3 Surefire Ways to Ruin a House

A few weeks ago, before our team meeting, a conversation began that got us all up in arms. We were talking about the feeling of walking into a brand new house, where everything looks great … until you see something that throws everything off. We put it to our followers on Instagram and it turns out that it’s not just us that notices these things!

We’ve boiled this conversation down into 3 (perfectly avoidable) ways to ruin a house:

Remember when Mitsubishi released a ‘feature’ red heat pump… surely no one asked for this?

Placement

One surefire way to ruin a new house is when placement is off. This is true for all furnishings and fixtures - but here are a few that really wind us up:

• Heat pump front and center -  there couldn’t be an uglier feature than a big old heat pump in a prominent place . It’s not the fujitsu’s fault … it’s made to be practical, not pretty. Heating should be factored in at the design stage to avoid poor placement. 

• Beastly Pendants - we love a statement pendant, but there’s a line that shouldn’t be crossed. If it impedes your sight or movement, it’s not a statement …  it’s in the way. 

• Feature Loo’s - a toilet shouldn’t be in direct line of sight when entering a bathroom (or glancing into it from the hallway). Let’s be real - the door will be left open … it’s much nicer to see a beautiful vanity, tiled shower, or bath! 

So many yellow accents! This room could really do with 1-2 less yellow items, or the addition of 1-2 more colours.

Palette 

The colour palette of your home is key - if it’s ‘off’ the space can feel cheap, cold, bland… or any number of things you don’t want your house to feel like. Here are a couple of obvious examples:

• One colour wonder - when there’s only one or two overdone ‘accent’ colours in a whole house, it begins to feel one-dimensional, and way too ‘matchy-matchy’. A layered palette is much more sophisticated and interesting. 

• Mismatched tapware - with so many finishes available in the current market, it’s easy to get carried away. We once saw a bathroom which included matte black, brass, copper, chrome and brushed nickel hardware... it was pure chaos. Pick a maximum of two finishes and stick to them throughout the house!

There’s a dissatisfying lack of symmetry here with the tiles behind the vanity and tap.

Workmanship 

When it comes to workmanship, you want to “do it once, and do it right”. Here are some telltale signs of poor workmanship that we look out for … 

• Grout lines - tiles that have been laid without attention to the overall layout of a bathroom are easy to spot. You’ll get a line of really thin tiles at the far edge of the room, grout lines that don’t line up with the tapware, or a vanity that feels like it’s in the wrong place.  A good tiler will plan the layout before a job begins in conversation with the Interior Designer or Architect. 

• Door hanging - okay, this is definitely one for the detail oriented… but it’s Jack’s pet peeve. A properly hung door will have the skirtings sitting at the exact same angle on either side of a door, and an even margin of space between the door and the frame the whole way around. Even though we’re talking about millimeters here, if it’s ‘off ‘and you notice it … you can never un-notice it.

Bad Art …

What our followers on Instagram said …

“White and grey everything - bleh” 

“Curtains that don’t reach the floor”

“A house at the top of a hill with no view”

“Carpet in the dining area”

“Kitchen cupboards that don’t reach the ceiling/ bulkhead”

“Bad Art”

“Live, laugh, love signs”

“Fancy bathrooms … with acrylic shower bases”

The Takeaway?

One of our mantra’s is ‘the details build the bigger picture’. This is true of every build - whatever the budget. One of the most interesting things we noticed about the things that came up during this conversation, was that (more often than not), it doesn’t have to cost more to do it better.

So what does it take? Good planning and a great team! The ‘team’ aspect is key - not just individuals who are great at their jobs, but a team of people who are great at their jobs, working together to make sure everything is in harmony. Drop us a line using the button below if you have any questions - we’d love to help.