Does the novelty of living in a nice house ever wear off?

[Havanna1]

Before I start, I promise this isn’t a stealth boast, and actually, to a lot of people, our house won’t even be that nice.

We moved 2 years ago to a decent sized house with a big garden in a ‘chocolate box’ rural village. I feel so lucky every day when I drive home to live where we do.

However, I was sitting in the garden just now with a glass of wine, looking at the pretty (field) views, it was so peaceful, silent apart from birdsong and I just felt this overwhelming sense of gratitude.

I get it every time I drive into the drive and after 2 years I’d have thought the novelty would’ve worn off by now. DH said the same, that he feels so happy every time he gets into the drive, when he’s sitting in the back garden etc.

For those that live in pretty much their dream home in their dream location, does the novelty ever wear off? In 10 years time will we be pretty apathetic towards it all?

I worry so much that it’s all going to come crashing down so I’m really trying to enjoy it as I know I might not always feel as fortunate as I do now.

Nope. And lockdown just reiterates how lucky we are. I thank our lucky stars for our house.

@Susannahmoody

Nope. And lockdown just reiterates how lucky we are. I thank our lucky stars for our house.

I feel a bit like that (despite things going wrong in my house which I haven't been able to put right yet), the privacy has been wonderful. However I don't feel the same 'joy' that I did when I moved here, or rather we moved here, all those years ago; it's just where I live. At the time of moving I was so pleased to get out of a tiny, dog kennel-like house, where the gardens were overlooked and you could hear neighbours through the walls. I breathed a sigh of relief Now I am used to it.

I hope not - I've just bought my dream house and I'm planning to be here a good 20 years!!!

We live in a 3 bed semi so nothing outrageous but I love it - it's on a hill so from the back it's three floors and from the front it's two (if that makes sense).

The basement has been done out as a huge living from with double doors that open onto the back garden. We overlook woods with a big drop down from the back, so the mature trees in the woods are level with our garden - it's very secluded and peaceful and you wouldn't know we live near the city centre.

There's an urban farm directly across the valley and we can hear the lambs at the moment. It really feels like we are in the countryside.

3 bedroom semi here too.
We lovingly did it up from the floorboards to the ceilings.
It was beautiful.
Then we had kids.
It’s a shadow of its former self.
It needs loads of work doing on it again now.

So for the last 18 months I’ve been working my arse off trying to save up to get the work done.
I will love it again I hope. For now, it’s bricks & mortar that needs TLC...again.

I feel like this with our house, which we bought 5 years ago. I remember receiving an email from an estate agent letting me know it was coming onto the market and walking to see if that evening. My heart was jumping all over the place just looking at it from the outside and I knew it was the perfect house for our family. I went to the estate agent the next morning, 3 small children in tow and offered £10k over the asking price for the vendors to take it off the market. This was before even seeing inside it! Houses were being sold for way over the asking price in this area, and we’d been outbid a number of times already for other houses. The vendors accepted my offer, and, amazingly stuck with us when they were subsequently offered more money/cash offers by other buyers. They had lived there for 60 years and wanted a local family to have the house they had lived and brought their own family up in.
5 years on and I still love it. It needed a lot of work when we bought it which we’ve been slowly doing over the last 5 years and still have a way to go. But it’s a detached house on a corner plot, in the nicest area in town, a few minutes walk from the children’s schools, 15 minutes to walk into town and 15 minutes for my husband and I to bike into work. I feel very very lucky.

It isn't necessarily about the house OP, it's also your approach to life, and taking pleasure in the little things.

My kitchen faces east, looks over a water meadow and has french windows and sky lights. First thing in the morning, while everyone else is still asleep, I have my first coffee watching the sun come up (winter) or sitting in sunshine with all the birds singing. It's lovely.

But years ago at my halls of residence I had a room that also faced east and I used to make a coffee with my kettle on the floor and sit on the window sill in the sunshine. Same feeling.

No. 8 years in mine and I still feel so grateful and happy to be in it.

@Mintjulia

That sounds lovely.

I live next to a river estuary. I have a similar feeling every time I walk to the bottom of my street and look out across the view. Been living here 15 years, never get bored of it.

Mine is nothing special. It’s a semi in a suburban area. Needs loads doing it which I can’t afford. Have a massive mortgage.

But it’s my passion, really. Moved in 18 months ago after leaving abusive marriage. Always wanted my own home and now I have it.

Too much of the time I get weighed down in what needs doing and how can I manage it, or trying to do stuff myself that would be so much easier if I could pay someone. Don’t always remember to stop, have coffee in the sun in the conservatory, or sit in the garden.

But the house felt massively warm and safe to me when I viewed it, and that’s how it still feels now. It’s so inspiring (and a great reminder) to hear that others still feel the love years in.

Nope. Living in a lovely house is living in a lovely house - so I get pleasure real pleasure from my house several times a day.

halibo not SE, NW. Hopefully by the time the surrounding Green Belt is built on, if at all, the house will be too big for us to manage anyway.
There are lots of new housing estates springing up within a several mile vicinity, hopefully those will meet their quota.

I have always loved the setting of our house and now we are finally coming to the end of our renovations it is close to perfect for me.

Unfortunately though DH keeps taking about moving as his dream to to have a house with land so he can have horses. There will have to be a compromise at some point as we can't afford the perfect house with the land.

I still love mine after 20 years, but I’m getting very bored with the location, which is admittedly lovely. I wish I could pick up my house and garden and put it down somewhere else.

Mintjulia

I agree. my house isn't the prettiest- a 1970s construction. I have lived in more beautiful houses, old cottages, a Georgian villa, but my house feels good.
A very small estate lots of space, surrounded by ancient woodland, a 3 minute walk from a river with kingfishers and otters.
My house is large, massive windows so lots of light, a view of the forest from every angle. I wake to deer in my front garden, lulled to sleep by owls.
It isn't "perfect", it isn't my "dream home", but I love it.

20 years in our house and I love it. I always feel happy. It has been more acute in the era of covid as I feel grateful to have a happy home.

(although DH kvetching about me making the DCs fried eggs for breakfast is less than inspiring). - he hates the smell of eggs.

We moved to our dream house last year. It’s crumbling at the seams and needs so much work but I love it to bits and hope that never fades.

I don't like our house it's on a main road. Can't afford anything else in the area.

I never, ever walk around our estate without feeling profoundly lucky to live in such a beautiful place.
I often wonder what I would say as a child, if I could go back in time to the flat where I grew up and show myself where I would end up living.
The best bit is that DH and I have earned everything through our own hard work, no-one has ever given us anything really!

I grew up in a terraced house with noisy neighbours, lots of traffic nearby and nothing to do on a weekend, no decent shops nearby, etc. Now I live in a detached home, quieter location and in walking distance of two shopping areas with lots of things to do on weekends. So I feel very lucky indeed every time I come home. The house needs a lot of work - and we’ve done a lot already to make it better - but I love it.

Won’t ever get tired of it; or the area. We live in a Swiss chalet in a ski resort overlooking lake Geneva. Almost everyone in our village feels the same. Here’s the view (Mont Blanc in the background).

My house is nothing special. But to me it is pretty near perfect and I feel so absolutely lucky to be here for many reasons. I hope that never wears off ever.

Oh wow @FloconDeNeige, you’re living my other dream always wanted to live in the Swiss mountains!

Moved into our house 14 years ago to accommodate our growing family. It was a 'big' move - one end of the country to the other; two-bed flat to 6-bed terrace. It's scruffy, and wouldn't suit a lot of people, but I love it and still feel very lucky to live here and lucky that my kids are growing up here.

Somebody upthread described themself as feeling like their house's 'custodian' and I think that's something I identify with. I don't think we'll stay here once the kids are grown - it's a family home and should have a family in it, I think. One of the things I love is the number of local people of my kind of age who remember teenage parties and sleepovers here. I want to pass that on rather than hold on to it for ourselves.

No. Ours isn’t a chocolate box house as you describe but we have a lovely area, nice home and good schools. I’m thankful every day for it and it’s my sanctuary. For me it was about stability for the children and somewhere they would be happy to bring friends back too.