Millions of couples have been at loggerheads with each other over home improvements, a study has found.
A poll of 2,000 adults found about one in six have ended up in a row with their other half when decorating or renovating their home.
Sixteen per cent had disagreed over how much they should spend while almost one in five said either they or their partner was completely against getting the work done at all.
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As a result, 47 per cent found their home makeover “stressful”.
Karen Lund, of home improvement window specialists Independent Network, which commissioned the research, said: “We all know that home improvements can be disruptive, but we didn’t realise quite what the emotional impact could be.
“It seems women are more interested in attaining perfection, and men would rather not deal with the hassle.”
Researchers found women were most likely to suggest a home improvement, with 65 per cent saying they had made the first move.
But it was men who were lumbered with getting quotes for the work, with seven in 10 saying the task usually fell to them.
More than one in 10 adults admitted they were not happy with the price they paid for the work in the end, and almost the same proportion said they were dissatisfied with the quality.
As a result, 53 per cent of people regretted not taking the time to get more quotes, with more than one-quarter feeling they could have had the same job done for less money if they had shopped around.
One-third even admitted to blaming their partner for not spending more time to get a wide range of quotes before giving the go ahead on the work.
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1/33 30 September 2016
An employee hangs works of art with “Grand Teatro” by Marino Marini (R) and bronze sculpture “Sfera N.3” by Arnaldo Pomodoro seen ahead of a Contemporary Art auction on 7 October, at Sotheby’s in London
REUTERS
2/33 29 September 2016
Street art by Portuguese artist Odeith is seen in Dresden, during an exhibition “Magic City – art of the streets”
AFP/Getty Images
3/33 28 September 2016
Dancers attend a photocall for the new “THE ONE Grand Show” at Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin, Germany
REUTERS
4/33 28 September 2016
With an array of thrift store china, humorous souvenirs and handmade tile adorning its walls and floors, the Mosaic Tile House in Venice stands as a monument to two decades of artistic collaboration between Cheri Pann and husband Gonzalo Duran
REUTERS
5/33 27 September 2016
A gallery assistant poses amongst work by Anthea Hamilton from her nominated show “Lichen! Libido!(London!) Chastity!” at a preview of the Turner Prize in London
REUTERS
6/33 27 September 2016
A technician wearing virtual reality glasses checks his installation in three British public telephone booths, set up outside the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The installation allows visitors a 3-D look into the museum which has twenty-two paintings belonging to the British Royal Collection, on loan for an exhibit from 29 September 2016 till 8 January 2017
AP
7/33 26 September 2016
An Indian artist dressed as Hindu god Shiva performs on a chariot as he participates in a religious procession ‘Ravan ki Barat’ held to mark the forthcoming Dussehra festival in Allahabad
AFP/Getty Images
8/33 26 September 2016
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s ‘Air Power’, 1984, is displayed at the Bowie/Collector media preview at Sotheby’s in New York
AFP/Getty
9/33 25 September 2016
A woman looks at an untitled painting by Albert Oehlen during the opening of an exhibition of works by German artists Georg Baselitz and Albert Oehlen in Reutlingen, Germany. The exhibition runs at the Kunstverein (art society) Reutlingen until 15 January 2017
EPA
10/33 24 September 2016
Fan BingBing (C) attends the closing ceremony of the 64th San Sebastian Film Festival at Kursaal in San Sebastian, Spain
Getty Images
11/33 23 September 2016
A view of the artwork ‘You Are Metamorphosing’ (1964) as part of the exhibition ‘Retrospektive’ of Japanese artist Tetsumi Kudo at Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany. The exhibition runs from 25 September 2016 to 1 January 2017
EPA
12/33 22 September 2016
Jo Applin from the Courtauld Institute of Art looks at Green Tilework in Live Flesh by Adriana Vareja, which features in a new exhibition, Flesh, at York Art Gallery. The new exhibition features works by Degas, Chardin, Francis Bacon and Sarah Lucas, showing how flesh has been portrayed by artists over the last 600 years
PA
13/33 21 September 2016
Performers Sean Atkins and Sally Miller standing in for the characters played by Asa Butterfield and Ella Purnell during a photocall for Tim Burton’s “Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children” at Potters Field Park in London
Getty Images
14/33 20 September 2016
A detail from the blanket ‘Alpine Cattle Drive’ from 1926 by artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner is displayed at the ‘Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum for Contemporary Arts’ in Berlin. The exhibition named ‘Ernst Ludwig Kirchner – Hieroglyphen’ showing the complete collection of Berlin’s Nationalgallerie works of the German artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and will run from 23 September 2016 until 26 February 2017
AP
15/33 20 September 2016
A man looks at portrait photos by US photographer Bruce Gilden in the exhibition ‘Masters of Photography’ at the photokina in Cologne, Germany. The trade fair on photography, photokina, schowcases some 1,000 exhibitors from 40 countries and runs from 20 to 25 September. The event also features various photo exhibitions
EPA
16/33 20 September 2016
A woman looks at ‘Blue Poles’, 1952 by Jackson Pollock during a photocall at the Royal Academy of Arts, London
PA
17/33 19 September 2016
Art installation The Refusal of Time, a collaboration with Philip Miller, Catherine Meyburgh and Peter Galison, which features as part of the William Kentridge exhibition Thick Time, showing from 21 September to 15 January at the Whitechapel Gallery in London
PA
18/33 18 September 2016
Artists creating one off designs at the Mm6 Maison Margiela presentation during London Fashion Week Spring/Summer collections 2017 in London
Getty Images
19/33 18 September 2016
Bethenny Frankel attends the special screening of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” to celebrate the 25th Anniversary Edition release on Blu-Ray and DVD in New York City
Getty Images for Walt Disney Stu
20/33 17 September 2016
Visitors attend the 2016 Oktoberfest beer festival at Theresienwiese in Munich, Germany
Getty Images
21/33 16 September 2016
Visitors looks at British artist Damien Hirst work of art ‘The Incomplete Truth’, during the 13th Yalta Annual Meeting entitled ‘The World, Europe and Ukraine: storms of changes’, organised by the Yalta European Strategy (YES) in partnership with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation at the Mystetsky Arsenal Art Center in Kiev
AP
22/33 16 September 2016
Tracey Emin’s “My Bed” is exhibited at the Tate Liverpool as part of the exhibition Tracey Emin And William Blake In Focus, which highlights surprising links between the two artists
Getty Images
23/33 15 September 2016
Musician Dave Grohl (L) joins musician Tom Morello of Prophets of Rage onstage at the Forum in Inglewood, California
Getty Images
24/33 14 September 2016
Model feebee poses as part of art installation “Narcissism : Dazzle room” made by artist Shigeki Matsuyama at rooms33 fashion and design exhibition in Tokyo. Matsuyama’s installation features a strong contrast of black and white, which he learned from dazzle camouflage used mainly in World War I
AP
25/33 13 September 2016
Visitors look at artworks by Chinese painter Cui Ruzhuo during the exhibition ‘Glossiness of Uncarved Jade’ held at the exhibition hall ‘Manezh’ in St. Petersburg, Russia. More than 200 paintings by the Chinese artist are presented until 25 September
EPA
26/33 12 September 2016
A visitor looks at Raphael’s painting ‘Extase de Sainte Cecile’, 1515, from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence during the opening of a Raphael exhibition at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, Russia. The first Russian exhibition of the works of the Italian Renaissance artist Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino includes eight paintings and three drawings which come from Italy. Th exhibit opens to the public from 13 September to 11 December
EPA
27/33 11 September 2016
Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd perform during Otis Redding 75th Birthday Celebration – Rehearsals at the Macon City Auditorium in Macon, Georgia
Getty Images for Otis Redding 75
28/33 10 September 2016
Sakari Oramo conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Chorus and the BBC Singers at the Last Night of the Proms 2016 at the Royal Albert Hall in London
PA
29/33 9 September 2016
A visitor walks past a piece entitled “Fruitcake” by Joana Vasconcelo, during the Beyond Limits selling exhibition at Chatsworth House near Bakewell
REUTERS
30/33 8 September 2016
A sculpture of a crescent standing on the 2,140 meters high mountain ‘Freiheit’ (German for ‘freedom’), in the Alpstein region of the Appenzell alps, eastern Switzerland. The sculpture is lighted during the nights by means of solar panels. The 38-year-old Swiss artist and atheist Christian Meier set the crescent on the peak to start a debate on the meaning of religious symbols – as summit crosses – on mountains. ‘Because so many peaks have crosses on them, it struck me as a great idea to put up an equally absurd contrast’. ‘Naturally I wanted to provoke in a fun way. But it goes beyond that. The actions of an artist should be food for thought, both visually and in content’
EPA
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1/33 30 September 2016
An employee hangs works of art with “Grand Teatro” by Marino Marini (R) and bronze sculpture “Sfera N.3” by Arnaldo Pomodoro seen ahead of a Contemporary Art auction on 7 October, at Sotheby’s in London
REUTERS
2/33 29 September 2016
Street art by Portuguese artist Odeith is seen in Dresden, during an exhibition “Magic City – art of the streets”
AFP/Getty Images
3/33 28 September 2016
Dancers attend a photocall for the new “THE ONE Grand Show” at Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin, Germany
REUTERS
4/33 28 September 2016
With an array of thrift store china, humorous souvenirs and handmade tile adorning its walls and floors, the Mosaic Tile House in Venice stands as a monument to two decades of artistic collaboration between Cheri Pann and husband Gonzalo Duran
REUTERS
5/33 27 September 2016
A gallery assistant poses amongst work by Anthea Hamilton from her nominated show “Lichen! Libido!(London!) Chastity!” at a preview of the Turner Prize in London
REUTERS
6/33 27 September 2016
A technician wearing virtual reality glasses checks his installation in three British public telephone booths, set up outside the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The installation allows visitors a 3-D look into the museum which has twenty-two paintings belonging to the British Royal Collection, on loan for an exhibit from 29 September 2016 till 8 January 2017
AP
7/33 26 September 2016
An Indian artist dressed as Hindu god Shiva performs on a chariot as he participates in a religious procession ‘Ravan ki Barat’ held to mark the forthcoming Dussehra festival in Allahabad
AFP/Getty Images
8/33 26 September 2016
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s ‘Air Power’, 1984, is displayed at the Bowie/Collector media preview at Sotheby’s in New York
AFP/Getty
9/33 25 September 2016
A woman looks at an untitled painting by Albert Oehlen during the opening of an exhibition of works by German artists Georg Baselitz and Albert Oehlen in Reutlingen, Germany. The exhibition runs at the Kunstverein (art society) Reutlingen until 15 January 2017
EPA
10/33 24 September 2016
Fan BingBing (C) attends the closing ceremony of the 64th San Sebastian Film Festival at Kursaal in San Sebastian, Spain
Getty Images
11/33 23 September 2016
A view of the artwork ‘You Are Metamorphosing’ (1964) as part of the exhibition ‘Retrospektive’ of Japanese artist Tetsumi Kudo at Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany. The exhibition runs from 25 September 2016 to 1 January 2017
EPA
12/33 22 September 2016
Jo Applin from the Courtauld Institute of Art looks at Green Tilework in Live Flesh by Adriana Vareja, which features in a new exhibition, Flesh, at York Art Gallery. The new exhibition features works by Degas, Chardin, Francis Bacon and Sarah Lucas, showing how flesh has been portrayed by artists over the last 600 years
PA
13/33 21 September 2016
Performers Sean Atkins and Sally Miller standing in for the characters played by Asa Butterfield and Ella Purnell during a photocall for Tim Burton’s “Miss Peregrines Home For Peculiar Children” at Potters Field Park in London
Getty Images
14/33 20 September 2016
A detail from the blanket ‘Alpine Cattle Drive’ from 1926 by artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner is displayed at the ‘Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum for Contemporary Arts’ in Berlin. The exhibition named ‘Ernst Ludwig Kirchner – Hieroglyphen’ showing the complete collection of Berlin’s Nationalgallerie works of the German artist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and will run from 23 September 2016 until 26 February 2017
AP
15/33 20 September 2016
A man looks at portrait photos by US photographer Bruce Gilden in the exhibition ‘Masters of Photography’ at the photokina in Cologne, Germany. The trade fair on photography, photokina, schowcases some 1,000 exhibitors from 40 countries and runs from 20 to 25 September. The event also features various photo exhibitions
EPA
16/33 20 September 2016
A woman looks at ‘Blue Poles’, 1952 by Jackson Pollock during a photocall at the Royal Academy of Arts, London
PA
17/33 19 September 2016
Art installation The Refusal of Time, a collaboration with Philip Miller, Catherine Meyburgh and Peter Galison, which features as part of the William Kentridge exhibition Thick Time, showing from 21 September to 15 January at the Whitechapel Gallery in London
PA
18/33 18 September 2016
Artists creating one off designs at the Mm6 Maison Margiela presentation during London Fashion Week Spring/Summer collections 2017 in London
Getty Images
19/33 18 September 2016
Bethenny Frankel attends the special screening of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” to celebrate the 25th Anniversary Edition release on Blu-Ray and DVD in New York City
Getty Images for Walt Disney Stu
20/33 17 September 2016
Visitors attend the 2016 Oktoberfest beer festival at Theresienwiese in Munich, Germany
Getty Images
21/33 16 September 2016
Visitors looks at British artist Damien Hirst work of art ‘The Incomplete Truth’, during the 13th Yalta Annual Meeting entitled ‘The World, Europe and Ukraine: storms of changes’, organised by the Yalta European Strategy (YES) in partnership with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation at the Mystetsky Arsenal Art Center in Kiev
AP
22/33 16 September 2016
Tracey Emin’s “My Bed” is exhibited at the Tate Liverpool as part of the exhibition Tracey Emin And William Blake In Focus, which highlights surprising links between the two artists
Getty Images
23/33 15 September 2016
Musician Dave Grohl (L) joins musician Tom Morello of Prophets of Rage onstage at the Forum in Inglewood, California
Getty Images
24/33 14 September 2016
Model feebee poses as part of art installation “Narcissism : Dazzle room” made by artist Shigeki Matsuyama at rooms33 fashion and design exhibition in Tokyo. Matsuyama’s installation features a strong contrast of black and white, which he learned from dazzle camouflage used mainly in World War I
AP
25/33 13 September 2016
Visitors look at artworks by Chinese painter Cui Ruzhuo during the exhibition ‘Glossiness of Uncarved Jade’ held at the exhibition hall ‘Manezh’ in St. Petersburg, Russia. More than 200 paintings by the Chinese artist are presented until 25 September
EPA
26/33 12 September 2016
A visitor looks at Raphael’s painting ‘Extase de Sainte Cecile’, 1515, from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence during the opening of a Raphael exhibition at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, Russia. The first Russian exhibition of the works of the Italian Renaissance artist Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino includes eight paintings and three drawings which come from Italy. Th exhibit opens to the public from 13 September to 11 December
EPA
27/33 11 September 2016
Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd perform during Otis Redding 75th Birthday Celebration – Rehearsals at the Macon City Auditorium in Macon, Georgia
Getty Images for Otis Redding 75
28/33 10 September 2016
Sakari Oramo conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Chorus and the BBC Singers at the Last Night of the Proms 2016 at the Royal Albert Hall in London
PA
29/33 9 September 2016
A visitor walks past a piece entitled “Fruitcake” by Joana Vasconcelo, during the Beyond Limits selling exhibition at Chatsworth House near Bakewell
REUTERS
30/33 8 September 2016
A sculpture of a crescent standing on the 2,140 meters high mountain ‘Freiheit’ (German for ‘freedom’), in the Alpstein region of the Appenzell alps, eastern Switzerland. The sculpture is lighted during the nights by means of solar panels. The 38-year-old Swiss artist and atheist Christian Meier set the crescent on the peak to start a debate on the meaning of religious symbols – as summit crosses – on mountains. ‘Because so many peaks have crosses on them, it struck me as a great idea to put up an equally absurd contrast’. ‘Naturally I wanted to provoke in a fun way. But it goes beyond that. The actions of an artist should be food for thought, both visually and in content’
EPA
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It also emerged recommendations were the most popular way to find a contractor, ahead of simply ringing around to get an idea of prices.
But among those who did get quotes, an average of three were collected before they made their decision.
A brave 28 per cent of couples bypassed contractors and did the work themselves.
A new bathroom was found to be the most common home improvement to make, followed by a garden makeover and a new kitchen.
Other popular ways to improve the home include updating the boiler or the central heating or installing double glazing.
Top five most common home improvements
New bathroom
Garden makeover
New kitchen
Central heating and/or boiler
Double glazing
SWNS