What do you NOT like about your house?

[DawnM]

Just a spin off of sorts.

 

We are strongly considering selling our house in the Spring of 2015.  I would sell now but we have too many things we need to fix up first that have been on our list for many years but haven't been completed.

 

Here is my list of things I don't care for in my house:

 

garage too far from the kitchen

funky upstairs layout, bonus room is off a bedroom instead of separate

not an open floor plan, kitchen is on its own, not overlooking a family room

 

 

 

[Kathryn]

No garage

Very little storage space

Bedrooms face east, Kitchen with large bay window faces west

Kitchen is poorly laid out

Bedrooms are small

No dedicated space for schooling that can be hidden away

[Melissa in Australia]

the things I do not like about my house are all the unfinished bits- like no kitchen cupboard doors, no door on the broom cupboard- no flashing around the outside of the windows (outside of the house). No tiles or splash back behind the kitchen sink or behind the bench tops.... the list is pretty long.... It is what happens when you build your own house....

[73349]

We have a laundry closet instead of a laundry room.

Kitchen layout that wastes nearly half that room's square footage.

Long, narrow living room would be better divided into two spaces.

Brass (fireplace, doorknobs, etc.) looks dated.

Master bathroom is clearly early '90s and needs some sprucing up (including wallpaper removal).

 

ETA: With no garage, we could really use a mudroom-type space. There's no basement, either.

 

ETA because we're so used to it we only think of it when someone comes to the front door: The front door swings to within 2" of the bottom step of the stairs, and when open, it blocks the coat closet. Very awkward for greeting guests!

[Donna]

Every room is about 2 feet too small in every direction to fit the furniture we own from our former house. Kitchen needs updating and I don't like the tile in it. One last bedroom to put hardwood in.

[Spryte]

Laundry room on ground floor/bedrooms on 3rd.  I want to move the washer/dryer to the kitchen, at least.

 

Are you looking for things that you can minimize in your house to increase selling potential, or looking for ideas for your next house?  

[Wheres Toto]

Everything.

 

Too small (750 square feet)

Bad layout

No storage - no basement, no attic, only a detached buggy/rodent garage, only two small closets

laundry room is tiny and also holds hot water heater, well pump and water softener so very little space.

huge fireplace takes up one whole wall of living room

every room opens of living room, no hallway.  All the doors make arranging furniture even harder than the size of the space

Siding is old and yucky so house looks like crap from the outside

gravel driveway gets muddy in the spring until we get more put down

Not tight at all, which means bugs and rodents in the house especially in early spring and late fall

 

I really hate that our roof leaked in heavy rain and wind last week.

[DawnM]

I am starting to make a list for our next house.

 

I will start by saying that THIS house was picked out by DH.  It was not my first choice at all.

 

However, when we moved in, we only had 2 kids so the layout worked just fine.

 

And we were coming from a tiny house in SoCal, so we thought this house was HUGE in comparison.

 

However, there are some major reasons we are looking at moving:

 

1. WAY too far out.  DH commutes 25 miles each way

2. I drive 20 miles each way EVERY DAY to all our activities.  EVERYTHING we do it up there.  Church, homeschool group, scouts, robotics.

3. Our yard is what DH likes (2.5 acres) but since moving here, he has been working more and more and with a 2 hour r/t commute, he has NO time to work on it!  I hate yard work and told him before moving in that I cannot and will not do it.  It is his baby, but it isn't working anymore.

4. I want more bedrooms, different layout, possible MIL apt. or area that my son with some special needs could live in if needed.

 

 

 

Laundry room on ground floor/bedrooms on 3rd.  I want to move the washer/dryer to the kitchen, at least.

 

Are you looking for things that you can minimize in your house to increase selling potential, or looking for ideas for your next house?  

 

[G5052]

I love our house, but the 4th bedroom is way too small.  I use it as an office and library, but it would barely hold a twin bed and a dresser.  The others are good-sized, so I don't know why they did that.

 

Other than needing new kitchen counters and flooring, that's really it.

[Spryte]

Ah!  Okay, so my list of wants (that we don't have in our current home):

 

- Laundry on same level as bedrooms.

 

- Guest room or MIL apartment because my mom is close to that point in life.

 

- High Walkability score.  Parks, dog parks, library, post office, coffee, stores are on my list for walking.  We actually have those, but I wouldn't want to lose them.  Love being able to walk.

 

- Minimal yardwork.  We've put a lot of work into hardscaping and making a great outdoor space that doesn't require much upkeep.  Love it.

 

- Convenient to DH's clients.

 

- Convenient to DS's activities, and access to more of his type of people.  :)

[MooCow]

My house is pretty big, but there is way too much wasted space. The bedrooms all have these huge walk in closets, with the master one being so ridiculous at one point dh had his office in there. Now, I have a loveseat and a table, lamp and desk there.

[flyingiguana]

Too much of my husband's junk.

[DawnM]

Here is the issue.

 

DH had an idealistic view of what "living out in the country" would be like.  We aren't exactly in the country, but we do live pretty far out for my taste.

 

I had no such delusions.  :lol:   We moved from living in the city (a little city out West called Los Angeles), and he had some grandiose plans to have a garden, chickens, quiet evenings in the yard, etc.....

 

Reality has set in, FINALLY, after 9 years here.  We spend most of our time in the car, not the yard!   I no more want chickens than I want a hole in my head, and our garden has never quite worked the way we would like.  We also stay indoors due to humidity and bugs for the most part.

 

Dawn

[DawnM]

We have wasted space too.

 

The boys' rooms are HUGE.  They don't need or even use all that space.  I would MUCH prefer more bedrooms that are smaller.  I could have a sewing room and a guest room.  

 

Dawn

 

 

My house is pretty big, but there is way too much wasted space. The bedrooms all have these huge walk in closets, with the master one being so ridiculous at one point dh had his office in there. Now, I have a loveseat and a table, lamp and desk there.

 

[Spryte]

 We spend most of our time in the car, not the yard!   I no more want chickens than I want a hole in my head, and our garden has never quite worked the way we would like.  We also stay indoors due to humidity and bugs for the most part.

 

 

 

:lol: I hear ya!

 

We are way, way outside of a large city, and too much car-time sucks the life out of a person.  It cuts into those quiet evenings, garden time, etc.  Add in the fact that 50% of the year or so, it's simply too humid and sticky to comfortably hang out outside. Throw in a nasty, decade-long fight with Lyme Disease to fuel the bug paranoia, and ...  Yeh.  Failed country living person here, too.   :leaving:

[Carol in Cal.]

Dawn, do you have one of those mosquito screen 'tents' over a picnic table outside?  When I lived in Vermont, it was the same way--everyone wanted to be outside in the (all too brief) summer, but the bugs would drive you crazy.  Several friends had this set up, and it was great.  We felt the cool breeze through the warm, muggy air, but did not get bit. 

[OneStepAtATime]

We hated the layout of our house and were always looking at moving...until we knocked down the wall between the kitchen and the family room and remodeled the kitchen.  Now the house is nice and open and we love the family room/kitchen area.  We have decided to do the Master Bedroom next.  I do wish that we had a bigger office.  DH and I are on top of each other in there and it gets annoying when I need to spread out documents.

 

Although we now really love the house, I hate that we have extremely limited homeschooling options for extra curriculars/families to socialize with/etc. If we were to move, that would be the primary reason (besides job transfer, which has come up several times this past couple of months).

 

 

[DawnM]

I think the fact that we want less yard will mean that our house size can remain about the same, even if we move closer in.

 

Lyme Disease sounds awful.  I am sorry.

 

:lol: I hear ya!

 

We are way, way outside of a large city, and too much car-time sucks the life out of a person.  It cuts into those quiet evenings, garden time, etc.  Add in the fact that 50% of the year or so, it's simply too humid and sticky to comfortably hang out outside. Throw in a nasty, decade-long fight with Lyme Disease to fuel the bug paranoia, and ...  Yeh.  Failed country living person here, too.   :leaving:

 

[Cera]

My two main complaints:

 

too much wasted space (useless nooks here and there, ridiculously large bedrooms...I prefer smaller since we have a shared playroom, huge closets...sounds great but an 8x10 linen closet wastes all the space in the middle)

 

too open a floor plan (the noise level is ridiculous...the entry, kitchen, dining, greatroom and loft are all connected and we have vaulted ceilings.  Even normal conversation carries all over and is amplified...we can't do anything without everyone hearing it, loudly and forget trying to even think when the kids get going)

[sassenach]

We are in a weird rental. Great neighborhood, strange house.

 

Washer and dryer are in my bedroom. This is our fault because we converted the rec room into a bedroom, because the master is way to small for us to fit.

 

Weird window over my kitchen sink opens to the entryway. When someone walks in, the first view they get is a framed shot of my dirty dishes.

 

Our bathrooms are teeny tiny. My shower is 29" x 31". Also, the 2 bathrooms in the house are side by side and do not attach to any bedroom.

 

No garage.

[shanvan]

Hmmm..

 

I would like to take up the carpets and refinish the hardwood underneath.  Also new flooring in the kitchen would be nice, but I can't really say I 'hate' the carpet or the flooring.  I really, really dislike how small the bathroom is, but I've learned to deal with it.  

 

I hate that there is no way to make the 2nd floor 1/2 bath into a real bathroom without losing a window (which I will not ever agree to).  

 

I suppose what I hate most is that the 2nd floor has inadequate cooling.  AND that the water faucet in the front is located exactly at ground level, which makes mulching and hooking up the hose a nightmare.  

[1GirlTwinBoys]

This is my first 2-story house with a walkout basement and I much prefer one floor with a finished walkout.  I'll never buy another 2-story.  My favorite floor plan is a split ranch.

[dirty ethel rackham]

• Not enough closet space.  The house was built in the 60s.  Enough said. 
• Doesn't have a sub basement.  It is a split level and has a crawl space.  If we had a sub-basement, I would be able to deal more effectively with the lack of closet space and I would do a better job decluttering. 
• Our entry way is too small and crowded - the coat closet is right in front of you when you walk in.  If we have a large group of people, it can be difficult to let everyone in, take their coats, wipe or remove shoes, etc. 
• There is only one outlet in the upstairs bathroom and none in the downstairs bathroom (and why did I not request one when we had work done in there?)
• We don't have a mud room, just our small front entryway and a small landing from the back door. 
• You can't flush the downstairs toilet without impacting the shower upstairs.  You can't turn on any water in the house without impacting that shower. 
• It is difficult to have overnight guests.  We have 3 bedrooms and 5 people.  The other bedrooms are very small.  If I kicked my kids out of their rooms, they would have to sleep in the lower level which has no privacy.  This is probably part of the reason why my family never comes to visit.

I am sure I could come up with more. 

 

[shanvan]

 

• Not enough closet space.  The house was built in the 60s.  Enough said. 
• Doesn't have a sub basement.  It is a split level and has a crawl space.  If we had a sub-basement, I would be able to deal more effectively with the lack of closet space and I would do a better job decluttering. 
• Our entry way is too small and crowded - the coat closet is right in front of you when you walk in.  If we have a large group of people, it can be difficult to let everyone in, take their coats, wipe or remove shoes, etc. 
• There is only one outlet in the upstairs bathroom and none in the downstairs bathroom (and why did I not request one when we had work done in there?)
• We don't have a mud room, just our small front entryway and a small landing from the back door. 
• You can't flush the downstairs toilet without impacting the shower upstairs.  You can't turn on any water in the house without impacting that shower. 
• It is difficult to have overnight guests.  We have 3 bedrooms and 5 people.  The other bedrooms are very small.  If I kicked my kids out of their rooms, they would have to sleep in the lower level which has no privacy.  This is probably part of the reason why my family never comes to visit.

I am sure I could come up with more. 

 

You reminded me.  I HATE the crawl space under the addition.  

 

We have no entryway, and no coat closet, but I've made my peace with that long ago.  I think I'd rather have none than the crowding.  

[1GirlTwinBoys]

Also, I don't like having my laundry room in the mud room directly off the garage.  I would much prefer a separate designated laundry room with plenty of space.

[Flowing Brook]

I do not like having the washer and dryer in the kitchen.  It's a pain to keep the clothes sorted but not all over. Plus I feel crowded when I am trying to cook and do lauandry at the same time.  Not to mention that the back door is right next to the dryer so it is hard to sort clothes and leave room for someone if the want to go out the back door.

[Carol in Cal.]

I started a list, but it was making me too miserable. 

Maybe we should have a parallel thread about what we like about our houses. 

[Spryte]

Oh!  Another requirement for the next house:

 

Hard flooring - I forgot about that one since it's been so long since we've had carpet.  Carpet would be a deal breaker for us.  

 

We would need to know if the previous owners had cats, too.  Severe allergies to cats here.  Scary bad cat allergies - like ER calls, and overnights in hospitals.

[Jennifer132]

The laundry room is ridiculously small. There is a very strangely shaped closet that makes storage difficult. There is alot of wasted space because the layout isnt right for our family dynamics.

[Sherry in OH]

Does my telling dh that if he dies before I do the house will be on the market within months give you a clue?

 

I regret allowing dh to talk me into moving to the suburbs.   We have a large house designed for gatherings, but we do not have a social circle.  Friends from the city do not want to drive out here.  We have made no local friends.  The suburbs are lonely.    Plus, we have to drive to everything.

 

Besides the location, things I don’t like are

Despite the large size of the house, the laundry room, storage areas, and bathrooms are small.  We could do with the other rooms being  and more space in these areas.  

The kitchen has an inefficient layout.  Given the design of the house, this would be expensive to change.

Two story ceiling in the living room – it needs to be painted but won’t be because we’d have to erect scaffolding to reach it.

Carpeting – I’d much prefer hardwood or even vinyl. 

 

I would like a small house in a college town or city.  I want amenities such as parks, libraries, and basic shopping within walking distance.  I want convenient access to museums and cultural events.  While I would prefer a convenient layout and some outdoor space, this is less important to me than feeling that we fit in our neighborhood.  

[SKL]

I really like my house a lot, but I wish there were windows in the bathrooms.  It could also use some more storage (other than the basement).

[scwendy]

My house is tight with our growing family, and I would prefer to live on a bit of land.

[mom31257]

I thought I would love our master bedroom closet because it is almost 100 sq. feet, but it has ended up the catch all when we don't have room for stuff elsewhere.

 

Our AC unit is in the attic of the house and on one end. That end is easy to cool/heat while the other is not. The bonus room over the garage is right next to it, so if we cool that room, it all goes in there and right back to the unit, making it difficult to cool the rest of the house.

 

Our kitchen has a wall that separates it from our living/family room, and I really like that it does. It's kind of open, but it's still hidden, too. You might look at various styles before you decide on one that's totally open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LostSurprise]

I like my house. It's brilliant for the price, but the yard is almost completely shade (so it's dark indoors and hard to garden outdoors), there's a gigantic brick planter by the front door (way too dark to grow anything there), there's no shower on the main floor (block shower in the basement only), and the built-in oven smokes terribly. 

 

Lately I've been wishing we had a bit more room too. Maybe the boys' bedrooms further away from us or my own no-boys-allowed toilet. 

[Myeightkiddies]

Kitchen is too small.

 

The master bath is also the main floor bathroom that guests would use.

 

I have to climb stairs to exit the house from any exterior door.  Some days it hurts to even climb a few.

 

There's too much carpet.

 

No second A/C unit for the upstairs.

 

The driveway goes up to the front door.

 

Has a lot of dated exterior and interior features.

[speedmom4]

I actually like a lot about my home BUT I only have only have one teeny tiny linen closet upstairs and no storage on the main floor. I have nowhere to put my vacuum cleaner. There are no coat closets. We do have a basement so I have plenty of storage otherwise.

 

I looked at a house about a year and half ago when I had some serious house envy going on. It had been built in the 1930's and had many original features. My absolute favorite part of that house was all the storage. There were built-in drawers in the bathrooms and even in the hallway. There was more storage than I could ever use. Plus in those drawers were beautiful antique linens!  :001_tt1:  :001_tt1:

 

Elise in NC

[Seasider]

That it's not self-cleaning.

[Ellie]

Not-quite-big-enough kitchen.

 

Fireplace in the family room, with windows on either side of it, such that it's difficult to decide where to put the TV. There *will* be a TV in the family room; I wish the fireplace had been put in the living room instead. Yes, I use both living room and family room. :-)

 

The family room is very open, which looks good on paper, but it means it is lacking one whole wall to place furniture on. Also, the kitchen is open to the family room; if there's major cooking and whatnot going on in the kitchen, it can be difficult to hear the TV (because yes, there will be a TV in the family room).

[DawnM]

Months?  I told him WEEKS!

 

Here is the thing........

 

Husbands (unless they work from home) are here the LEAST amount of time.  This was not the case when we lived in CA as I worked too, but here, I am home ALL STINKIN' DAY, so I really think I should be the one to choose (or have the most say) as to the location and layout, etc....

 

Dawn

 

 

Does my telling dh that if he dies before I do the house will be on the market within months give you a clue?

 

I regret allowing dh to talk me into moving to the suburbs.   We have a large house designed for gatherings, but we do not have a social circle.  Friends from the city do not want to drive out here.  We have made no local friends.  The suburbs are lonely.    Plus, we have to drive to everything.

 

Besides the location, things I don’t like are

Despite the large size of the house, the laundry room, storage areas, and bathrooms are small.  We could do with the other rooms being  and more space in these areas.  

The kitchen has an inefficient layout.  Given the design of the house, this would be expensive to change.

Two story ceiling in the living room – it needs to be painted but won’t be because we’d have to erect scaffolding to reach it.

Carpeting – I’d much prefer hardwood or even vinyl. 

 

I would like a small house in a college town or city.  I want amenities such as parks, libraries, and basic shopping within walking distance.  I want convenient access to museums and cultural events.  While I would prefer a convenient layout and some outdoor space, this is less important to me than feeling that we fit in our neighborhood.  

 

[DawnM]

No.  I wanted to add a screened in porch or a Sunsetter awning with a screen.

 

However, now that we are moving, I am just going to have to get that in my next house.

 

Dawn

 

 

Dawn, do you have one of those mosquito screen 'tents' over a picnic table outside?  When I lived in Vermont, it was the same way--everyone wanted to be outside in the (all too brief) summer, but the bugs would drive you crazy.  Several friends had this set up, and it was great.  We felt the cool breeze through the warm, muggy air, but did not get bit. 

 

[Susan in TN]

The only things I really don't like are the kitchen cabinet shelves, which are not adjustable and positioned stupidly and the bathroom fixtures which seem to have been taken from cheap hotel surplus.

[Seasider]

Ok, seriously, things I have not liked about houses I've owned:

 

Walk-thru kitchen work spaces. I mean, there's often a door to the outside in the kitchen, which is good, but the traffic flow from that door to the next room sometimes cuts across the place where I work in the kitchen (ie, the "triangle" of sink, fridge, stovetop). Make sure the kitchen traffic flow bypasses that triangle.

 

Big bathtubs that are wide and shallow. These look impressive at first glance but in function, they are hard to reach across to clean and not deep enough for an adult to be water-covered for a good soak. But when my children were tiny they thought it made a good kiddie pool for rainy day swimming!

 

Windows that don't open. Many newer homes have beautiful windows but they are only for looking through. Older homes may have windows that no longer work and have perhaps been painted shut. Make sure you can open enough windows to actually get a draft through your rooms.

 

Pseudo-porches. Porches are to sit out on and sip your tea while visiting with the neighbors. A two foot deep slab of cement does not a porch make. Give me a minimum 6 foot deep covered porch big enough for two rockers and some potted plants, or give me a bald faced colonial. Anything in between is just plain frustrating to me.

 

I love my current house, but it needs some TLC. Our cash flow is streaming in other directions for the moment, but one day we will do some more renovating. It must be weighing on me because I had a dream the other night that someone gave me $100,000. What did I do with it? No, I did not take my family on the trip of a lifetime, or even buy one single book. I had the house Hardie-planked and all the windows replaced.

[kewb]

Things I do not like about my house:

No mudroom.

No pantry.

My daughters bedroom.  At some point it was a porch of some kind and when it was converted to a bedroom it was done cheaply.  Her room is always a few degrees colder then the rest of the house during the winter.

[BigMamaBird]

I LOVE my house and won't complain about it.  But, if I had the choice to do anything I wanted to it I would add a small shower in the bathroom on the first floor and a laundry area on the second floor.  The stairs on the back porch also need to be completely redone, but that's doable.

[texasmama]

Small, crowded kitchen.  Just shoot me now and throw my body in the river over this kitchen. lol

[LLMom]

I have black, shiny, marble tile all over the house?  Ugly and hard to keep clean.

[MomtoCandJ]

No garage, nasty carpet (but will be slowly replaced with something but will start a new thread for that :), no dishwasher, not enough storage. We live in a manufactured home and plan on doing up grades as we go. We would just buy a new one one but the gradual changes would be easier on the budget :)

[Ananda]

Well, we live in our starter home.  It is a hundred years old with lots of "upgrades" by previous owners.  I dislike a lot of things.  We have been discussing if long-term we would like to remodel it; or if we should move to a different house.

 

Bathroom:

-The shower is made by running a small pipe from the tub faucet up; this isn't really attached to the wall.

-The tile around the tub only goes up a few feet, so we have to have shower curtains on all four sides.  It feels like showering in a wet oxygen tent.

-The tub is vertical in back so you can't lay down comfortably.

-The toilet is way too close to the side wall.  We can't use even the most minimalist over toilet shelf, also it is difficult to clean around.

-There are no towel racks of any kind.

 

Kitchen:

-The room is very big, but the floor plan is silly so you can't fit a table anywhere.

-We have tons of upper cabinets, but the shelves are too close together.  You can't put bottles of olive oil or our wine glasses on a shelf.

-Our fridge leeks water down from the freezer into the fridge.  We tapped plastic bags in to direct in down the back behind the shelves, so our food don't usually get flooded.  But I have to wipe out the bottom under the produce drawers or it leeks all over the floor.  In summer this is a daily chore and it is still leeks on the floor.

-Also I can't figure out how to set our fridge temps so that the freezer freezes, but the fridge doesn't freeze.

-We have an automatic ice maker in our freezer, but no water line to run it.

-The heat & air-conditioning don't really extend to the kitchen.

 

Playroom:

-It has really weird glass doors.  I would like normal opaque doors.

-The closet is nearly impossible to use.

 

Living Room:

-We have ugly old carpet, over beautiful hardwood floors.  Why?

 

Small Upstairs Bedroom:

-Also has ugly carpet, presumably also over hardwood floors.

-The air conditioning & heat don't work up here so we have to use a space heater & window air conditioner.

-The closet is huge for such a tiny room.  A larger room with a smaller closet would make more sense.

 

Outdoors:

-We have tons of baby trees around the perimeter of the back yard.  

-Our outdoor spigots don't work.  

-There is no where good to put a garden.

-Our large trees keep dying.  We have a nice neat row: stump, old tree, old tree, stump.  We also have a stump right in the middle of our back yard surrounded by a pretty stone circle.  It looks like something out of the Lorax.

 

Generally speaking I like our garage, basement, dinning room & my bedroom.

We also have a large upstairs room that we haven't had cause to use.   I don't know my opinion on that room.  I assume it will need heat & a/c supplementation but maybe not.

 

 

[Indian summer]

I like my house but if I could change one thing I would have a dedicated laundry room on the top floor. Right now we have a laundry/powder room combo off the kitchen. It's tiny. But at the end of the day, it's a minor thing - it could be worse.

[Dory]

We had to use a shop package to be able to put up our house within our budget so we have metal siding right now. I HATE it. It will change eventually but it's not there yet. I don't like my cupboards right now. They are unfinished and my dh built them when I was gone and used a pattern I'm not big on at all. I don't like that my home is this far north, but there's nothing I can do about that.