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.

Yes, very much so. Our house is Georgian, double fronted and in a village, so it looks a bit like an illustration from a children's book.

When we first moved in I had everything very neutral, with natural linen sofas and curtains and chalk painted furniture. All very tasteful but very bland. For the last year or so I've slowly refurbished in a more Heritage/Dark Academia style which I've realised makes me much happier.

It has 5 bedrooms so is too big really for us now we're Empty Nesters, but the rooms are beautifully proportioned so it feels warm and welcoming, not overly large. We're mortgage free so there's no need to downsize as yet, plus we're having some big renovations this Summer so will want to enjoy our home for a few more years.

Loving our house was sort of last on the list when we were looking; location, price, size all came first… that and a big garden! But I adore it, patterned carpets, textured wallpaper, quirky layout and all. It had a great ‘feeling’ about the place, really like truly coming home iyswim and I’m just leaning into the granny chic / retro farmhouse look! So I guess we were lucky.

I loved our last house, but not the area and it was too big for us in the end. I prefer this area, but not keen on the house. It doesn’t feel like home.

We live in a modern 3 bed terrace which we bought because of good school catchments, proximity to train station and town centre and parks.

Don’t love or even like the house much at all; it’s “top heavy”, oddly laid out, has a tiny sitting room and small back yard. We bought it to get on to the property ladder and get DS in to a good school, but we desperately need to move. Our area though is very expensive and ruinously hard to trade up in.

We bought a large double upper conversion of a Victorian villa to accommodate our 4 kids but I never really loved it, although we did make it into a beautiful home. It always felt a bit in the ‘burbs. Last year after our last child had moved out we downsized into a 2 bed tenement flat in a fabulous buzzy area of the city, round the corner from where I grew up. I’m ecstatic, it’s absolutely fantastic, a lovely period flat and we freed up enough money to buy a 2 bed croft house in the most amazing part of Scotland. We have everything we could ever want and feel incredibly lucky. It’s worth sucking up what isn’t your ideal home if you can use it as a stepping stone for what you really want later.

I didn’t think I would love mine- it was the only house big enough in the area DC were okay with when my marriage ended. Frankly I was just relieved that there was something with enough bedrooms and somewhere to wfh, but now I just love it and come home with gratitude. It’s basic and not at all fancy, and outwardly has no character at all but it is full of love and hope and (albeit gloomy because north facing small windows etc) warmth.
Last but one family home was a similar age (early 80s, on an estate) and I hated it from day 1 and thanked the gods daily during lockdown that we’d moved before that.
I thought this would be a 4-5 year house but I’m increasingly reluctant to consider leaving. i know a lot of women leaving marriages don’t have the privilege to find somewhere safe and affordable and this has been such a good place to land and rebuild myself. I think a lot of the love is just because of that as much as decor etc. I will never not be grateful.

Yes I do the problem is I have four nasty neighbours

Grew up in the beautiful period house. Never want to live in one again. The modern convenient energy efficient home I have now is great. I do not miss no central heating.

We built our house. I adore it.

We’ve made it into a home we love, it’s taken years and patience and obviously money but we could live here forever.
However we couldn’t make everything as we wanted, our bedroom is quite small and I’d love a separate dressing room for all my ‘stuff’ - I don’t want to sacrifice my office and it’s not big enough to double up and do both jobs as it’s the box room.
we will move again but not until the youngest is driving as we want to move out a bit and he wouldn’t be able to walk to school with his friends without being driven or relying on unreliable public transport. So maybe 3-4 years or so until we can move again realistically.
Until then we’re happy where we are.

Our kids' childhood home was not the prettiest of homes but I loved it. It was perfect for a family of 6. Everyone had their own space and there was plenty of room to hang out together. Huge garden. We sold it once all our kids had left home for a dream home (ie period house with barrels of character) and I love this house too but I will always have a soft spot for the less pretty but just as loved old house.

Our house is a newish townhouse, no "kerb appeal" and a layout that would be hated by most of MN based on plenty of threads I've read on here, but I love it. It was the best thing we could find after a long time waiting, with the space we needed, in a beautiful part of Edinburgh. We can walk into the city centre, we have a fantastic network of bike paths and a beautiful park on our doorstep. I can walk to work. I thought we would have to compromise on a lot more things than we ended up needing to, as I wasn't prepared to give up our location.

We live in a big house big garden, the house is badly laid out really.

But I love it cos:

There's tons of space
The garden is huge
The location is amazing
It has a garage
It has space for both DH and I to WFH, in peace

And it's close to amenities, train station, pool, library, school etc etc

No, a house is just somewhere to live. I bought my/our house in 2002. As we were both freelancers, it was basically somewhere to store the furniture.
My husband died in 2003, he was not on the deeds, so my house was "mine", but I hated it. Paid off in 2016.
Issues with burst pipes in 2024, which were not supported by buildings insurance. I have/had valid insurance at this time and have paid the premiums. It was the total lack of what I was supposed to do and no availability on the phone. Have been living in hotels since then.
Was there today, it is in such a state that it needs to be demolished.
I have always hated it, more so after my husband's death, but no counsel from anyone.
Buildings' insurance waited so long to react that is allegedly my problem, so nothing from them. I am putting together a case for the ombudsman, but am considering going to the insurer's rep, who was supposed to support me, and just camping on the doorstep.
Not in UK so other rules exist.

Oh yeah and it's detached and quite far from any neighbours

😂

No. It was always a compromise (small kitchen and garden). But it worked in terms of bedroom space and was in a good location. We needed something bigger than our flat when DC2 came along and we got it through part exchange which saved a lot of stress. We looked at moving a couple of years ago but decided to spend the money on maximising the current house to make it more practical.

I love the idea of downsizing to somewhere more buzzy and less suburban like @Gallusoldbesom. House values in the city mean we’d be unlikely to free up any money though. Other sticking point is that youngest DC is autistic and likely to need to live with us for a bit longer than his peers. I do wonder if I’ll ever manage to move from here!

I like my house. We were very lucky, we found it over 30 years ago, had one weekend to go househunting way before online estate agents. We didn't live in the area so I phoned estate agents and asked them to send me (by post) details of what they had within a geographical area, to a set budget and with a few other criteria. DH was already there and staying in a hotel, we knew the area a bit because it was where his company HQ was. I shortlisted and arranged viewings for the saturday and we liked this one, house empty and no chain. The bit I loved at first sight and still do was the garden. I'd walk away from the house tomorrow but it would be a massive wrench to leave my garden.

I love in a beautiful, practical, suburban 1930s semi-detached, filled with light and space. It's full of scruffy corners and the occasional superficial crack, but I absolutely love it!

Yes! Moved in just before Christmas and whilst it is a longterm project I am so happy here with DD. It feels like home, not just a house. Although the road is busy it's the perfect location for us and is 'sensible' enough that I can hopefully never leave. It's in a conservation area, beautiful garden and close enough to walk to the village. Good sized rooms and amazing, high ceilings. I can't wait to put my own stamp on it - once the kitchen and dining room have been knocked through it will be perfect!

1000% per cent I love my home!

I have spent the last ten years turning it into a tasteful, vintage treasure trove, incorporating precious memories from childood. The colours, the ornaments, the lighting!

I genuinely smile, every time I walk through the door. I absolutely love it. And, it is just so me. And I'm proud because I have done it all myself; the wallpapering, the painting, all of it. It is Heaven (to me).

I loved my last house but had to move. I will never live this house but I’ve slowly grown to like it, and it is in a friendly area with green space. But I do hope that I can live in a place I love at some point in the future - it’s a lovely feeling.

Haven't read full thread. Moved from artisan old city centre apartment (think open fire) to suburban semi-d when I got married. I hated it. For months i used to sit in the car outside, delaying going inside. Lived here for 12 years and it broke something inside me, i hated the house, hated the design and decor, hated everything being so clutterrd. We finally got an extension and renovation to change it to a modern bright family home and it has improved my life nó end. I think part of the problem was moving from a very defined type of home to a "meh/nothing" type. If id moved from my"olde worlde" apartment to "modern spacious bright" it would have felt like a conscious choice.

I live in a seventy year old house now, but previously lived in 100/200 year old houses…I miss the older ones very much. I miss the safety of thick stone walls, the thickness of good doors, a large kitchen, the sense of connection with those before us. I can’t afford what my heart wants, and it hurts a little every day I walk in this front door tbh. I did put a stove in to help it feel more cosy here, but the rest, well it’s not me.

We moved from a lovely country cottage to a modern house in a cul de sac to be near family. We lasted no time at all, it made us sad. Hated being surrounded by so many people (lovely as our neighbours were), hated the lack of soul, felt 'on show' somehow and very restless.

We've moved again, to somewhere with character. It makes my heart sing every day. I was up for a while in the night looking at the stars and moon. We're watching the birds returning to raise their families. I feel I can stretch out here, mentally as well as physically. I felt confined and enclosed in a modern cul de sac house. It was much warmer though!

I love my Edwardian flat, it's in a great friendly area, in the city but it backs onto open space which is a bit of a wildlife haven. We moved here pre kids and it's too small for us now, we'd like to move to a house but we're finding it hard to find anywhere we like as much. We are an upstairs flat so would have to move eventually.