Does anyone ever feel shit about their house?

[perfectlyimperfect1]

When you see all these perfect, grey throughout, Mrs Hinch type homes on Instagram and various sites?
My home is just a 3 bed link detached, only living room, kitchen and conservatory downstairs with a main bathroom, small en suite and 3 bedrooms upstairs. I keep it as tidy as I can with a 2 year old but after moving above our budget we don’t have the spare cash to do much in terms of renovation. (I’ll add some photos)
When I see all these immaculate homes online it just makes me feel like my house is a dump!

YES!

Our house could be amazing. Its a great size etc. But we have four dc (2-11) and another en route (in 3ish weeks )

I cant get round to doing it up because i am at war with the toys and stuff and washing and pots and LIFE!

My eldest childs friendship group are all the youngest dc in their families, so they do have some level of show home going on. We have an explosion in toysrus/b&m.

Your home is lovely and is just that, your HOME. Forget about what others think and what they have. You have a roof over your head in good condition. The fancy interior decoration can come later when you can afford it.

That’s exactly how I feel! My house has so much potential. We bought it as a project. Then dc #2 took us completely by surprise. We now live in a complete toy explosion and I’m constantly battling with just keeping it clean (and failing). We have neither the time or money to continue renovations now so 90s style green kitchen and bathroom it is for now.
And for some reason I thought it was a good idea to get a puppy too....

I’m so glad it isn’t just me!
We only have the 1 DS and he has enough stuff, I try to hide his toys best I can in living room but the conservatory has his little kitchen and his car etc which takes up most of it!
Even if I didn’t have DS as you say life gets in the way! There’s nothing functionally wrong with our house (apart from a leaking shower but we won’t get into that lol) so it seems pointless throwing money and time at it just for aesthetic reasons. But then I see these houses online and it just makes me feel so down and wonder if those types of houses are the norm and mine is the exception! x

Your house look lovely, it is a bit brown, sofa, curtains, rug changing those would make a difference.

I really don’t think most of those houses are real though. I suspect in most of them (at least with kids or a job) if they turned the camera around there would be usual stuff. Your house looks nice, a comfortable family home

We brought our house 10 years ago

Last year we finally got rid of the pink bathroom
We’ve just had the floors done and waiting on new doors
Brought new table and chairs and sofa

Looking much better - bit it’s taken this long! Maybe down to kids wrecking everything they touch!

I’d rather visit a welcoming messy house than a spotless catalogue hour any day of the week

@buttonmoonb4tea that’s very true and I think when you look online it’s easy to get caught up, compare and forget that actually we are lucky to own our own home. It is all just decoration that I’m comparing, kitchen units, tiles, bathrooms etc but as you say ours is ok apart from the en suite shower that has been causing a leak through the living room light fitting! But then I’d be even more pissed if we had spent a fortune doing it up then It leaked and we had to redo it! Least we’ve spent nothing on it so it won’t be heartbreaking if it needs ripping out! Next door have the same size house and have 3 kids, I also try to catch a nosey and there house and it always looks immaculate! x

*at their house

I browse Rightmove a lot. I am always put off by the immaculate grey houses, they just feel so cold and soulless to me. Love seeing what is clearly a lived in family house :)

Your house looks lovely OP! And if you wanted to you could change the decor/brighten it very cheaply. Try Pinterest and DIY on a budget on Facebook for ideas and advice.

Mine is rented and every single room is magnolia apart from one wall in my bedroom that is wallpapered horrible grey and silver sparkly floral grimness. The carpet is all fraying at the joins and doesn’t match from room to room. Bumpy concrete flooring under vinyl. Really old yellowing gloss paint on all the woodwork. And I can’t change anything. I hate it.

am always put off by the immaculate grey houses, they just feel so cold and soulless to me.

Yep. Same.

@FAQs that photo was from when we were first in last year and we have in fact got a dark grey rug with lighter grey swirls on it now!
The brown went with our old house that was that kind of cream/mocha/brown coloured living room. I would love a new sofa but DH won’t budge on it yet as DS spills things on it on a regular basis! 😂 but that’s a good point, maybe something as simple as new sofas and curtains would make a big difference x

I know how you feel, I do think your home is lovely though!

Exactly how we feel! We’ve just been for a walk round beautiful lanes and seen massive houses which look amazing and come back and feel depressed.

But I also think it’s all relative - our SIL looks at our house and thinks it’s a palace compared to theirs.

Your house looks lovely it looks like a normal home where people live.

I always panic clean when I have people coming over, so my friends and family think that I'm really tidy, but that's not true at all!

OP do you actually like the grey/white aesthetic that you see online or was that just an example? Because it wouldn't take much to transform your house, I don't think, have you tried looking up budget transformations on YouTube etc?

My place is awful.
I'm constantly doing things, trying to keep it spic and span, but its a clapped out old council flat, and hard to disguise that with throws, and pillows, and bright colours.

Yup. I hate our house to the point it's nearly split us up arguing over moving. People say it's nice, but I feel it's got a negative atmosphere compared to neighbors houses.

A friend has a brown sofa for the same reason, plus two dogs she recently bought some teal curtains and it made a huge difference, your log burner looks beautiful.

We bought our house because it was nicely decorated and we had baby twins and no time. We’ve probably devalued it by a good amount now there are grubby toddler handprints all over the farrow and ball walls, toys absolutely everywhere, a corner of a windowsill that’s been gnawed off.

It’s taken us two years to get furniture for our bedroom and put up proper light fittings. When you have young kids is the wrong time to make your house nice! I’m focusing on making our bedroom nice for now!

I get major house inferiority pangs. Feel like everyone has a nicer/bigger house than me.

Have just spent a lot (for me) on my living/dining room - new rug, new sofa, new coffee table, new blinds and new dining set to make everything look more modern, bright and fresh. I love the colorful, boho look as per this photo (NOT my living room!) so am using Pinterest to get inspiration for my purchases.

I absolutely detest the grey decor look though. Would much rather live in your house than a soulless grey box!

Op,
Your house has a lot of potential. I think that it’s actually lovely All you need to do is brighten it up a bit with some colourful accessories.
I buy stuff from charity shops and boot sales, so it doesn’t have to be expensive. As another poster suggested, look at Pinterest and other sites for ideas.

You have a dining table in your kitchen, I have a bar table as it's so small. You're one up on me 👍

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