lol. It’s true that older construction tended to be higher quality- something that often bothers me in newer “knock down” homes. Veneers vs. hardwoods, cheap fittings like switch plates and such, cheap moldings with poor joints that aren’t square, things like outlet openings and door hardware holes often not square or centered… all sorts of little annoying signs of lack of care or quality. But in fairness- most people don’t need or want those things and don’t want to pay for them, or over a relatively short span will change and “remodel” making it somewhat moot. A more recent trend in homes has seen “open floor plans” and especially “open kitchens” become very popular. Often an obligatory “breakfast bar” counter similar to a style popular in the 1980’s that had become a touch dated and likely will become dated in the future. It isn’t only possible but likely that a home built in the 1980’s would have had a “breakfast bar,” then had an owner remove it as dated, then the same or…
.. a different owner tear down the newly added wall and earlier walls to “open” the kitchen up. The “kitchen island” so many have added, if made of fine materials and craftsmanship, would be quite a waste of and when in a decade or a couple, the island falls from fashion and so many find themselves being torn out. Avoiding things like cables snaked across the home is certainly a touch of class, but it’s also true that those late 90’s and early 2000’s homes with extensive and expensive pre wiring for internet and entertainment often find their wiring no longer up to task as technology changes and can’t keep up with modern standards. This is akin to the “tv nooks” and “phone nooks” many homes had built in which often are located in places modern families don’t use those appliances, or where modern televisions are the wrong size and shape to even fit the nook and many no longer even have home phones making them curiosities that sometimes work nicely for a shelf or such but often just…
.. end up an odd space to deal with aesthetically or a thing to convert to a closet or be sealed off behind drywall.
Many homes, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area- were equipped with often ornate and expensive having doorbell chimes around the turn of last century. Many owners removed these because they were old, often did not work anymore, and didn’t meet the aesthetic of the times. In recent years, restoring, replacing, or even adding these doorbells to homes that never had them has become en vogue again.
I suppose that with the levels of personalization and the general finickiness of the home owner, we’ve moved to the point where most homes are- beyond providing shelter, just a canvas to hang style from. People generally care more about the overall aesthetic of a structure and how it is decorated than they do about the materials and craft.
More over I would say that the average home owner doesn’t want to or is incapable of caring for nicer homes anyway. If you have holes in your wall then this probably certainly applies because walls are not really meant to be touched, what purpose would one other than perhaps the unsighted have in touching their walls? It is common to see dirt or grease and soil on doors in many homes. Doors are designed to be handled by… their handles. It is in the name. If one is only touching the knobs or handles, there would not be grease and soil on other parts of the door would there?
Hardwood floors can be sanded and refinished when they become scratched, but this is not something that is meant to need doing every couple of years. People are often too rough or careless on their floors to have nice hardwood. It is better in their case often to simply spend the money every so often to replace vinyl or veneer.
That isn’t a complaint on “people these days..” as there have always been people who could have nice things and people who couldn’t. The fact is that it is work. If you have nice knives and nice cookware and a nice cutting board etc. then you know that to keep them nice is work. At least a monthly striping and waxing of your boards, and you can’t just test your nice cookware like a dish rag and leave it “soaking” or abuse it- and to many people “abusive” actions with cookware are just “normal cooking.” Too high a heat for a specific tool, hearing totally dry and empty metalware, not properly seasoning or cleaning and drying cast iron, using metal tools with Teflon (if one uses Teflon..) and so forth.
A nice car must be waxed regularly- ideally not more than 3 to 6 months depending on details and with care in between waxing, with weekly washing and between as needed. Most people do not have the time or do not want to deal with these sorts of things.
So I don’t begrudge people in that. I myself often don’t want to be troubled by it and am not nearly wealthy enough to pay other people to do every little upkeep task which is required of every object I own. So I mean… yes, drywall is flimsy. It is also pretty cheap and is pretty easy to repair or replace oneself or even cheap enough to have it done professionally if there is a problem. Plaster is not cheap and it generally is not easy and it does tend to crack with age and even more so if you live somewhere with lots of ground movement or where you gone otherwise is prone to shifting etc. plaster repair is pretty easy but unless you retexture the entire wall or do a texture match the repairs aren’t seamless and they aren’t as strong generally. But if you don’t do things that will put holes in your walls it doesn’t really matter either way.
Many homes, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area- were equipped with often ornate and expensive having doorbell chimes around the turn of last century. Many owners removed these because they were old, often did not work anymore, and didn’t meet the aesthetic of the times. In recent years, restoring, replacing, or even adding these doorbells to homes that never had them has become en vogue again.
I suppose that with the levels of personalization and the general finickiness of the home owner, we’ve moved to the point where most homes are- beyond providing shelter, just a canvas to hang style from. People generally care more about the overall aesthetic of a structure and how it is decorated than they do about the materials and craft.
Hardwood floors can be sanded and refinished when they become scratched, but this is not something that is meant to need doing every couple of years. People are often too rough or careless on their floors to have nice hardwood. It is better in their case often to simply spend the money every so often to replace vinyl or veneer.
A nice car must be waxed regularly- ideally not more than 3 to 6 months depending on details and with care in between waxing, with weekly washing and between as needed. Most people do not have the time or do not want to deal with these sorts of things.