Staying at my mom’s temporary hangout recently cemented my feelings on new houses. I don’t like them. Or, to be fair, I wouldn’t want to live in one if I could possibly avoid it, but I know not everyone shares this opinion. When we moved to Mayberry, I wouldn’t let our real estate agent show us any, despite a lot of nagging on her part. I don’t like the way newer homes are so matchy with all the other houses on the block. I don’t like the way they swallow up their lots, leaving little outdoor space. I don’t like the excess: huge, specialized rooms that go unused; more bathrooms than there are family members; extra refrigerators stashed on each level, greedily sucking electricity.
Most of all, for the love of God, I do not like the enormous mirrors in the bathroom that force me to ponder my nakedness daily. Give me a good old-fashioned medicine cabinet over the sink any day.
My 90-year-old house has a choppy layout, a detached garage, a ventilation system that baffles most heating contractors, and no master bath (yes: we grown-ups share a bathroom with our children!). But it has charm like nobody’s business, and I don’t have to see myself in the altogether after each and every shower.
I think most people are either old-house types or new-house types, and rarely the twain shall, you know, switch teams. Which one are you?
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I did switch teams. I started out as an old-house person; the first house I bought was 70+ years old and full of Character. But then chance threw a new (less than 5 years old) condo in my lap, and man, it’s nice. The open floor plan, the huge master bath (NOT sharing a bathroom with my child for the first time!), the central air conditioning… it was easy to get used to living this way.
But then again, our condo is small enough that it doesn’t commit many of the new house crimes you’ve mentioned. We’ve got no wasted rooms, only one fridge, and a 3:2 person to toilet ratio. My master bath DOES have a huge, butt-revealing mirror, but I just count that as more motivation to exercise and do my dry skin brushing.
Oh, hear, HEAR.
Though we’re adding a brand-new part to our 75-year-old (820 sq. ft.) house. So like it or not, I’m now in the something old, something new category.
I love old houses, Kyle loves new ones. We compromise.
My dream is to build a Victorian style home with all the mod cons (including decent plumbing, electrical, and HVAC) on a lot with plenty of trees. But I’ll settle for a beautiful pre-war 2BR on Sutton Place.
I’m in your camp. Our house is 89 years old.
I am firmly in the “old house” camp. Our house isn’t *that* old (1950s), but it still has so much more character than most of the new houses I’ve been in. The other thing I hate about new? The ubiquitous two-story entry foyer. What a waste of space.
My dream is to buy an 1800s-something farmhouse and fix it up (I voted for the second option because I do want some modern conveniences like a/c and a big kitchen).
I’m in the old house camp, too. Our house is 1925, but we added central heat and a dishwasher/disposal. We don’t need A/C in the Bay Area
I have always lived in a house with charm because my mom is a huge house snob. She has a 1920s Spanish/Mediterranean-style house in LA and she has raised me to appreciate tile, built-in details, and pedestal sinks.
I could see being seduced by something new, but I think I couldn’t tolerate the locations of new construction.
Ours is 50 years old — and yes, we share a bathroom with our children. Our “master” is just another bedroom – it is no larger than the kids’ bedrooms. Oh, and we don’t have a bathtub. Or a garage (it was converted into a family room by previous owners.)
We moved here FROM a house that had a bathroom for every backside, a deep spa-like bathtub, a garage, blah, blah. That house was still 20 years old, but very new compared to what we have now. I loved that house for what it was, but did not like the neighborhood itself.
I’d like to make some improvements to our house (want a garage. want a tub. want some heating that actually works. some closet space would be nice. yeah.) but it definitely has more character than some of the cookie-cutters in our town (or in our previous town.) What I like is that our neighborhood is a mix of original owners and new families, so there is a real sense of established community.
I can see the appeal to both. Less things to fix/worry about in a new home, character and charm in an older home. Personally, I’d just be happy to get out of rent-ville over here.
Old all the way! I feel like such a jerk but when I see telltale signs of a new house in the background of photos of old facebook friends, etc. I can’t help but judge them. Just a tiny bit of judgement, that is : ) but I just can’t stand most new construction and it’s blandness and cheap, toxic materials.
I like a house that’s new enough to have consistently running electricity and plumbing. Our house is about twenty years old, which is considered practically brand-new in the area where we live. From the outside, it looks a lot like the houses up and down the street, but to us it still has lots of charm, as the original owners customized it and loved it so much. They grew beautiful roses, built lots of bookshelves, and we get to enjoy them every day. I love looking at old houses, but I’m happy not to have to re-bolt foundations or excavate questionable heating systems.
I’m a renovated old house person. I love the history and charm of an oldie, but want a kitchen right out of Southern Living and a luxe bathroom…. even if I have to share it with the kiddos.
I’m in a 40 year old house (really old for this town, which is barely 100 itself) that was remodeled in 2003. But not by me! Ha! *Perfect!*
We don’t have any full-length mirrors. When I need to see what my whole self looks like, I check out my reflection in the shower glass.
Hope your vaca is going well.
Hey of course I have no worries with your post!!!! I happen to love old houses, we tried to find an older house to relocate to our property to do up. We love the old fashioned “queenslanders” with wide open verandahs, high ceilings and polished floors. As we didn’t end up getting one, we are building one, so although our house will be new, it will look old, if that makes sense.lolol
LOVE my old house. It has actually been in my family for generations – it was built sometime in the 1800′s – It’s an old, drafty, wood plank house. And, I am delighted to have the ability to raise my daughter in the house that I grew up in. We have modernized it a bit – redone the kitchen, fresh paint colors that are more my style than were my parents, but that is really it. But, at the same time, I have to admit – It would be nice to have more than one bathroom or at least a 1/2 bath – maybe someday. Maybe.
I only lived in a new home once. It was a townhouse. (This is California, after all.) The lack of yard would be expected, so I had no issues with it. That was way, way, way long ago. With kids, give me a yard to which I can kick them out of the house to.
Look at you all fancy with the survey poll! I really prefer old houses, but unfortunately could not find one in Columbus that was old and in move-in condition with a good school system that we could afford. All the old ones that I really liked with good schools were big fixer-uppers. So we ended up settling on a 20 year old house because that was what we could afford. But it’s not a cookie cutter neighborhood at least. And we have mature trees. My preference if money were not an option? The 90+ year old house. Your house sounds great!
To be fair, our 1904 has been tinkered with over time – master bath, up to date kitchen. But I am with you, no new box for me (cue Weeds theme song – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Boxes). C and I joke that we bought a used house.
i hate matchy matchy houses. but i love new, clean construction as long as it’s modern, with high ceilings, beautiful moldings and an open kitchen with bar stools.
Having just bought a brand new house…
I like both. I’d prefer something with character (old), but my husband prefers new. I’d prefer a big back yard, my husband sees it as more to mow.
We reconciled our differences – a new house on a big yard.
I grew up in an oldie. Love it and the hood. Out here in Vancouver, everything feels new.
Our house was built in 1917 and we did extensive remodel / addition two years ago or more. I lived through it while pregnant with #2, the feeding #2. We bought our house while pregnant with #1, focusing on the neighborhood, the charm and bought the smallest house in a nice area. Love that every house is different, that each has charm and beauty. Even the new houses that replaced the old in the neighborhood (for the most part) designed to “fit” but not mimic.
If you lived in Green Bay, I’d have thought you bought our place. Ah, the sharing of the bathroom. Especially fun when you have out-of-town visitors sharing, too, isn’t it? (Or maybe you have another for them…we didn’t.)
Hate to say it, but I go both ways. My preference is old homes and old neighborhoods, and our cottage (where the boys and I hide out for the summer) was built in 1873 and is in a town with a main street straight out of the 50′s, ice cream store, and all. I wouldn’t have it any other way. But our other house, our “real” one, is newer. When we moved here, we looked and looked at the old houses, and just couldn’t afford an old one that wasn’t falling apart. We could buy a newer one, not in need of repair, for less. My husband was starting a company and travelling and I had two babies…does it sound like I’m justifying?! I totally am. Ah, well, we do what we have to do, right?
I want some character. That’s for sure. Our house is only about 50 years old. I could have gone much older, but my husband is more of a wanting it new kind of guy. I figure 50 years is the mid-point.
Our one and only true single family home was brand new construction. We loved the layout of the house and the amenities inside, but hated the neighborhood — they cut down all the trees to build the development. We bought there because we didn’t like the location of any of the older houses we looked at (and we couldn’t afford living closer to DC at that time).
Now we’re closer to DC, in a TH which is about 40 years old. Some days I wish we had a yard, but I love the character of this place and there are enough upgrades to make it feel new-ish inside.
I really yearn for an old bungalow though. With a beautiful front porch and wood detailing inside. But I couldn’t hack a do-it-yourself type model (J and I just aren’t that handy!)
Hubby & I are looking for our first house and I’m in the “newer” category. We don’t really want to do many upgrades (can’t afford it at the moment…we’re in our early 20s) and I don’t want to run the risk of having expensive stuff break and have to replace it. I’ll admit that I do NOT want to share a bathroom with my kids when we have them, lol. Hubby & I both HATE HATE HATE brand-new houses; we want a larger backyard (we’d actually prefer an acre or more, but it looks like that’s not quite in the budget for our first house…) and we hate the cookie cutter aspect of new houses. They look nice but I want my house to be unique and not like every other one on the street. Also, I want old, established trees in the neighborhood.
I LOVE older houses, but do like the modern conveniences. The two houses we’ve owned (currently living in the 2nd) were both fixer uppers; the first built in 1973, so not terribly old, and the current one built in 1970. I’d love to go older, hubby says no way. However, I’ve promised him our next home will NOT be a fixer upper, so if I can find an older home that is move in ready and in great condition, then maybe I can convince him
I think of myself as an old house person – I love old houses, love living in a town that is just FULL of old houses. But I’ve never lived in one, and when we moved here I ended up going custom built. Sigh. (But I will say my house is in good proportion to the lot and we use every room, every day.) I don’t think it was practical considerations that made the difference for me in the end but rather the triumph of one kind of emotionalism over another: when I was six, my parents moved into a brand-new house on the outskirts of a small town, and so something just felt very right about this curving street with town on one side of it and hayfields on the other.
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