[paula1]

I was recently about to buy a cute cottage style house until the building report came and i withdrew my offer.

I've been looking at other houses and most of the ones in my budget are those ugly houses from the 70's. I find that there is very little that can be done to make these look nice. I know many peole render them but to me it doesn't make much difference.
I wish Californian Bungalows and other period homes were as affordable as these eyesores!

Have any of you been successful in renovating one of these houses?
Any ideas on what can make them look more appealing? I find they have no street appeal whatsoever.

Any advice would be great!

[ubermum]

I think it is a matter of personal taste. Given yours, I don't thing anyone's suggestions are going to help. Personally, I think they look fine when they are rendered and things like amber glass at front doors are replaced and updated and the garden is manicured.

[jobo77]

We live in a 70s house which is red brick - I personally don't find it that unattractive so we haven't done anything to the outside but lots of the houses in our suburb are gradually being "modernised" and it seems to involve cement rendering. Some of the houses look great and then when they add other features like a modern front door and wooden shutters it really makes it a huge difference! We are slowly working on internal things for now (about to install new insulation as the early 80s stuff that is in there doesnt seem to do much) and might get to the exterior one of these days...

[lifehacker]

A friend of ours purchased one, it was in a really nice area surrounded by villas and bungalows so it looked a little out of place but he specifically got it because apparently they are easy to renovate, the structure is fairly sound? He has spent a lot of money on it now and it looks unrecognisable. It's rendered and he added a thing (I don't know what they are called) around the entrance to the front door, changed all the windows and had an amazing garden put in, it looks like a new build now.

[`Comic Sans`]

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This post has been edited by *magenta*: 02/01/2013, 10:54 AM

[librablonde]

I guess it depends what you consider to be ugly from the 70's. I'm not a fan of 1970's brown brick veneer and lots of concreted areas. But my current 1970 weatherboard home has all the original features. I love retro furniture and op-shop treasures so our interior decorating in now a tribute to the groovy 70's. Kind of Brady Bunch set design meets hippy haven

[Magnus]

I agree, OP. I do find them to be quite unattractive, in general (at least most of the brick ones). I don't know if I'd want to buy one. I'd probably be inclined to go a little further out, or to a cheaper suburb, to get something that was more my style.

I'm a bit hung up on aesthetics, though. It sounds like a lot of people like that aesthetic (or don't mind it) and appreciate the solidity. I guess it depends where you're located too, because if it's cold they might retain heat better. Some people might like the layouts as well. If I was buying a flat I might go 70s before more recent builds as often they seem to have more generous floorplans and ceiling heights and sometimes better construction quality.

[paula1]

I would prefer a weatherboard but there is very little on the market at the moment so close to xmas.

Of course some look better than others. The particular one that i saw today had arches on the windows....

It also had no cornices anywhere and those really cheap and thin brown skirting boards. I know these things can be changed in the future.

This post has been edited by paula1: 09/12/2012, 03:07 PM

[tamjk]

Ugly and boxy.
However they are pretty easy to modify into something attractive. We're eyeing off one because we want to downsize and if we buy it the plan is to add wrap around verandas and some climbing roses to it which would drastically improve it's appearance.

[redkris]

Depends what kind of 70's house you're talking about. Ours is one of those massive open plan things with raked ceilings, exposed rafters, wooden cladding and exposed brick in some rooms, and a rather speccy floor to ceiling amber ripple glass window at one end of the living area. Built in 1973. Lots of people at open inspections were walking in and then walking straight back out again because they didn't like the 70's style of it.....so we picked it up for an absolute song. I think parts of it would be pretty hard to renovate, yeah, but I love the spacious feel of it. It also just "fits" in with the neighbourhood, being on the side of a tree-filled quarter acre hill block surrounded by other largish tree-filled blocks, all with their own 70's style houses. If we changed it too much I don't think it would work anymore, TBH.
Plus, I grew up in houses like this, I like them