What makes a house look cheap? What makes it look fancy?

[dpmiller]

8 hours ago, puntloos said:

 

Yes, this is a lot along the lines of what I am thinking. Most "devices" (power sockets, doors, anything you can buy at Home Depot)

 

Umm, which country are we in?

[Bitpipe]

52 minutes ago, puntloos said:

Do you have a bit more info on this? My impression from a quick google is it's a bit .. shiny.. 

 

We used a Sika product (comfort floor) and it's quite matt. TBH any shininess disappeared very quickly during use as surface buffed up (we occasionally see the difference when a rug is lifted).

 

It is bullet proof, only ever had one tiny chip on the topcoat in the utility which was due to me being too vigorous moving the washing machine. 

 

Topcoat can be renewed if you want to change colour etc, it's very, very thin - the substrate itself is only 2-3mm deep.

 

Stairs from here... (stock photo)

 

https://max-stairs.co.uk/offer/93-2/

 

52 minutes ago, puntloos said:

 

Doors? ?

 

FSN doors

 

 

[jack]

On 26/02/2022 at 14:27, Bitpipe said:

... but we also used MK white sockets & switches everywhere (aside from brushed satin in kitchen on the glass splash back) as they are very well built but also are not that noticeable.

 

Buying sockets and switches with brushed stainless covers was an expensive error on my part, especially given how many of them we have around the place. I'm not even sure why we did it tbh - I think we thought they might be better quality than plastic mainstream stuff, but that hasn't been my experience.

 

I don't know how much more it cost us - a few hundred quid, I suspect. 

[redtop]

I like the hager sockets and switches. White, good quality and very rounded edges. I notice things like that lol.

[ProDave]

Click mode is my favourite for cheap but good sockets. Tool station well them

[Carrerahill]

On 26/02/2022 at 10:37, ProDave said:

...ANY kitchen worktop apart from cheap laminate with those horrible corner joining strips etc.

Ah yes, the old "salmonella strip"!

 

[markc]

15 minutes ago, Carrerahill said:

Ah yes, the old "salmonella strip"!

 

Omg yes, saw it recently on a “bespoke/high end” (according to the owner) install 🙈 

[CharlieKLP]

I think you can make anything look good or bad with lighting. 
 

I really mean more of the ‘warm/cool” and lighting a room where you focus on things like furniture or a painting or something.
 

You can really tell if someone with thought has lit a room, and personally I’m not a fan of disco strips in coving or uplighters on stairs, but it seems to be the fashion. What I have in my house is strips of LEDs around the bath, and around the tv too, I like it because it’s functional. 
 

lighting and texture and space, that’s what I think is quality.

[SteamyTea]

2 hours ago, CharlieKLP said:

I think you can make anything look good or bad with lighting

I find putting a paper bag over my partner's head works as well.

Everyone is a winner.

[ToughButterCup]

On 25/02/2022 at 12:24, puntloos said:

... More generic principles?

 

Your post asks the hardest question  in the realm of self-building.

 

The more you look at houses (or anything else) the more informed you become. If during that educational process you are fortunate enough to be taught how to look at houses, - or teach yourself how -  and what to look for, then the more sophisticated your taste becomes. In other words on continued engagement with the topic, todays fancy   often becomes  tomorrow's cheap.

 

And engagement is what every single member is here for.

 

As an example, take foundation design. Many of us had never heard of an insulated raft design before building our houses. We would not have known what to look for or why that design is so desirable. Now, just a glimpse of a small piece of EPS300 poking above the edging strip round the base of a house is enough to make us suspect that the foundation is insulated.  Fancy  if you like. As well as warmer.

 

In this sector, the steeper the learning curve, the wider the choice. That doesn't mean we can't choose cheap, but we can choose  fancy  on the basis of having sweated the detail of why (to cite a current example) @pocster's  choice of Jungheinrich wood to metal screws is a good one.

 

 

[Carrerahill]

23 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

I find putting a paper bag over my partner's head works as well.

Everyone is a winner.

Cruel!