I am currently searching for a home - a traditional Victorian or Edwardian/Federation style that has been sensitively renovated and restored - an oxymoron if ever I heard one!
Why is it, there are so many beautiful old frontages for sale and then when you click through the photos, the first four are lovely, showing well maintained high ceilings and fireplaces, plaster cornices et al and then you click on the kitchen and there is this laminate open plan monstrocity with horrendous halogen lighting, faux granite worktops and units that look like they were put together by Ikea?
Why on earth don't these homeowners or developers consider the original property and simply build an extension that mirrors the front? Fake Victorian fireplaces and imitation antique lighting cost less than this modern nonsense and as for open plan... sheesh, I understand we no longer want cramped living rooms and lean-to kitchens but why don't the designers take the sensibly sized front rooms as a guide, instead of building an air-plane hanger sized living, eating area that in some cases completely gobbles into the garden leaving a strip of grass the size of a nature strip and a view of the back fence a meter from your patio doors? With all that room, you would think the developers could at least do away with those horrible stainless steel features and fridges and washing machines that should be hidden behind wooden doors. And as for the outer extension, at least clad it in wood or reclaimed bricks - enough with the grey render that makes it look like a public toilet block. (*waves to she_ele*) What on earth will future generations think of the designs of this early millenium?
The worst offenders are the bathrooms. For goodness sake, buy a copper bath and use imitation old tiling and butler sink basins, anything other than those horrid purple glass bowls that stick up from white plastic shelves. You don't have to be an expert in the era of your home. Five minutes of googling will give you exact ideas on what design road to take.
Personally I love old blue stone/sand stone houses but I have yet to see someone take an old house and restore it to its former glory without adding plasma tv's attached to walls, ducted heating and generic carpeting over beautiful floorboards when a nice persian rug would do the job far more effectively. Don't people realise the 21st century is ugly? You bought an old house - Keep it that way!
In all my searching I have only found one place that has not been renovated as described above and that's because they have an original verandah scaling the entire perimeter of the property. And they obviously know what they have as it's priced at least half a million over what it is worth.
Surely someone out there shares my disdain for the current slap-it-up extensions?
