Paved back gardens, thick blue carpets, 1970s curtains...

The house my parents bought a few years ago had wall-to-wall carpet in the kitchen.  In bathrooms, I can sort of understand (although I think it's icky), but the kitchen?  Makes absolutely no sense.

I grew up in a house in Michigan that wall to wall carpet in the bathroom and kitchen.  We found it strange but since it was a rental we went with it.  

Also, when i was living in DC, I lived in a row house that beautiful nearly 100 year old wood work that was painted over.  The owners stripped a lot of it down to the original wood but didn't get it all.  I just don't understand why people would cover up beautiful detailed wood work with paint. 

My parents never re-decorated beyond the mid-70's and the house was a time capsule of 1970's "style".  Our family room (den as it was called) had very long black and white shag carpeting, the living room had thick lime green carpeting with textured wall paper just for starters....

It sounds like your parents were at least pretty stylish for the 70s!   

We also have the notorious carpet in the bathroom. I think it's awful, and I have to remind L at every bathtime that she can't splash around in the tub. England has enough problems with mildew as it is... gross.   

It sounds like your parents were at least pretty stylish for the 70s!   

They were actually!  I didn't mention the shiny while vinyl couch, the zebra print "butterfly chair", the red vinyl easy chair and the bar my dad put in fronted with false white bricks on a background of black "mortar".....

We went out flat hunting yesterday. Saw a place with carpeted bathrooms, and another with blue-toned fake wood cupboards all over the kitchen, including the fridge and dishwasher doors. ugh. Also looked at a very nice place with a small back garden, but it only had a mini fridge with no freezer. And a fireplace downstairs that had been blocked up and had wine racks installed in it.

A friend of mine has a £300,000 to purchase a family-sized home.  He was having a hell of a time with older people who want to downsize, but have been told by their estate agent that their home is worth far more than it is in this recession and haven't redecorated since the 1970s.  They just couldn't fathom that it was going to cost someone tens of thousands of pounds to redecorate, fit a new kitchen and bathroom, etc.

He finally wound up with a new build.

A lot of homes around here are on the market and going nowhere.  Then you look at the estate agents' website and see the horror that is the decor in a lot of these places.

There is, I kid you not, a green textured rendering house on the market for offers over £295,000 (which means they're looking for about £320,000) that has 4 bedrooms and ONE bathroom and although the description says it's in need of 'modernisation' it needs a good £50,000 overhaul.  I mean, 4 beds and one loo?  Oh, it has green scalloped curtains throughout, too.

Needless to say, it's still up for sale!

 My mom bought a house that had 2 of the bedrooms and the kitchen done in the most hideous country-kitchen style wallpaper. It was light blue with thousands of tiny geese that had bows on their necks. Around the borders of the room were the same festive geese, but they were much larger.  It was unbelieveably ugly.

My mom bought a house that had 2 of the bedrooms and the kitchen done in the most hideous country-kitchen style wallpaper. It was light blue with thousands of tiny geese that had bows on their necks. Around the borders of the room were the same festive geese, but they were much larger.  It was unbelieveably ugly.

Wait, Dangerface I think the person that decorated your mother's house, did my father's house.  We pulled off Geese boarder in the kitchen to find duck boarder under it.   

how is red carpet for you?  could be cool, for a good few days?

http://www.vebra.com/home/search/vdetails.asp?src=agent&fd=337&bd=1&db=2&cl=252&pid=18813062

What 1 person sees as style, another sees as bad taste or over the top.

And what is wrong with a paved back yard? My back yard is concreted apart from a raised flower bed, it was when I moved in....makes a decent patio.

And a fireplace downstairs that had been blocked up and had wine racks installed in it.

And?? That seems quite sensible to me.   

And?? That seems quite sensible to me.   

Me too!  I thought that was a fabulous idea!    If we weren't planning to reinstate a real (either coal or wood-burning) fireplace in our living room, we might just do that instead. 

Oh and we have plush red carpeting in our bedroom that we picked out special to go with the decor when we recently redecorated.  We love it & have gotten a number of compliments on how nice it is. 

Our back garden is paved (stone paving).  We sat out on our patio yesterday with friends and had a great time! 

Now I really am hoping to address that horrible bathroom carpeting sometime in the next few months... 

We just helped a friend who's moved in to the neighborhood with her grocery shopping yesterday.  We pulled into her driveway (just like ours) and her whole back garden was paved.  It was a bizarre feeling as it was just like ours except ours is nice and green, and hers is paved over.  We like ours much better.

This relative's house is a real gem.

From the outside, it looks great. Stepping in, you are greeted with a peach, textured hallway with red plush flower patterned wall to wall carpeting (this is a theme). There are prints of creepy anthropomorphic cats. They were done by a mental patient. They look like it.

The front room could have come from the set of Life On Mars. In fact, my DH and I played a drinking game once - one drink for every time we saw something on the show that was also in her house. I'm surprised neither of us wound up in casualty. It is wood paneled, red carpeted, gold knick-knacked nightmare.

The downstairs bedroom (also red carpeted) used to be known affectionately as Turquoise Hell. The walls were a shade of turquoise which *glowed*. I wish that I was exaggerating, but I am not. Couple that with the red carpet and fuchsia, flower patterned curtains and this was quite possibly the most assault on the senses I have had since I had front row tickets at a death metal concert.

At the back of the house is the (you guessed it, red carpeted) dining room. This room has textured walls. They used to be a deep forest green - charming with the red carpet - but are now the same shade of peach as the hall. So yes, peach textured walls, red carpet, gold curtains, and more Life on Mars 1970's set dressing.

The kitchen has orange lino floor. I do not kid.

The downstairs bath has green carpet. I have no idea where that came from, given the outpouring of red. Carpet in bathrooms is bad enough, this is dark green carpet. It goes so well with the bile-green fixtures and tile.

Upstairs it gets a lot better (except for the continued red carpet). The walls, mercifully, are white and non-textured. The front bedroom has pale yellow walls and more red carpet. The other two bedrooms and upstairs bath are the only rooms in the house that are a rest for the senses!

I wish I had photos. It is a treat. 

I have a paved back garden. Only thing to say is I was so happy to find a house with a garden for the same amount we would have paid for a regular flat that I didn't notice it was paved. Now I'm always sweeping my yard and it never gets clean!