That is the problem with decorating by trends. It is short lived and taste specific.

Just remember you are never going to find the "perfect house". Flooring, counter tops can all be changed. Location and layout can't. If a home has eighty percent of your need/wants then your doing good.

I just hate the idea of ripping out new flooring, especially when they've refloored the entire house. Often I like the cabinets and counter but the backsplash is really busy or the undertone is off with the counter. It's really difficult to get it just right. Then there's the problem of remodeled showers with tile that would be hard to live with. We remodeled our shower three years ago and it's not something I ever want to do again.

I think realtors must be advising sellers to change everything to a gray palette. I like gray but I don't want it in every room, which is what gray flooring on the entire first floor forces you into.

Ugh. I’m with you all the way, Eileen. In my area, houses are touted as Freshly Painted. You guessed it: painted gray. They should have not painted at all. 🤯

Real estate shows and design television have convinced a lot of people that a house needs to display the latest of trends to be of interest to anybody. Staging, which used to be cleaning up, organizing and replacing a worn out finish has turned almost into flipping your own house for resale. And nobody is going to spend top dollar on something they are selling immediately if they can avoid it. I think a lot of talking head "experts" on TV advise people to do this but the realtors I know are not routinely advising people to do this.

On top of this, most of the new finishes are not picked by professionals, they are picked out by the homeowners or, in a flip, some contractor or the contractor's wife or girlfriend or whoever. And they are going to pick something that is trendy and cheap.

"Just remember you are never going to find the "perfect house". Flooring, counter tops can all be changed. Location and layout can't. If a home has eighty percent of your need/wants then your doing good."

^^ This. And then you live in it a year or three or more until you, (1) know what you want to do with the interior, and (b) have saved up enough to do what you want and do it right.

I never approached house-hunting with the attitude that I could find all the "must-haves" (location, floorplan, attached garage, lot size, etc) and the interior would be such that I wouldn't have to do anything except maybe paint. Reality just doesn't work that way.

Although, I do know what you mean. Some homes are just a total turn-off on the

inside. For me, that's all-gray -- gray floors, gray kitchen, gray walls, all of it. It is hideous and hard to get past, for me. You just have to train yourself to see the potential behind the ugliness. And be realistic about the cost, of course -- paint and carpet are one thing, rehabbing an entire kitchen or houseful of rooms is another thing entirely. Not just in dollars and cents but in cost of time, inconvenience, and aggravation.

Change is a chore at best…but unavoidable and worth whatever it takes to get the basics right…we built our retirement home to completely serve our needs…such a relief not to worry about re-sale…

To address your frustrating dilemma, just keep on looking. In this (over priced) market, I wish you good luck.

Oh Eileen, I feel your pain. i also am house hunting and I’ve never before been so discouraged and depressed. GRAY GRAY GRAY! I want to run out screaming like I’m in a Steven King or Alfred Hitchcock movie These homes have been redone and the prices have been raised because it’s all ’new’ inside, except for the green formica bathroom. They kept that yet put in a new gray floor in the bathroom.

I need to rip out all this major new work and redo it to a non trendy neutral to go with my non trendy furniture if I ever get to see it again as it’s been in storage for months while I hunt. I feel so hopeless.

I think it's especially hard with bad updates because they jack up the price of the home to try to recoup their costs, so if you have to re-do their bad choices, it feels like you are paying double. Unfortunately, there is probably a good sized chunk of the population who will be swayed by the latest gray trendy floors and paint, won't have the discerning eye to see stuff doesn't really 'go' together; they'll just be happy there are quartz countertops and white cabinets, even if they are crappy.

I had having to rip out new “upgrades”, I would rather have all original.

I dislike gray, but gray on the walls puts green in my pocket. When I flip a home it is gray walls, dark wood flooring, and new white moldings. I wouldn't live in it, but thanks to HGTV, it is my best chance at a higher price.

As a buyer, I don't like trendy. However, as a seller, I love trendy. I would absolutely rip out the stuff I do myself.

The townhouse next to mine was bought by a "house for cash" company. They remodeled the whole house in grey including grey LVT flooring, grey walls and grey tile. The listing pictures looked like B&W photos except for an occasional pop of color. It sold in 2 days for $20,000 over asking.

I would not have bought the house as I prefer warm colors but the new owner is thrilled.

I hear what everyone is saying about gray, but we have to give gray some leeway, as in there are grays and then there are grays. It's the undertone that makes or breaks it...and the natural lighting.

I just did a north facing bedroom in B.M. Excalibur Gray and, if I do say so myself, it is a winner.

Another fav is B.M. Gray Cashmere...a true chameleon.

It's not a dislike of gray. I like gray and used gray and white in my bathroom remodel. Flooring, though, has permanence so I prefer something neutral and of a lasting quality rather than trendy materials of lower quality. I'm not a first-time homebuyer shopping in the type of market that caters to them. Most of the homes we've liked are in established neighborhoods, so trendy remodels don't make a lot of sense. Don't get me started on barn doors!

A gold star to Toronto Veterinarian for nailing it. ROFL!

Our next-door neighbour flipper repainted his buy with lots of grey. And then staged it with a truckload of grey furniture. Ten mos. later he net gained C$343.6k tax free. (Only sorry mrs. worthy stomped her feet and stopped us following suit!)

Hideous, eh?

This isn't about the color gray. The striped-looking natural wood flooring is actually worse.

That house is tastefully remodeled. Monotones work well with contemporary styles.

But take a house built in the '80s, a ranch or a split-level for example, and put in a gray floor without updating the rest of the home. That's what I'm seeing.

Case in point. Home built in 1983. Sold four months ago and flipped for $200,000 more than the flippers paid. It's cold and uninviting, ie. ugly.

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/12185-SW-128th-Ave_Tigard_OR_97223_M24685-01582?ex=2945233194

This is a Discussion Forum. Not a QandA Forum. If someone wants to have a Discussion that has neither a specific question nor a specific answer I am not sure why that's a problem .

It's cold and uninviting

More generously, it's blank and featureless. However, I doubt if the original had any style either! (Unless you count pink w.c.s.)

We opened up lots of 19th C. homes, but still retained trim, doors and floors when possible and rolled back exterior "improvements".

Before worthy work.

After

The example house looks fine. It is unrealistic to expect sellers to upgrade to a specific hypothetical buyer's taste rather than go for broad appeal. To you it is cold and uninviting/ugly; it also isn't what I would keep. You hate the floors; I very much hate all of that white. I'd be painting prior to moving in, adding a lot of colorful accessories and resigning myself to living with those kitchen choices.

Blaming the sellers, especially when their choices work for a sale, isn't going to help you find a move-in home to your liking. If such wishing worked, believe me, white kitchen cabinets would not have existed when we were house hunting. But your frustration with the hunt, when the majority of the offerings have when you dislike, I understand.

"Home built in 1983. Sold four months ago and flipped for $200,000 more than the flippers paid. It's cold and uninviting, ie. ugly."

$200,000 more...

I don't mind the example house so much either; that age and style of home is difficult to ruin too much with generic or on trend choices. What I really hate is seeing homes that actually have some personality, features or style, turned into a field of gray because buyers have no appreciation or imagination beyond the latest trend. But, hey, everyone's making $$, so to heck with integrity or history.

I doubt it will sell for that, bry. It's 1400 ft.

Here's another prime example. It's the whole shebang--floor, counter, and backslash. But gray walls so it's on trend. The wood-look flooring on the second floor is different than this. Different wood-look flooring throughout the home is another pet peeve.

"Still, no question."

This is a DISCUSSION board.

@Stax. Usually more than you do, yes.

Eileen I’ve experienced the same as you. Last year I was looking at homes to buy. The market was too brisk for me to buy from out of state. I have been looking at original older homes, cosmetic fixers. Well, those that I liked sold quickly at a great price. Six or so months later, I’ve seen several back on the market at 25%-35 more $$$ and what I label “ubiquitous, boring, ugly.” Most tore out walls, removed quirky original decor and they look like everything I loathe. Sigh. I’m now in a great rental that I may be interested in buying and doing some minor updates. But, yes, Eileen- I agree with you. It was so frustrating.

I encountered this on my last house-hunt and ended up buying something very outdated and ugly in an idyllic location in a fancy neighborhood, then saving for 3 years for a giant remodel. If something more up-market is not in the cards for you right now like it wasn’t for me, could you try something like this?

I have always chosen the ugliest house where the bones are good. I don't care what the decorating looks like because I'm going to eventually change it all to suit my taste. As long as the layout works, there are the right number of bedrooms and bathrooms and the kitchen can work, it's doable. Why? Because then I'm most likely going to get the house that has been sitting on the market a while and I'll be able to get it for a good price.

If you want everything perfect to your heart's desires, then you need to build custom because even a tract home won't give you what you want.

The other problem with HGTV, besides thinking we need to paint all the walls gray, make all the cabinets white and gray and put in wood look floors throughout is the notion that when buying a previous owned house, that it should perfectly suit our tastes.