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When a home changes hands, it often needs a little work. And if the new owners are already spending the money on repairs, it might be the perfect time to update the exterior as well. Unfortunately, you can't buy good taste.
The TikTok account 'Crime Designs' is dedicated to calling out questionable renovations. By sharing before-and-after photos—many of which are pulled from Google Street View—it shows how quickly character can disappear in the name of modernization.
Are gray paint, sleek lines, and minimalist facades always an improvement? We'll let you decide.
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It might be tempting to exchange the old for the new, but if it is not something people actually need, they might be better off resisting the urge.
Holly Bowden, a real estate agent with Ray White Wilston in Brisbane, Australia, says the first thing homeowners should remember when renovating is to avoid adding anything that won't bring value to the property.
"Recently, a client asked me if they should change their windows to aluminum; there was nothing wrong with the windows — they were beautiful — so that's not going to add value," she explains.
According to Bowden, home remodeling should strike a careful balance between broad appeal and individual character, even if you aren't planning an immediate sale. While risk-averse designers might push for complete depersonalization to make a house marketable, she believes keeping a touch of personality is actually a benefit.
Bowden warns against the hyper-neutral, all-white-and-cream aesthetic, noting that it strips away color and leaves a property looking identical to every other house on the block.
To avoid creating a cold, overly stark environment, she recommends infusing some color and personal style, or working with a skilled designer who knows how to make a space feel distinct without overdoing it.
#6
Stina Lamar 2 days ago
The pic makes it look like turned it into just a wall. …Wait. Is it just a wall? Lol
#9
Upstaged75 2 days ago
Now you have a big white box that doesn't match anything else in the neighborhood.
Another big no-no is DIY renovations. Bowden encourages owners to use professionals when seriously upgrading a home.
“I've seen it where people say 'I've done it myself' rather than getting a professional, then it looks botched and doesn't look great," the real estate agent adds.
If the owners ever want to sell their house, buyers will definitely notice the poor workmanship and start to doubt the quality of the entire property.
Some of the transformations you see on this list might very well be the work of house flippers. Every residential area has a price ceiling, and if you want to profit when reselling a house, you need to cater to that upper limit before remodeling.
High-end additions that might make sense for a family who plans to stay long-term—like triple-glazed windows, commercial-grade kitchens, or professional-grade appliances—rarely yield a positive return on investment in purely monetary terms.
That's because average buyers usually do not recognize the premium cost or appreciate the added value, meaning resellers rarely recoup their expenses when they build past local market expectations.
When we look at who is the most active in the home remodeling market, the 2026 U.S. Houzz & Home Study shows that Baby Boomers accounted for the largest share of homeowners undertaking renovation projects in 2025 (54%), though this is down five percentage points from the previous year.
Gen Xers followed at 34%, up five points year over year, while Millennials edged up from 8% to 10%.
Gen Z homeowners represent only 0.5% of renovators, up from 0.2% in 2024. But they are significantly more likely to renovate following a recent home purchase (63%) compared with Millennials (31%), Gen Xers (19%), and Baby Boomers (18%).
Among Gen Z renovators, 33% cite lifestyle changes as a trigger for renovation, while 22% point to home damage.
#21
Ryan-James O'Driscoll 1 day ago
My only issue with the new one is the grey wall and the odd window size and placement
#22
ChickyChicky 2 days ago
Would you like your home to look more like a dentist's office? Have we got the architect for you!
#23
Eileen Ryan 2 days ago
Why are so many of these homes getting rid of their green spaces? Not only does it look bad, it's terrible for the environment
#33
#38
#39
#40
wiseass20 wiseass20 1 day ago
This is the best upgrade, more light, basically the same, more parking but some nature left... Could have been different paint scheme though
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#49
Vermonta 2 days ago
its just before and after. I agree with you, its a huge improvement.
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Norm Gilmore 2 days ago
I'm not a car person but it does look like the cars are the correct vintages in the photos..
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Slarthi_Bartfass 2 days ago
This is the first one I also would say is a HUUUGE improvement. It looks a bit like they tried to restore it the original shape. But could be totally wrong..
Rebecca Ferguson 5 hours ago
Okay, so this one I can agree with because I really dislike this original type of architecture.
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What do you think ?
Janelle Collard 2 days ago
That's nice -strip out all of the soul. smh Obviously, some of these remodels aren't bad. But like one of the commenters said: the building got turned into something that housed dentists' offices.
Whiskers 2 days ago
Did you notice: in 9 of the old photos there are people (+ 1 with only a dog) in the garden, but only 1 of the new ones shows any sign of life (not counting cars as life). Well, I wouldn’t like to spend time on stony yard either… As a whole: awful shame that almost every pic showed how lawn, flowers, bushes, and trees have disappeared.😢
C M 1 day ago
A few of these are in the area I live. Every time an original house comes up for sale we wait to see how it will be developed. The worst are the ones in my immediate roads because we have gardens just under an acre. The developers always put multiple properties on the site of each house with tiny garden & never a front garden, just driveway & parking.
Did I say that out loud? 1 day ago
Off street parking is a requirement for any new development. For that you need to blame whoever made the rules.
Load More Replies... 
Janissary35680 2 days ago
Yes, that seems to be a common thread running through these renovations. Someone made a comment about local councils banning street parking without a permit and this may be an unintended consequence of that trend.
Load More Replies... Heffalump 2 days ago
Oh for goodness sake. None of the older versions were such magnificent specimens of architectural wonder that mankind's heritage is measurably debased by the changes. They are houses, built for a purpose, and they got changed because they were no longer fit for purpose today, either because of layout, energy efficiency, or high maintenance. That's it. Old buildings get remodelled or knocked down. When the old house was built, the neighbours probably complained about it too. Sometimes a homeowner would rather have a smaller garden and a huge chunk of money. It's their house. Seriously, there is no problem here.
Andy 2 days ago
While some buildings get demolished because they are not longer fit for purpose, or to build in a new style, that's sadly not what has happened to the majority of these. They have been bought by "developers" because they have decent sized gardens which can be built over, and attics that can be extended into. They want to cram as many rooms as they can, and pave everything so there is no maintenance while selling it. Because they are doing it on the cheap, no effort is made to match the original house's features, instead they just use cheap standard materials, then slap a white render over everything.
Load More Replies... Becky Samuel 19 hours ago
Americans seem so enamoured of mid to late 20th century bog-standard British housing. It's not special, it's not clever, it's not sustainable, and it's not particularly well suited to modern living. Nobody much liked it when it was built, and few are mourning its passing. There is little desire for gardens these days, as they are expensive and labour-intensive. Parking is at a premium, so people will always prioritise front driveways over front gardens. Trees near the house are expensive to maintain and cause problems with insurance companies. If you personally want to live in a house that costs the earth to heat, is environmentally unsustainable, needs 5 hours of yard work (minimum) a week, freezes in the winter, and has no room for your cars, nobody is stopping you.
wiseass20 wiseass20 1 day ago
Paved Paradise n put n a parking lot, kept going through my mind, no one wants to maintain their yards, lots of dull colors, I hope they chose better on the insides
Mark Bayliss 1 day ago
The thing is, times move on. This happens every x years and everyone longs for the past. A lot of old houses are dark inside and a lot of the modern designs will be much lighter inside regardless of what it may look like from the outside, have modern facilities that the old hoses didn’t support. Just my opinion.
V 1 day ago
My biggest issue with most of these is the removal of gardens and green spaces. Because so many people do it when they renovate it does affect us all. It does affect local bird and insect populations that are vital for pollination.
Load More Replies... Caffeinated Ape 2 days ago
A bunch of these were lateral moves in my opinion (and a bunch more were outright improvements), although almost every single one saw reduced greenery which is a d**n shame.
David Beth 2 days ago
The only opinion that matters for every one of these is the opinion of the owner.
OktopuS 2 days ago
The way people treat their own property affects us all - not just visually, but in the way they strip gardens and replace them with asphalt, removing shade, space for natural life and increasing runoff when it rains.
Load More Replies... Rebecca Ferguson 5 hours ago
Please stop complaining about how hot it is getting, loss of animals due to no habitat or insect life if people stop destroying or denuding their gardens. Humans are the dumbest species on this planet.
FlagCityDiva 14 hours ago
Not as drastic as some of these, yet the house we sold looks very different from the way we left it. The worst part is all the brick work that's been painted white.
Cuppa tea? 16 hours ago
Imho,most of them aren't remodeling, renovation or rebuilding. They just used the plot and retained maybe 4 outer walls to build something completely new.
Nikki Sevven 17 hours ago
I hate nearly every single one of these people with the burning passion of a million supernovae.
Janelle Collard 2 days ago
That's nice -strip out all of the soul. smh Obviously, some of these remodels aren't bad. But like one of the commenters said: the building got turned into something that housed dentists' offices.
Whiskers 2 days ago
Did you notice: in 9 of the old photos there are people (+ 1 with only a dog) in the garden, but only 1 of the new ones shows any sign of life (not counting cars as life). Well, I wouldn’t like to spend time on stony yard either… As a whole: awful shame that almost every pic showed how lawn, flowers, bushes, and trees have disappeared.😢
C M 1 day ago
A few of these are in the area I live. Every time an original house comes up for sale we wait to see how it will be developed. The worst are the ones in my immediate roads because we have gardens just under an acre. The developers always put multiple properties on the site of each house with tiny garden & never a front garden, just driveway & parking.
Did I say that out loud? 1 day ago
Off street parking is a requirement for any new development. For that you need to blame whoever made the rules.
Load More Replies... Janissary35680 2 days ago
Yes, that seems to be a common thread running through these renovations. Someone made a comment about local councils banning street parking without a permit and this may be an unintended consequence of that trend.
Load More Replies... Heffalump 2 days ago
Oh for goodness sake. None of the older versions were such magnificent specimens of architectural wonder that mankind's heritage is measurably debased by the changes. They are houses, built for a purpose, and they got changed because they were no longer fit for purpose today, either because of layout, energy efficiency, or high maintenance. That's it. Old buildings get remodelled or knocked down. When the old house was built, the neighbours probably complained about it too. Sometimes a homeowner would rather have a smaller garden and a huge chunk of money. It's their house. Seriously, there is no problem here.
Andy 2 days ago
While some buildings get demolished because they are not longer fit for purpose, or to build in a new style, that's sadly not what has happened to the majority of these. They have been bought by "developers" because they have decent sized gardens which can be built over, and attics that can be extended into. They want to cram as many rooms as they can, and pave everything so there is no maintenance while selling it. Because they are doing it on the cheap, no effort is made to match the original house's features, instead they just use cheap standard materials, then slap a white render over everything.
Load More Replies... Becky Samuel 19 hours ago
Americans seem so enamoured of mid to late 20th century bog-standard British housing. It's not special, it's not clever, it's not sustainable, and it's not particularly well suited to modern living. Nobody much liked it when it was built, and few are mourning its passing. There is little desire for gardens these days, as they are expensive and labour-intensive. Parking is at a premium, so people will always prioritise front driveways over front gardens. Trees near the house are expensive to maintain and cause problems with insurance companies. If you personally want to live in a house that costs the earth to heat, is environmentally unsustainable, needs 5 hours of yard work (minimum) a week, freezes in the winter, and has no room for your cars, nobody is stopping you.
wiseass20 wiseass20 1 day ago
Paved Paradise n put n a parking lot, kept going through my mind, no one wants to maintain their yards, lots of dull colors, I hope they chose better on the insides
Mark Bayliss 1 day ago
The thing is, times move on. This happens every x years and everyone longs for the past. A lot of old houses are dark inside and a lot of the modern designs will be much lighter inside regardless of what it may look like from the outside, have modern facilities that the old hoses didn’t support. Just my opinion.
V 1 day ago
My biggest issue with most of these is the removal of gardens and green spaces. Because so many people do it when they renovate it does affect us all. It does affect local bird and insect populations that are vital for pollination.
Load More Replies... Caffeinated Ape 2 days ago
A bunch of these were lateral moves in my opinion (and a bunch more were outright improvements), although almost every single one saw reduced greenery which is a d**n shame.
David Beth 2 days ago
The only opinion that matters for every one of these is the opinion of the owner.
OktopuS 2 days ago
The way people treat their own property affects us all - not just visually, but in the way they strip gardens and replace them with asphalt, removing shade, space for natural life and increasing runoff when it rains.
Load More Replies... Rebecca Ferguson 5 hours ago
Please stop complaining about how hot it is getting, loss of animals due to no habitat or insect life if people stop destroying or denuding their gardens. Humans are the dumbest species on this planet.
FlagCityDiva 14 hours ago
Not as drastic as some of these, yet the house we sold looks very different from the way we left it. The worst part is all the brick work that's been painted white.
Cuppa tea? 16 hours ago
Imho,most of them aren't remodeling, renovation or rebuilding. They just used the plot and retained maybe 4 outer walls to build something completely new.
Nikki Sevven 17 hours ago
I hate nearly every single one of these people with the burning passion of a million supernovae.
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