Homes of Enchantment

[mmaestro]

Both this weekend, and last, B and I went around Albuquerque's Homes of Enchantment Parade. This is basically a showcase for home builders to show what they can do. There's everything from homes under $250k to $2.5 million dollar homes. Last week, we did the million dollar homes. A quick word on those - not impressed. From a slew of really bad

Comments

[itchyfidget]

This was really disappointing to read :(

Over here, perhaps a less dramatic version of the same thing is happening. New-build city centre flats (can't speak for houses; never see 'em) are aping the existing ones, but often falling short. The ones that are expensive are generally pretty good (reasonably-sized spaces, decent fixtures, good workmanship) whereas the ones that are actually affordable are poor imitations: tiny rooms, low ceilings (so not in the warehouse style their owners aspire to), and an overall sense of claustrophobia. Two-bedroom places tend to have one bedroom into which you can comfortably fit a double bed and a wardrobe, and a second bedroom into which you could just fit a double bed and nothing else (so really, what's the point??)

Until I have half a million quid to spend on a flat, give me the older blocks any day, even if they don't have designer kitchens. Our ceiling is 12 feet high and our lounge has about five square metres of window. OK, so we have very little floorspace (<500 square feet), but honestly,

[sparkofcreation]

My point to Gareth is that really, you only need floorspace if the layout sucks. We saw some 2000 or even 3000 square feet houses that felt more cramped than our 1100 sf apartment.

[itchyfidget]

I heartily agree; I've been in flats approaching double the size of ours that felt infinitely more cramped.