Do you actually love your house?

[getoutofmyhead]

I'm asking because I'm at a crossroads and I'd love to hear real experiences.
Specifically interested in anyone who has moved from a period home or city centre flat into something more practical and suburban. Did you adjust? Did you fall in love with it eventually? Or is there a part of you that never quite settled?
And the flip side, did anyone stay somewhere impractical because they loved it aesthetically and regret not making the sensible move sooner?
I have a feeling most people on here are either completely at peace with their home, making it work for them.
Just curious what the reality of living in a house you chose with your head rather than your heart actually feels like five years in.

My first house was Victorian- huge windows, and high ceilings. So much light, and a massive back garden. I loved it from the moment I saw it.

This house is a 1960s bungalow which is tucked away by a river. I spent the first five years here hating it, but now it’s mine. I love every corner of it; I’ve moulded it into exactly what we need, and I want.

Currently looking for a new house in a very different location, and I can’t find anything that I love yet….

We've been in our house for 30 years and raised our family here. It's not a pretty house by any standard, think 1980s architect on crystal meth sort of design but it's got a huge living room, separate dining room that we can sit 20 in at Christmas/birthdays and a big kitchen. It's just of an age where things need replacing - we've done electrics and plumbing but it's now needing some roof repairs/new soffit boards and we've got a few leaks upstairs as a result. But I will be very very sad to leave here when the time comes - we've got a big garden and DH's early and sudden poor health means it's getting a bit challenging.

I do love it but I need to move because I need more space

I love my house.
It's far too big for me and DH and dog though.
We are planning to move to Spain next year.
I don't love, or even particularly like the flat we own, but hopefully will rent a ground floor flat or villa with a garden once we get settled

Moved from a city-centre flat (loved it) to a Victorian townhouse further out, suburban but still feels a bit urban (moved due to starting a family). I hate the house - mainly because we have no more money to fix its problems. It’s dark and cold. Kitchen is awful. Garden is unusable. House is always needing some urgent, very expensive repair. The area is as nice as can be, but I miss the vibrancy of being central. Sigh.

I used to love my previous period house. 4 years ago I moved into a 1960's bungalow, I would say I'm learning to love it! Yes it doesn't have the period features, but it is in a lovely quiet neighbourhood, lovely neighbours and a large garden things my previous house didn't have.

I’ve done city to rural, rural back to city, it’s never been so much the location or the bricks and mortar as the lifestyle I’ve had at the time. I love my current house and I’ve loved every house I’ve ever owned, from a one bedroom ex council flat in a tower block in a part of London oft referred to on MN as a stabby shithole, to a converted church in the countryside with full stained glass. They’ve all represented different chapters of my life and been where I’ve had a lot of good times and made a home.

Often change does take time to settle in - particularly if there’s still a part of you wistful for a part of your life that feels as though it got left behind in the old place when the removal van left. A lot of it is about both building a new actual life with your new surroundings, and sometimes remembering why you chose the house you did and that whilst you might not love X about it, you definitely benefit from Y.

I live in a very average house, although it is a bit of a tardis and is actually way bigger than it looks from the road. I love our house, it is in no way perfect and actually needs quite a lot of work but it's the layout I love, I always have since the moment we bought it.

My house is a 4 bed cottage style property, built over 200 years ago. I have a love-hate relationship with it. Generally I love its character, location, views and sense of history. However today has been a hate day due to it being very windy here. On such days, draughts find their way through every gap imaginable and the house is colder than it should be.

It also doesn't have a downstairs loo, and nowhere to add one so I anticipate moving in the next 10 years as I get older.

No. We moved here 25 years ago purely for practical reasons (walking distance to kids school and town) and never left.

To me, it’s just where I live. I don’t lose any sleep over not living in a house that I love, it’s fine, it provides what I need.

I absolutely love my home and the village it's in. I always lived close to the city and in terraces or apartments so either period or very new builds. Now I've got a mid century detached bungalow and despite the work that needs doing I love it so. It's so quiet and exactly what I need.

The village has amenities and it's not that far from the city.

Yes! Love my home - a 16th century cottage, a mile up a single track road, surrounded by nothing but fields and wide open green space, no neighbours, half a mile from the nearest village, big garden with plenty of space for my bees and chickens, not a hint of light pollution at night, peaceful, tranquil - absolute perfection!

I never have, and never could, live in a city, town or even a village - suffocating and oppressive. Yes, my house needs work, can be cold and damp, but only to be expected with a property of this type and it has so many original, unspoiled features which I have no desire to 'modernise'

Every time I walk through the door it wraps its arms around me, hugs me and makes me feel welcome - what more could one want from one's home? I feel that all those who have lived, died, been born or conceived here are watching over it, and me. I will do the same with its next custodians. Yes, I love it and will never leave

Yes

I’m in a similar position. It wasn’t my dream home but we needed to move.
For many, because of location, space and a large sunny garden it could well be their dream home.
I often feel it’s been good to us.
Despite my not loving it.
Touch wood, we’ve had no major trauma in it.

We live in an Edwardian terraced house. I love the big rooms, high ceilings and big windows. The only downside is every job we do ends up bigger than expected. My mum calls it the house that Jack built!

I love my house because it's safe and affordable and not to get preachy but I think that makes my family lucky.

Bit do I LOVE it? No. It's what we could afford in an area we like. I wouldn't buy it again.

Nope. We bought this house to renovate and flip, but family circumstances have kept us here much longer than planned.

Now in my 70s, I aim to move from our current rural location to a town/small city that will meet my current and presumed future needs more.

Location has always been a key factor for me in liking where I live, but the elements of that have changed at different times - what was a great location as a young mum was very different to what mattered in my 40s and 50s, for example.

I love my house, me and the kids have been here for 23 years. It’s a detached Edwardian house with big rooms and high ceilings. 20 years ago I did a loft conversion and kitchen extension , I love love both of these and my beautiful garden. One day I will downsize but not yet !

I do love ours. It's not my dream house (but that doesn't exist!) and we need to do a bit of work to it now but the space and location are great

No. It’s what I can afford. Been here 5 years and am still not finished making it how I want to - constrained by both cash and time.
Once the kids are done with A levels in 4 years I’ll make the move up north closer to my family rather than the family of my now ex. Such a cliche but the switch from south to north is going to make such a difference to what I can afford.

Yes, it’s a big, spacious 4 bed in a rural village with huge garden, driveway etc.

I grew up in a house you couldn’t swing a cat in, literally the smallest house out of anyone I knew, it was tiny and claustrophobic, so I appreciate every single day our lovely home.

It’s one of the best thing in our lives tbh, but half of that I’d say is the location. Like a PP, I’d really struggle to live in a town or city (had to for uni and was really unhappy and struggled with my mental health) I love being able to sit with a glass of wine in the evening and look out over the open fields, I love being able to walk the dog for miles and miles straight from my front door. I love that everyone knows you in the village and luckily, everyone is lovely, it makes me feel ‘safe’ especially when DH is away.

I didn’t love the last house we lived in, the layout and set up didn’t really work for us and I hated the location.

Yes! It is smaller than my old house but the benefit of being smaller is that it actually gets/stays warm in winter!
15 years I stayed in our old house freezing from November to March convinced we 'needed the space'. We don't need the space at all, this house is exactly the same layout as the old one, just on a smaller scale so the kids still have a bedroom each etc.
I love that decorating a room is a weekend job rather than something I have to book annual leave to achieve or getting new flooring doesn't require a separate mortgage to fund.
I can actually see trees/hills outside my living room window too despite being on a fairly busy road. I massively underestimated how much good it does me to look out directly at the countryside rather than the back of someone else's property.

I would love my house if I could afford to do it up (which I can’t). I think it could look amazing if a rich Londoner had it instead of broke me.

Yes, I love my house. But it’s a period property (17th century farmhouse). I could not live in a more modern house. I will literally be here until I die and will pass it on to my kids.

I still call it our new house but we've been here 6 years! I liked it on RightMove and fell in love when I viewed it - has everything me and DH ever wanted! Utility room, conservatory, double garage, 2nd reception room- fantastic!

However, 2 things - it's an older house (1990s) and we keep having to spend a lot on maintenance like insulation, pipework and endleww painting. Our new build never needed anything doing!

Secondly, we are very close to a main road and I'm starting to dread the warmer weather, the open windows and the sounds of an F1 Grand Prix 😞

So now I will move as soon as I can although I love the house itself. It's just in an awful location.

TLDR - Liked it, loved it, moved in, cooled off 😞