be in there and the dryer in the other room, it is just the way it is, but in the meantime I live in my outdated home and just feel happy that it is mine :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unicorn. Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I do. And I prefer it that way. I don't like new houses. They are sterile, and have no character. I don't understand why the master bath is always huge, and the one bath that all the kids have to share is small. I think that's backwards. I really hate it when those shows rip out wonderful, real wood built in cabinets, and replace them w/ "custom" cabinets that are really cookie cutter, home depot garbage. (sorry, sore point w/ me) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanvan Posted May 21, 2014 Author Share Posted May 21, 2014 Me. Our kitchen is vintage 1951. I am only now removing the original contact paper. It's scary. We removed the wallpaper at least a year ago. We still haven't painted. We only have new appliances because the old ones didn't work/didn't exist. We are on our third refrigerator in 7 years. No one has a dishwasher here. We have one bathroom. It's the size of a linen closet. We have no shower. It's undergoing the slowest renovation in the history of bathrooms. Our closets are laughably small. The kids' closet is 18 inches square. My washer and dryer match, but they are 11 years old, rusty, and live in a tumble-down shed. I have disassembled each at least once. I hate House Hunters. I refuse to watch it. Our washer almost made it to 20 years. The stunning harvest gold fridge is most likely going on 30 or maybe even 40. Our appliance repair guy told me to keep on repairing it rather than replace it (no bias there, right). He said newer appliances suck and break down fast and then have to be replaced b/c they can't be fixed (plastic parts, I think). Sounds like he was right! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanvan Posted May 21, 2014 Author Share Posted May 21, 2014 Most of my cabinet doors have rotted and fallen off. Our vinyl is harvest gold and so are the formica countertops. Our appliances do not match and not all of them work - at least totally. Jean, I think we might have matching kitchens. We've got the formica counter vibe happening here too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liber Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 In our first house we had to do the bathroom about a year before we sold it. I was duct tapping sheets of plastic over the tile because water had got in behind the tile somehow and it was buckling out from the wall. I think my inlaws thought we were crazy not to do the bathroom right away. We lived there for ten years. We took the money instead and built a huge play structure for the kids in the backyard. I tell my husband he's lucky that he married me as I don't care how updated or not, my house looks. Lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanvan Posted May 21, 2014 Author Share Posted May 21, 2014 I do. And I prefer it that way. I don't like new houses. They are sterile, and have no character. I don't understand why the master bath is always huge, and the one bath that all the kids have to share is small. I think that's backwards. I really hate it when those shows rip out wonderful, real wood built in cabinets, and replace them w/ "custom" cabinets that are really cookie cutter, home depot garbage. (sorry, sore point w/ me) Yup! I hate that too! I can't understand why they can't save them and resell, at least. They always seem to be absolutely demolishing them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ameena Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Me too. But can I say I've never seen House Hunters - we don't have cable lol. I bought this house 1.5 years ago - the price was right on it. But geez does it need work. I had planned on being able to work on it a little at a time, but then finances changed radically and there went that idea. It's got 1 full bath in the hall, and a tiny half bath in the master. If I were re-doing it, I'd gut both & the closet that meets them, and make 1 bigger bath. That half bath is pretty much USELESS. I'm pretty sure I've got dry rot in the wall between anyways. The kitchen is a MESS, there is no storage, the cupboards are disintregrating & covered with something sticky on the outsides that even a steam cleaner with dish soap wouldn't take off, and they are painted the ugliest brown I've ever seen. My project this week is to fully measure & diagram the kitchen / dining room on graph paper & put it in my fix-it notebook so that if I come across cheap cabinets at Habitat ReStore I can replace {funds permitting}. My gas stove is vintage I don't know what - it was a $50 craigslist find when we discovered that the electric plug for the stove was just for show & not hooked up to ANYTHING. And the bedrooms are TINY. It's a 4 bed, but the master is about the size of a dorm room lol - a SINGLE dorm room. The master has a walk-in closet, but it's so small I can stand in the middle & easily reach both walls without stretching. And I think we have foundation issues - the floor in 1 room is cracking up - literally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanvan Posted May 21, 2014 Author Share Posted May 21, 2014 This is my fridge. Apparently it is an energy hog--AND it is more like well into its 40's! Shhhh.... Don't tell Dh or he will want to buy a new one. http://retrorenovation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/harvest-gold-kitchen-3.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Well, given the fact that I live in an old farmhouse, yes the kitchen is old (the cabinets and the countertops) but it's still functional. Someone must have tried some renovation since the lower cabinets actually have pull out shelves. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 ...your kitchen is outdated (like the ones you see on Househunters where the people make comments like 'Oh, well, that would just have to be gutted.") ...your 'master bath' is down the hall. ...your main bathroom is the size of the powder room in newer homes. (And you see people on Househunters complaining about how small a bathroom twice the size of yours is.) ...your appliances are not 'matching' b/c you only buy a new one when one of the old ones dies. (We bought a new dryer about 2 years ago. Just bought the washer last week. I can see the horrified Househunter couples now--the dryer top isn't even with the washer top. They are in my basement, so I really don't care.) ...you have one or more 'vintage' appliances (like my harvest gold fridge, which I am waiting to see making a come-back in home remodeling magazines. Its just waiting for the stainless steel craze to die down.) ​...you have some wallpaper that has started to curl around the edges. ​...your TV is old enough that it has middle age spread and is over 12 inches thick (Not a flat screen). Some of these things I care about and some I don't. I wanted to take down wall paper and paint, but my Dc are somehow attached to it. :confused: (As in emotionally, not meaning they are glued to the paper!) They don't want me to get rid of it. Either way, they are our reality currently and I'm not taking out a loan or upping the mortgage to remodel or find another home. I just wondered who else out there lives in similar circumstances. When we bought our house most of the things that are now outdated were 'in' style at the time. I can't completely commiserate, but I do have to tell you that we had a friend who sold his condo, and his kids were so attached to the wallpaper that they PEELED it OFF to take it with them. Ummm, MOST of it off. About 3' of it from the floor up. Then they got bored. Sigh. The eldest ALSO took the doors off the hinges, to help with the moving...so they could have doors where they were going. He was FOUR years old. It is a good thing not to get TOO attached. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippen Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 My harvest gold fridge made it 33 years, with a few repairs--mostly replacing the icemaker. When I went to buy a new one the sales clerk tried to sell me a one year extension on the warranty for an extra $140. I was incredulous and refused on principle. Wound up being sorry because the icemaker in my new $2100 fridge broke within a year. I have a circa 1973 harvest gold Tappan range. In the 20 years we've lived in this house most of my friends have been through at least two new ranges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyofsixreboot Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I'm sure my whole house would be slated for demolition. It screams 1970's and not in a good way. Meh, it's clean, warm and dry and I don't have a mortgage. I'll live with no dishwasher and paneling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 We (family of 5) live in a 3 bedroom, 1 bath house that was built in the 30s. I find myself amazed when families NEED more than one bathroom. And, of course, ours is small with no linen closet. There's one sink, one small tub with a shower in it, and one toilet. Two towels easily hang on the rail. The other three (family of 5) need to be slung over the shower curtain. We had to replace the tile/tub last year due to multiple leaks, so now our tub is more modern - still a super small model as that's all that would fit, but more modern and we're not cleaning grout all the time. Our kitchen? The oven is stainless steel because that was in style back then! (It doesn't self-clean or anything, so style snobs might still not like it). The stovetop (not with the oven) was stainless steel, but I had to replace it because the buttons to turn it on were right at toddler "push a button" level. We left the controls in - just not hooked up to anything - and my toddlers loved them (safely)! I replaced it with an off-white (cream) color as that's my favorite regardless of what style snobs think my favorite should be. The fridge is also off-white and replaced (as the other failed), and we installed a (black) dishwasher when we moved in - and replaced it when that one died - as I prefer to have one. We do have a stainless steel double sink (original). The floor - combo of carpet and linoleum or vinyl - definitely needs replacing. The wallpaper is peeling and taped in places. The countertops are original formica. The cupboards are maple (I think) - and are still holding the dishes, etc, just fine, so don't need replacing. Chestnut wood is all around the downstairs for borders (windows, doorways, etc). I love that look and wouldn't change it. The floor of the whole house needs replacing actually. All but one carpet/floor we put in 17 years ago are original I think. The gutters will have to be replaced this year. They should have been replaced 5 - 10 years ago. The roof needs replacing. Last year we replaced the water pipes. We still need to fix the ceilings/walls where they accessed the water pipes (currently nice looking holes...ok, maybe not "nice.") AC is one window unit downstairs. Bedrooms and bath are upstairs. In the few super hot days we get we've been known to bring sleeping bags downstairs. Most nights in summer we just open windows. We did replace the windows a few years back - we were getting icicles inside the windows on cold mornings... And my kids love the place. Our preference is travel, so our extra $$ have been spent on travel - our place is totally liveable. I see no reason to put money into things here just to make them look better when we could go somewhere else and have a great experience instead. When we sell the place someone will either share our thoughts or have a fixer upper they can deal with. We bought the place because we love the location - on a farm - with a pond that we stocked - with a barn, fields, woods, and a nice private (primitive) campsite by a large creek. When hubby asked if I wanted to look at the house again (after walking the property), I looked at him and asked, "Why?" Is it going to change our opinion? We both realized it wouldn't and signed the papers without being in the house more than once. We did repaint some rooms before we moved in and changed one carpet. We do watch househunters and laugh at what many "need." We ought to be able to get nice bargains when/if we move. In my circle of friends, there are more without updated things than with. Most have houses that are better than mine, but theirs are also newer. If people complain about mine, they are nice enough not to do it to my face. ;) Many do mention being envious of our location... ;) One bath and old house or not, it was a great place to live and raise boys! I have no regrets about buying it or putting the bulk of our $$ into travel rather than fixing it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onceuponatime Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Me, except for the wall paper. My house was built in the 40's and has the original wooden cabinets. Lest you think that is neat, they were obviously cobbled together with any pieces of wood the first owner could find, and they have multiple layers of paint, plus not all the handles match. But they are sturdy. Since white was the top color, I sanded them down slightly around the edges and then put a clear coat on them to get a kind of deliberate "shabby" look. Which was better than just old and dirty. There is only one size refrigerator that will fit in the little nook for it and the one we bought 10 years ago has plastic pieces that keep breaking. We can no longer replace them because that model is extinct. The linoleum on the kitchen floor is about 20 years old and probably the cheapest stuff the previous owner could find. It is full of dings and scratches. Plus it is glued on top of whatever flooring was original. The original white farm sink is yellowed and scratched. Don't get me started on the "master bath." The old bulky tv is now in the master bedroom in the old entertainment center. I use it for my yoga videos and to watch shows that my all male household is not interested in. The only reason we have a new flat screen is my mother thought we were deprived so she bought us one. It's all about lack of money, but like one poster said, it is a roof over our head. The mortgage is lower than rent on an apartment because we bought just before the big boom and bust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I don't watch tv shows like that, partly because they set up discontent for me. My kitchen is terrible: cracked vinyl tile floor, nasty, old, mismatched cabinets - the door on one is so worn it looks like a dog chewed it. Weird green formica countertops and (what feels like) cardboard backsplash, also green. Somehow when we were looking at houses I completely missed how nasty the kitchen is, because I had no memory of any of it when we moved in. Oh, the space for the fridge is too small for our fridge, so it's in the dining area which makes that area too small too. At least it's not in a formal dining room (though I wish I had one again). We used the fridge the last owners left behind too, so for a while we had 2 fridges, which is nice and not so nice. Then we had it hauled off so now there is a space where the fridge should go. It would make no sense economically to buy a smaller fridge to fit in that space and get rid of our larger fridge. So, we wait till we can gut it and start over. But if history repeats, as soon as we fix it up, we'll be moving and I'll never enjoy the nice new kitchen! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 ...your kitchen is outdated (like the ones you see on Househunters where the people make comments like 'Oh, well, that would just have to be gutted.") ...your main bathroom is the size of the powder room in newer homes. (And you see people on Househunters complaining about how small a bathroom twice the size of yours is.) :seeya: My appliances are respectable mid-range, but the counters and cabinets are beyond embarrassing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
73349 Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 ...your kitchen is outdated (like the ones you see on Househunters where the people make comments like 'Oh, well, that would just have to be gutted.") :seeya: ...your 'master bath' is down the hall. Nope, ours is where it should be, iridescent wallpaper and all. ...your main bathroom is the size of the powder room in newer homes. (And you see people on Househunters complaining about how small a bathroom twice the size of yours is.) Yup. ...your appliances are not 'matching' b/c you only buy a new one when one of the old ones dies. (We bought a new dryer about 2 years ago. Just bought the washer last week. I can see the horrified Househunter couples now--the dryer top isn't even with the washer top. They are in my basement, so I really don't care.) Yup. ...you have one or more 'vintage' appliances (like my harvest gold fridge, which I am waiting to see making a come-back in home remodeling magazines. Its just waiting for the stainless steel craze to die down.) I have siblings younger than my microwave. The bigger appliances have mostly died often enough to be replaced this century (except I'm not sure about the stove). ​...you have some wallpaper that has started to curl around the edges. Yup. ​...your TV is old enough that it has middle age spread and is over 12 inches thick (Not a flat screen). No, we actually got rid of that kind when DS was a toddler and another little guy we knew pulled one down on himself. I'd be just as happy to do without one, but DH would not. Some of these things I care about and some I don't. I wanted to take down wall paper and paint, but my Dc are somehow attached to it. :confused: (As in emotionally, not meaning they are glued to the paper!) They don't want me to get rid of it. Either way, they are our reality currently and I'm not taking out a loan or upping the mortgage to remodel or find another home. I just wondered who else out there lives in similar circumstances. When we bought our house most of the things that are now outdated were 'in' style at the time. I'm not attached to any of it; it's a matter of financial priorities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
East Coast Sue Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Yes to EVERYTHING on your list except the wallpaper, thankfully we have none. We don't have any ducts either, so no A/C and no ceiling fans yet. Still, I'm thankful for the house and I like it except when I'm in the bathroom and kitchen! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momof3littles Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I have an 80s oak kitchen, a small master bath with small vanity, too many types of flooring on the first floor, seafoam carpet on my stairs. We are chipping away at renovations, but some of it just isn't a priority. We picked a well built house in a nice neighborhood, and in exchange gave up some cosmetic preferences. The 80s oak cabinets are well made vs. builder's grade, so I will probably keep them for quite a while. We'd like to put in hardwood, but I have an old dog and an old cat, and at this point I think the wise choice is to wait in case they start suffering incontinence. We've put laminate pergo type flooring in two rooms downstairs to ease cleaning. Not my preference for the long haul, but I couldn't take the carpet any longer in those rooms. We're probably holding off on pricier flooring until the dog and cat are no longer with us. We have replaced appliances other than our cooktop. That was somewhat of a necessity though. Oven died (I did like the oven we had), dishwasher seal was replaced but we had a few issues with it (good brand, but 25 years old), etc. We removed wallpaper in a few rooms when we moved in. And borders. I'm glad we got that finished before we officiallly moved in. I've lost my motivation since that point LOL. We spent money a year after we moved in on a new roof. We knew it needed done within 2-3 years, so we just went ahead and did it. Oh how it would have been much more fun to do the cosmetic stuff vs. a roof :/ but that's part of adulthood. We have to prioritize, and right now some of these just aren't high on the financial priority list, TBH. We are also not 100% sure this is our forever house, and I hesitate to pour a ton of money into cosmetic upgrades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne in CA Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Right now our family lives in two bed and breakfast suites on top of the restaurant we recently bought. They are not fancy bed and breakfast suites, they were meant for fishermen and hunters. We left the former furniture in them and it is ALL ugly. The bathrooms are TINY. DD colored her hair in hers and it looked like she had sacrificed a rat in there with hair everywhere and red dye on the walls. Very few women would be happy about this, lol, but I am having a sense of adventure. It's not forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrn Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I've got paneling in a bunch of rooms -yuck- but it looks better than the rooms with no paneling and holes in the plaster. Our kitchen was updated in the late 60's. Our washer and drier we bought used about 15 years ago. We only have outlets in the floor -not on the wall- and then only 1 or 2 per room. It makes blow drying my hair a little tricky as I am quite tall and cords are quite short. All the ceilings on the second floor I can reach up and put my palms on them. I routinely scrape my knuckles when putting on a shirt. I have wooden floors- but not the nice ones. Wavy glass windows that when the wind blows the curtains move. I think my home is 120 years old, I love it, flaws and all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippen Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I'm sure my whole house would be slated for demolition. It screams 1970's and not in a good way. Meh, it's clean, warm and dry and I don't have a mortgage. I'll live with no dishwasher and paneling. I know that feeling! We had paneling, red and black patterned carpeting, and a glittery ceiling when we moved in (bring on the disco, baby!). I couldn't wait to get rid of that carpeting but lived with it because we couldn't afford to replace it, plus it was old nylon loop that wore so well it hardly had a wear spot on it in 20 years. When the basement flooded we had to replace it and learned that the company that made the carpeting went out of business because their product was so good that people weren't replacing their carpeting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trinchick Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 My first house had metal cabinets and each door and drawer had been painted a different Brady Bunch color. Then there was the brown shag carpet on the KITCHEN FLOOR. Yes, carpet on the kitchen floor. Can you think of anything more disgusting? We had to move the range for something and saw that the rug had originally been orange. Needless to say, I got down on my hands and knees at that exact moment and started pulling up the carpet with no regard to what was underneath. Fortunately, there was indestructible 1950s red linoleum tile hidden by the carpet. Still ugly, but at least we could clean it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 This house has great bones (built in 1993) and is large and functional. I am sure though that House Hunters would cringe at the teal laminate counter tops and outdated white tile with flowers back splash........but they are functional. We did pull up the white shag carpet on the main floor as that is not practical for a house on a hobby farm with kids and critters. Our house is bigger than we really need..........but we got forced out of our last place by a highway project and this house was the only one we saw that met our needs and was in our budget.........we bought it after a quick glance in a rain storm as it had enough bedrooms and 5 acres. After we signed the papers to put in the offer I had to ask dh if it had a master bath or not as I couldnt' even remember. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 My grandparents had teal green appliances that I adored. And they LASTED. Not one of their appliances had to be replaced during the 40+ years they lived in their final home. Just a minor repair here and there. Who can say that these days, with the new, "fancy" but notoriously poorly made options now? People seem to just expect them to fail after 5 years or so. And I agree that the wood and construction quality of many kitchen cabinets now is nothing compared to the quality woods used in past generations, unless you go really high end. I love vintage kitchens. That being said, we did rip out and redo our entire kitchen. The cabinetry we saved, though, and gave to friends. Good quality wood, but when we removed the wall the cabinets were not usable in the new layout. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Yes to many of your questions, but then our home is over 100 years old and I love it as it is. However, our kids all chipped in and bought us a genuine flat-screen TV last year, so we do have that. :) (Although, we can't actually watch TV shows on it -- it's just for Netflix, Amazon, and DVD's.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 We just redid our bathroom and the kitchen was redone 18 years ago before we bought the house (we have since replaced the dishwasher). My fridge is white and quite old. It makes funny noises on occasion. I pray that it does not break any time soon. Our master bath is the bathroom in the hall that everyone shares. The downstairs has a 1/2 bath. A bath and a half. That is all we have. And that half bath-airplane bathroom size. Can you hear the moans of horror on house hunters now. How do we live? Taking turns with the shower! Yikes! My washing machine and dryer do not match. They are in the basement and they work. That is all that matters. Curling wallpaper-check. Cracked plaster-check. Unfinished, scarred wood floors-check. Tiny coat closet-check. In all fairness the bedroom closets are pretty roomy-although weirdly angled-they go long behind the wall thus requiring contortions to get to the far end. That is where the once in a year clothes are. I do love watching house hunters and I always marvel at what they say about spacious closets that are not big enough. If you need a bedroom sized closet-you have too much stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aug17girl Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 My old house had original 1950s pink tile in the bathroom, with original hexagon black and white small floor tiles in great condition. The new owners who bought our house to flip gutted it. Our new house has an ensuite bathroom, but it is straight from the 1980s with honey oak cabinetry and emerald green tile with fake brass accents. Elsewhere in the house we have textured sand coloured wallpaper you might have seen in the early 80s in an office building. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Yell Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 This is my fridge. Apparently it is an energy hog--AND it is more like well into its 40's! Shhhh.... Don't tell Dh or he will want to buy a new one. http://retrorenovation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/harvest-gold-kitchen-3.jpg I HAD THAT SAME FRIDGE IN TURD BROWN! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebeccaS Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 My house is old. We'll celebrate its 200th birthday in just a few years. So, no master bath here. :P My appliances do match if you count that each time we replaced one we chose the same color. :D We don't have wallpaper because a previous owner lovingly stripped our house of all signs of the modern age (except electrical and extra bathrooms) and we have exposed logs instead. Our bathrooms are small. We have 3, but only because, again, the previous owners put one in the finished basement (which is now a bedroom) and took up part of a tiny bedroom upstairs to put one in. Our bedrooms are tiny, too. But I adore my house. It's just unique enough that only a certain kind of person is going to even look at it and think about buying it so I'm sure they'd overlook its quirks. House Hunters makes me crazy. That said, if I ever moved, I'd be nitpicky about the house I chose just like those people. Just in a totally different way. Circa 1750 or bust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 My TV is currently the 19in one my parents bought for ds about 10 years ago. My kitchen cabinets are in-stock from Sutherlands. My countertops were freebies and exdh had to customize them from an L to our two straight pieces. Where the L was shows on the front. My one bathroom has tile floor that is coming up, the ceiling needs to be repainted. My kitchen appliances and bathroom sink were hand me downs from my SIL - oh and the kitchen light too. The kitchen floor is plastic looking beech colored laminate. The rest of the house is original hardwood that exdh refinished. The kitchen floor was put in badly before we moved in. My laundry/mud room was an addition and has only subfloor. I plan on putting vinyl in there sometime this year. My house is a 1920s bungalow with a huge amount of charm. However, anything the previous owner updated is falling apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Yell Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 ...your kitchen is outdated (like the ones you see on Househunters where the people make comments like 'Oh, well, that would just have to be gutted.") YEP! It's huge, and very poorly laid out- TONS of wasted space. ...your 'master bath' is down the hall. Actually attached to our bedroom, but it;s really tiny. ...your main bathroom is the size of the powder room in newer homes. (And you see people on Househunters complaining about how small a bathroom twice the size of yours is.) Yeah- you can sit on the toilet while shaving your legs in the tub and brushing your teeth at the sink. What a timesaver! :glare: ...your appliances are not 'matching' b/c you only buy a new one when one of the old ones dies. (We bought a new dryer about 2 years ago. Just bought the washer last week. I can see the horrified Househunter couples now--the dryer top isn't even with the washer top. They are in my basement, so I really don't care.) Yep! Well, they're all the same color- white, but brands/styles/sizing is all wrong. ...you have one or more 'vintage' appliances (like my harvest gold fridge, which I am waiting to see making a come-back in home remodeling magazines. Its just waiting for the stainless steel craze to die down.) Old enough to be ugly, not old enough to be vintage and cool-looking. But now so new that they're impossible to repair. ​...you have some wallpaper that has started to curl around the edges. Yep- in the kitchen. it has cutesey fruits and vegetables on it so you know you're in the kitchen, in case the fridge and stove didn't give it away. :huh: ​...your TV is old enough that it has middle age spread and is over 12 inches thick (Not a flat screen). The one in our bedroom does, but we do have a flat-screen in the miving room, a gift from DMiL when she won an even bigger one for herself. Some of these things I care about and some I don't. I wanted to take down wall paper and paint, but my Dc are somehow attached to it. :confused: (As in emotionally, not meaning they are glued to the paper!) They don't want me to get rid of it. Either way, they are our reality currently and I'm not taking out a loan or upping the mortgage to remodel or find another home. I just wondered who else out there lives in similar circumstances. When we bought our house most of the things that are now outdated were 'in' style at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanvan Posted May 21, 2014 Author Share Posted May 21, 2014 <snip> ..you have some wallpaper that has started to curl around the edges. Yep- in the kitchen. it has cutesey fruits and vegetables on it so you know you're in the kitchen, in case the fridge and stove didn't give it away. That is hysterical b/c it sounds a lot like our border in the kitchen. Border is at chair rail height w/ fruits & veggies. That is the walloper/border my kids don't want me to get rid of! I may overrule them this summer b/c taking down paper and painting are about all our budget can handle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostSurprise Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I think every one of those is true...the house was built in 1960 and we have the original built-in wall oven and stove insert...except the television. Flatscreens were fairly cheap last year when ours went out so I let dh buy one. We did have a harvest gold refrigerator for a few years when the boys were little. When we moved in the people moving out unplugged the fridge in the middle of a cycle or something and broke it. We were young and broke with a 1 year old and a baby on the way so dh's colleague gave us their old harvest gold. It had been sitting outside, in the snow and rain, for a year. It worked just fine and continued to work for the next 5 years. Now, to get a new fridge 2 years ago we did need to saw off the cabinet overhead. Our fridges had to be under 60 inches otherwise. We need to replace the oven now. It smokes and I'm tired of washing the ceiling and trying not to worry about the level of carbon dioxide in here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippen Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 My old house had original 1950s pink tile in the bathroom, with original hexagon black and white small floor tiles in great condition. The new owners who bought our house to flip gutted it. Our new house has an ensuite bathroom, but it is straight from the 1980s with honey oak cabinetry and emerald green tile with fake brass accents. Elsewhere in the house we have textured sand coloured wallpaper you might have seen in the early 80s in an office building. What surprised me is how much less space my newer big GE French Door fridge has compared to my old harvest gold Tappan. And no egg holder--whose bright idea was that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostSurprise Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 My first house had metal cabinets and each door and drawer had been painted a different Brady Bunch color. Then there was the brown shag carpet on the KITCHEN FLOOR. Yes, carpet on the kitchen floor. Can you think of anything more disgusting? Yes, when we moved in there was brown shag carpeting in the only bathroom...and we had 2 toddler boys. After potty training I pulled that sucker out and we went without flooring for...oh...years...8-10 years or so? Just plywood was better then shag carpeting and boys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 My kitchen is not outdated but it does not have the finishes people look for. We always know when someone is going to be putting their house up for the sale. Their old sinks, counter tops and Pergo floor boxes are on the curb waiting pick up. Then the for sale sign is up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indian summer Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Some would say my kitchen is outdated - though only slightly, not decades. I keep thinking I shouldn't spend the money on me, but I'll definitely upgrade if and when we try to sell it. I always love my houses best when I've done some renos to make it sell. Sigh. I just don't want to make changes too soon and then have those changes be outdated when we want to sell and have to do it all over again. My flooring and woodwork are not the colour that's popular today either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 My house is a dodgy, one bedroom, cat food tin of a place, but none of this matters because it is too small to have anyone over. Dd is delighted with it because unlike our last place, which I thought was a respectable three bedroom home, this place has some carpet. Somehow she has learned that to be civilised one must have carpet, a fridge and watch telly. Until now, we had none of those things. Now she has carpet in the bedroom! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildiris Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 My kitchen was a temporary kitchen that became permanent. Out dated? More like undated. Just add money and stir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomtoCandJ Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 We live in a 1991 manufactured home.... need I say more??? Oh and no flat screen/ hdtvs here either. We get free TVs when relatives upgrade :) stove and fridge don't match. We bought the fridge a year or two ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TianXiaXueXiao Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 I have a vintage 1953 home. 4 bed. 2 bath. Oak floors throughout with carpet and linoleum coverings in some rooms. The house has redwood siding and sits on terraced quarter acre with pond and gardens overlooking pasture and redwoods. Original kitchen cabinets are like new with all modern appliances, mustard yellow counters. Guest bath doubles as laundry room and master bath is down the hall with original pink tile everywhere. Two built in hutches, a piano alcove off the dining room, brick hearth with new gas insert. We have the original single car garage that has enough space for our minivan but nothing else. We have separate living room and family room and the bedrooms and bathrooms are situated in the back of the house with little french doors leading to the hallway from the family room. We love, love, love our house but it is going on the market next Monday because we are moving out of state. Wish we could take it with us! :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrookValley. Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 Yeah. I've got solid formica countertops in a lovely John Deere green. I wish I was kidding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SproutMamaK Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 *raises hand* I have everything on your list except the wallpaper and TV. We stripped all the wallpaper when we bought this house because the previous owners were smokers and it set off my husband's asthma. MAN, was that ever a ton of work. We ended up with a flatscreen TV because space is simply too precious in our house (see: main bathroom on the opposite side of the house and the size of a powder room) to waste so much of it on a TV. It was a flat screen or nothing (and I admit to being sorely tempted by the option of "nothing"). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 DH bought himself a flatscreen TV as reward for getting his professional certification (it is a 3 year process that requires passing 3 grueling daylong exams, each with only a 40-45% pass rate) that is in our bedroom. But our 2 other TV's are old bulky ones. Our bathrooms need to be redone. I'm pretty sure they are the original ones from when the house was built in the late '80's. No wallpaper and our kitchen is updated but we do have those hideous fluorescent panel lights in our kitchen. I so want to get rid of those but we've had bigger priorities (roof, HVAC system, etc.) for our home improvement budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belacqua Posted May 21, 2014 Share Posted May 21, 2014 My house is pretty dated, but I've decided to think of it as "mid-century modern." :) I did cave and pull up the orange shag carpet and replace the orange countertop in the bathroom (the previous owner had a thing for orange...and clowns, but that's another story entirely). Otherwise, I'm embracing the 60s chic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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