Housing trends you dislike?

[DjmNash]

I’m not a fan of those houses that look like they are all garage from the street, but I do understand that there are advantages. My house is over 50 years old and not at all up-to-date in styling, so I don’t have much room to talk.

We call them Snout Houses, like the snout of a pig.

 

[NAB]

I LOVE an attached garage. Our first house which we ended up living in FAR FAR longer than planned, had a detached garage. In Michigan. It was horrible. We moved four years ago into a much nicer house all around but with an attached garage. It is a dream to not have to deal with the cold/snow/ice/rain etc just to get to your car, to bring in groceries etc.

Well we wanted a attached garage to but it was so I didn’t have to outside to put the recycle in bin or garbage. Plus we have so much other stuff in there can’t get the car in garage…lol 4 set of snow tires , bikes and everything else I don’t know where to put it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't understand this. How were they only given these choices for a home THEY PAID to have built? I get it if you are building a spec home, but if I was paying a contractor to build me a house, it would dang sure be the colors I wanted, and if I wanted purple ceilings, there would be purple freaking ceilings. Or I'd find another contractor.

Old comment but I'm just joining the thread.

We def. didn't have that limited of choices but the outside was dictated by an approved list of specific colors for the body, trim and door from the HOA. For exterior ever since 2012 it's basically browns or grays allowed and new homes are almost always painted gray, existing homes are often repainted a gray. It is the same issue as seeing same color but gray to me is so much better than the brown. We do have blues in the neighborhood (like our home which is has a gray undertone that you really can't tell) and greens and new homes have been blue as well but Developer approval comes with that (such that we had to do for our home), there's even a yellow house (not bright yellow just a pale one) that got approved by the Developer. People also paint their front doors yellow, maroon, teal, gray, brown, etc.

On the inside we had 2 colors that came with the house and the paint company was Sherwin Williams (same as the outside company but that was largely due to the approved colors). If you wanted more than 2 colors you had to pay for that however what colors we chose were really on us for the interior it was actually quite hard to figure out the trim color along with the wall colors and figure out what rooms we wanted those colors in. In custom homes $$$$ talks so for the most part if you throw money at it the builder is more likely to do what you want.

I do think there is a difference between a contractor and a builder. Ideally you'd be finding a contractor who is fitted for you and you're going to have more one on one control. A builder you probably won't have that one on one control unless you hook up with a builder who only does a few homes in a year (in which case you're spending $$$$$$$$$ for it at least in our are).

 

[BK2014]

Rising home prices is the trend I dislike.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Also, books arranged by colour!

That would drive me batty, I alphabetize my books.

Visually the arrange by color may look okay but it's not practical IMO so I figure people who do that don't likely read those books. That brings up another trend buying books just to make them decor but I'm an avid reader so it just feels different to me to do that.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

The better way would be to have the closet between the bedroom and bathroom. Otherwise if someone's in the bathroom with the door locked you can't even get to the closet.

What we have is french doors from the bedroom into the bathroom. The master closest it at the front of the house. However in the bathroom just next to those french doors is the door to the laundry room. Thus you can get to the laundry room which leads into the hallway without going into the master bedroom, bathroom or closet. And my husband can get ready in the bathroom with the closet in there without ever having to disturb me (well after he goes through the french doors into the bathroom in the first place). Then again the toilet has a door to it. There's no way I would actually purchase a new home with a master bathroom that didn't as I've lived in homes that didn't and never liked that.

I wouldn't want the closet to be between the bedroom and bathroom because I wanted the closet to have a window and I would have hated having to always go into my closet just to go to the bathroom or to shower, etc.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I thought of another one, which may have been mentioned upthread.

I HATE houses that have the garage at the front of the house. I have no desire for a door from the garage to the house.

In an actual home I couldn't imagine not having an attached garage. I dealt with a carport at an apartment and got lucky it was just down the stairs but I've lived in other apartments where I didn't. At my mom's house she only had a 1 car garage with one car width driveway and so I parked on the street. It sucked.

I'll take my garage any day but for practical reasons and while I can't say I'm particularly worried about my safety I just love having the car in the garage without having to go out into the elements plus we use the garage to store our trash and recycling, it's a workshop, etc. Some of the homes here have the garage in the back of the house but then they lack a backyard and end up sorta in a weird side yard business. When my father-in-law lived in Texas for a while they had their garages in the back with alleyways so not even grass was planted there. I thought that was ugly and would never want that. However all of these are still where a door connects from the house to the garage.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm in Missouri and there are no lack of fences lol. Now there are some stupid HOAs which will only allow picket fences or something like that, no chain link. I live in the country tho so there aren't a lot of fences here for yards. Some people do the invisible fence for their dogs. We did fence in a small section of our 13 acres off the back door so the dogs could go out there bc I am 100% sure my dumb dog would run out thru the electric fence.

My mom has a chain link as does everyone around her that was the style back when those homes were built in the '60s. Aesthetically it's ugly IMO and while not particularly expensive to repair hers has been damaged enough by tree limbs falling down, plenty of dents. And not going to lie most people whose chain link (at least around here) gets damaged sorta tends to just leave it damaged. I think the section that got badly dented one time at my mom's stayed there for a few years that way

Our HOA only allows for black looking metal fences. They are usually fairly pricey and don't allow for the privacy but I actually like the look of them. Based on the neighborhood they've weathered better in terms of damage to them and not having to upkeep them like wooden fences and chain link bends and all.; upfront more costs than some other fencing but long term less upkeep. We've decided presently at the moment to not do a fence more because of wildlife. Once we do that we won't have the deer in the backyard and I actually really like them. Our neighbor next to us has a fence but the other neighbor does not.

Where I grew up before my parents got divorced people really didn't have fences, it was a newer neighborhood and it was in the country at that time. I mean it was still the suburbs but the country, my backyard was a tall grass prairie style, cows were in the pastures near the elementary school, road was a one lane in each direction and nadda around. That area has def. been built up though you'll still see a section where cattle are at and the road has been widened I think to 3 lanes on each side. I'd say even in the very developed neighborhoods here in the suburbs it's 50/50 whether people have fences or not.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Since when can't kids share a room? And who the heck wants to clean 5 or more bathrooms!

Well the homes that sell the fastest in our area are usually under 300K with 3 bedrooms 2 bath homes but sharing isn't likely to be as common. At my mom's house hers is the 3 bedroom 2 bath with all 3 bedrooms sharing 1 bathroom and the other bathroom in the family room. When I was a teen I used the bathroom in the family room downstairs to get ready because my sister would use the bathroom upstairs. That house could have really used at least 2 bathrooms upstairs. You couldn't have shared my room for anything unless you did tiny bunk beds. It was a tiny room. My bed was a full sized bed and that comprised of most of the room!

But really most people shared bedrooms because that was the only thing you could do. If you don't have to, you probably aren't going to choose to. So as newer homes were built over the years so were the considerations towards bedrooms and bathrooms. Mine would be since when do kids have to share a room?

My trend on the bathrooms however would be having too many in comparison to the bedrooms. You know the homes that have 4 bedrooms but 7 bathrooms?

Our house is a 5 bedroom 4 bath with a 6th bedroom and 5th bath planned for the basement. 2 bedrooms share a jack and jill bathroom and the 5th bedroom is on the main level and is used as our office (common for homes with this configuration). The 4th bathroom is on the main level right next to the 5th bedroom/office.

 

[Lilsia]

Well we wanted a attached garage to but it was so I didn’t have to outside to put the recycle in bin or garbage. Plus we have so much other stuff in there can’t get the car in garage…lol 4 set of snow tires , bikes and everything else I don’t know where to put it.

Get a shed.

 

[Lilsia]

Well the homes that sell the fastest in our area are usually under 300K with 3 bedrooms 2 bath homes but sharing isn't likely to be as common. At my mom's house hers is the 3 bedroom 2 bath with all 3 bedrooms sharing 1 bathroom and the other bathroom in the family room. When I was a teen I used the bathroom in the family room downstairs to get ready because my sister would use the bathroom upstairs. That house could have really used at least 2 bathrooms upstairs. You couldn't have shared my room for anything unless you did tiny bunk beds. It was a tiny room. My bed was a full sized bed and that comprised of most of the room!

But really most people shared bedrooms because that was the only thing you could do. If you don't have to, you probably aren't going to choose to. So as newer homes were built over the years so were the considerations towards bedrooms and bathrooms. Mine would be since when do kids have to share a room?

My trend on the bathrooms however would be having too many in comparison to the bedrooms. You know the homes that have 4 bedrooms but 7 bathrooms?

Our house is a 5 bedroom 4 bath with a 6th bedroom and 5th bath planned for the basement. 2 bedrooms share a jack and jill bathroom and the 5th bedroom is on the main level and is used as our office (common for homes with this configuration). The 4th bathroom is on the main level right next to the 5th bedroom/office.

We built our house and what we did was put in a pocket door between the toilet/tub/shower and the sinks. That way one of the kids could still take a shower while the other is getting ready at the sink and still have privacy. We also put in 2 sinks in their bathroom because teen girls don't like to share. LOL It worked out great for us but the builder thought it was strange. I say it is practical. The builder also tried to talk me out of a gas range, because everyone here does electric for some stupid reason. Even though there are gas lines into the house for the furnaces. I love my gas range and would never get an electric stove again.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We built our house and what we did was put in a pocket door between the toilet/tub/shower and the sinks. That way one of the kids could still take a shower while the other is getting ready at the sink and still have privacy. We also put in 2 sinks in their bathroom because teen girls don't like to share. LOL It worked out great for us but the builder thought it was strange. I say it is practical. The builder also tried to talk me out of a gas range, because everyone here does electric for some stupid reason. Even though there are gas lines into the house for the furnaces. I love my gas range and would never get an electric stove again.

I really wanted to do a pocket door in some of the places but it seemed it always ran into where the electrical or air vents were, just my luck.

The jack and jill bathroom does have two sinks but the configuration of the plan didn't allow for those sinks to be separated. We were told it would cost about $2,500 for the architect to look into if that could be reconfigured to that (we had seen house plans that had separated sinks) but it wasn't a guarantee it could be. We opted to not spend the money for a "unlikely" situation. If we had this is sorta what it would have looked like where the two sinks were completely separated from each other by a wall:


The jack and jill bathroom we have looks like this with the door separating and seems like the one you're describing as well. I wish we could have done pocket door to give more room inside the tub/shower/toilet area but it ran into something that prevented that I can't remember now.

You could take a shower or use the toilet in privacy while someone is getting ready at the sinks but it's just a wee bit tight IMO.

I agree about the gas range. We paid a bit extra to have gas lines run into the kitchen. I got used to the gas oven and range at our rental house and really wanted it at our home we were building. At least here they didn't think it was strange, to me that's not strange at all to have gas.

 

[NAB]

Get a shed.

Got a small garden shed , holds patio furniture and a lighted snowman. Backyard is small. Not to many people can fit there cars in the garage around here.

 

[Boopuff]

my house is sorta dumb. We have a great master suite but... they put a decorative arch to the bathroom, thereby no door! Who thought of this? If you turn the batbroom light on while someone is sleeping, they are blinded! I had to put curtains up since you can’t easily by a door for a 8 ft arch! Stupid design.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I hate the trend to have the toilet in its own little room.it’s gross as people touch the handle without washing their hands.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I hate the trend to have the toilet in its own little room.it’s gross as people touch the handle without washing their hands.

That thought has occurred to me but given that I experience that just about everywhere in public such that you're touching the stall doors and far more people use the bathrooms in public than at my home it's like meh. Only our master and the jack and jill bathroom is separated in our house. On the flip side it's gross to me that a toilet is right next to a sink such that many homes have including 2 of our bathrooms. Man we just live in gross homes either way

 

[AndreaDM]

how’s this for a tub? The 1933 house we just bought had the master bath updated in the 90’s I think. They put in this HUGE tub but NO shower! We have 2 other showers in the house, but it sucks having to walk down the hall. We want to take this out and put in a shower and separate soaker tub, but not sure how to do it in this space. That door is a closet. Any ideas?? The toilet and sink are on the other side of this area, separated by French doors.

 

[ronandannette]

I LOVE an attached garage. Our first house which we ended up living in FAR FAR longer than planned, had a detached garage. In Michigan. It was horrible. We moved four years ago into a much nicer house all around but with an attached garage. It is a dream to not have to deal with the cold/snow/ice/rain etc just to get to your car, to bring in groceries etc.

In my early years, all my housing goals included "moving up" to something with an attached garage. We made it and now when the weather is particularly beastly and our DS begs to be allowed to park in there (which would involve either DH or me having to park on the street) I just smile and say "Nope - go buy your own."

I hate the trend to have the toilet in its own little room.it’s gross as people touch the handle without washing their hands.

What exactly do you mean? Do you usually wash your hands before you flush the toilet after using it? That's not something that has ever occurred to me.

 

[ronandannette]

That thought has occurred to me but given that I experience that just about everywhere in public such that you're touching the stall doors and far more people use the bathrooms in public than at my home it's like meh. Only our master and the jack and jill bathroom is separated in our house. On the flip side it's gross to me that a toilet is right next to a sink such that many homes have including 2 of our bathrooms. Man we just live in gross homes either way

Let's take it one step further...the grossest is a main-floor powder room (1/2 bath with toilet and sink) that opens directly into the kitchen.

 

[CdnCarrie]

In my early years, all my housing goals included "moving up" to something with an attached garage. We made it and now when the weather is particularly beastly and our DS begs to be allowed to park in there (which would involve either DH or me having to park on the street) I just smile and say "Nope - go buy your own."

What exactly do you mean? Do you usually wash your hands before you flush the toilet after using it? That's not something that has ever occurred to me.

No I usually wash my hands before leaving the bathroom.
With the water closet there is no sink. So all I can think of is kids using the toilet than opening the door to go to wash their hands.
Sorry I don’t like the toilet in it’s own little closet. Saw many show homes like this.
I guess the purpose is so that others can be at had sink while someone uses the toilet.