Period properties ruined by modern makeovers: Renovators are criticised for turning homes into 'ugly' grey eyesores with no character

Homeowners are being criticised for converting period properties into 'ugly' and 'terrible' eyesores - as the grey home aesthetic reigns supreme.

Dubbed the 'millennial grey' or 'grey plague', before and after shots of vastly modernised UK homes are being shared online in a desperate bid to encourage others to retain the 'character' of older properties.

The worst offenders appear to be Edwardian and Victorian redbrick homes clad in dreary grey paint.

Taking to TikTok to share images of the exterior of a home in 2014 compared to October 2025, one rather critical account described the house as 'one of the worst home renovations I have ever seen'.

'Back in 2014, we had taste, but then people started doing things a little differently. And definitely for the worst,' shared the user.

'There is going to be about one per cent of people who see this and think "I love the minimalistic grey, black tones this is amazing."

'But the whole house looks out of place and honestly pretty horrific. I think the only reason why people do this is they think it's going to be a clean aesthetic, it's taking away all of that detail and they can just have this ultra clean look.

'The reality is you essentially take out the soul of your house and you end up with this Russian brutalism.

'The only place this looks good in is a museum where we can look back and think, "what the hell were we thinking?".'

In response to images of the modernised home, one TikTok commenter wrote: 'It's all wrong! Where's the life gone?'

Another added: 'The destruction of the front garden has to be the saddest thing ever. House had so much life before, now it looks like brutalist rubbish.'

Yet this is not the only instance of a modern, grey home causing uproar among social media users.

In another TikTok video which gained more than 1,500 likes, one user shared photographs of a UK neighbourhood filled with 'historic homes that were demolished and replaced by modern homes'.

Sharing three houses that had significantly transformed between 2009 and 2024, the homes all appeared to have shifted from traditional red brick houses to large white modern homes with block features and newly installed gates. 

In response to the rather stark house changes, one commenter asked: 'How is this even legal!,' while another added: 'I think the old houses look better'.

Sharing their disdain at the renovations, one X user described the new homes as 'ugly', while others believed that renovators had 'messed up real bad'.

'People have no taste and it shows,' added another. 

One Victorian home, complete with a pretty turret, was given a grey makeover in Woodford Green, Essex, and soon attracted the attention of X users who believed that the owners had ruined a previously picturesque house with character. 

All the white wooden windows were changed to grey plastic while the home was rendered in a dark colour.

Taking to X to share their horror at the home transformation, one X user described it as 'one of my favourite examples of grey plague'.

Another added: 'I can picture their new back garden too. A square of AstroTurf framed in black planters with a large plastic dining table.'

In another example shared of a 1970s home turned grey, one X user described the home transformation as synonymous with a 'humourless reboot'.

'I completely agree with you,' shared another commenter.  Often the anti-peasant gate is set in cheap and nasty panel fencing, round here. Humourless reboot is an excellent summing up.'

In another instance, a once sweet bungalow had been converted into an almost unrecognisable building that was a boring light grey shade.

'On its own, I've seen a lot worse - it's the complete desolation of the garden that really kills it. What is the Greys' issue with any sort of greenery?,' commented one user in response to the converted bungalow. 

Another added: 'Death of the front garden right there! Do people literally have to cover over every inch of green space?'

'Why live in a charming 1930s gingerbread house draped in mature greenery when you can live in your weird interpretation of a Barrett house?,' questioned another rather critical user.

According to interior designer Jordana Ashkenazi, while some renovations can 'genuinely improve a home', others can 'leave you scratching your head wondering how nobody stepped in and stopped it'.

She told The Daily Mail: 'Just because something is newer doesn’t automatically make it better, and just because something is modern doesn’t automatically make it stylish. Some trends age incredibly quickly and some design decisions are, quite frankly, simply tasteless.

'For years it felt as though every design decision was solved by painting it grey. Grey kitchens, grey sofas, grey walls, grey paving, grey render, grey windows, grey everything.

'Whilst grey absolutely has its place when used thoughtfully, at some point it became the default setting for almost every renovation. 

'The problem is that dark grey, especially when used excessively inside and outside a property, can feel quite drab, cold and lacking in personality. 

'In a country where the skies are often grey for much of the year, I’m not entirely convinced we needed to make all the houses grey too.'

She added that often, people forget that once the 'original details' of a period property are removed, they are then 'gone forever'. 

'You can paint over beautiful brickwork, replace original windows, remove architectural detailing or strip away period features in a matter of days, but recreating that same level of craftsmanship decades later is incredibly difficult and expensive.' 

Millennials have claimed the all grey interior choice was a direct reaction to the decorating choices of boomer parents, which was more loud and Mediterranean with warm golds, oranges, and terracottas.

'Drenching', which refers to covering a room in a single colour, pattern or texture, has also grown in popularity among UK homes - with celebrities such as Molly Mae leaning into the grey colours across their homes. 

However, according to interior stylist and designer Sam Grigg, Molly-Mae Hague's 'bland and entirely monotone Cheshire mansion' may not be achieving quite its desired effect.

'Colour-drenching works best as a backdrop, not the whole story,’ she previously told The Daily Mail.

‘Neutrals need contrast and texture, while stronger colours benefit from variation in tone, finish and a touch of pattern so spaces feel layered and lived-in – not perfectly matched.’