Avocado bathroom suites are the number 1 turn off when it comes to home decoration, according to a new survey.

The Barclays Mortgages Home Improvement Report found 62% of people consider the dated bathrooms a turn-off in a new home.

At the other end of the scale, the most-desirable feature is a designer kitchen - with 42% placing it at the top of their wish-list.

The 10 least-desirable features

1. Avocado bathrooms: 62%
2. Woodchip wallpaper: 60%
3. Stone cladding: 54%
4. Flocked wallpaper: 49%
=5. Textured ceilings: 47%
=5. Carpets in bathrooms: 47%
7. Pebbledash: 43%
8. Strip lighting: 37%
9. Linoleum: 29%
10. Synthetic wood: 28%

When it comes to the colour of the property’s exterior, lime green was the worst, followed by purple and orange.

TV property expert Phil Spencer says home improvements offer people ‘freedom and flexibility’, but he urges people to adopt a ‘simple is best’ approach and to keep improvements as neutral as possible.

Strutt & Parker recently conducted its own Housing Futures survey which looked at what homebuyers were looking for in a new home in terms of style, features and accessories.

For the respondents who intended to move, a remarkable one in five said they wanted an AGA oven in their new home (20.5%). This was closely followed by a kitchen island/breakfast bar (15.9%). Outside of the kitchen, a wet room/rain shower was coveted in third place (13.4%). Completing the top five were a cinema room (9.3%) and a wine cellar (8.7%).

The most popular interior design style was ‘Traditional British’ followed by ‘Rustic’ and then ‘Modern’. The majority of homebuyers wanted their new home to feel ‘cosy’ in terms of ambience, whilst ‘calm’ and ‘bright’ also scored highly.

Outside, the majority of respondents wanted a small private garden – and when it came to the dream outside item for a new home, one in five respondents chose a walled garden (21.6%), with a near tie for second place between outdoor entertainment terrace (12.7%) and a swimming pool (12.3%).

Tennis courts, vegetable patches and orchards were also high on wish lists. Insulation and glazing featured as the most important environment requirements.

Making improvements

The Barclays survey also looked at which features homeowners felt would add the most value to their homes. While a designer kitchen was top (42%), it was closely followed by:

• en-suite bathroom: 38%
• swimming pool: 29%
• games room: 26%

More than half (53%) of those surveyed said they would prefer to improve their current home rather than move to a new one as moving is too expensive and time consuming.

While homeowners believe they could add £9,829 to the value of their home with improvements, Barclays’ figures show that it depends very much on where they live.

On average, a typical 30m2 extension would add around £14,000 – but this figured varied wildly depending on the region.

In London, the extension could add as much as £156,000 to your home’s value. Outside of the capital, other places to benefit from home extensions are York (£30,000), Bristol (£26,000) and Edinburgh (£59,000).

However, if you built the extension in Swansea, Derby, Newcastle, Nottingham, Liverpool or Hull you could face an overall loss with the new space adding less than the cost of the build.