What is it about your house that you particularly enjoy in daily life?

[minkah]

Never mind estate agents blurb..what is it that makes a house a desirable home, from your point of view of actually living in it?

For me, I love the south facing garden of our house, which means we get lots if sun and a nice quality of light.

My house is charming, but I really love the practicalities. Water softener which reduces cleaning, floors that don't show grime, smart hidden storage which is also convenient to use, sliding doors between some rooms which allow me to have the benefits of open plan, but close off rooms when I want to. These things make living in and moving around the house easy. I'm never moving again!

Having really lovely neighbours.

I love my whole house
It has a mix of open plan (kitchen/ diner/ sitting area) as well as a separate lounge that I love to use when the dc are in bed as it is grown up, tidy and lovely. Playroom keeps the rest of the house clutter free- in theory anyway! Also love the velux right above my bed

Having a bathroom all to myself (very much appreciated after our summer holiday where we had to share a single bathroom)

Views and sounds of a buzzing city

Being able to stroll out to central London tube/bus stops, with lots of cool arts/theatre events happening close enough that we can get there on a work night, plus a short commute time which allows me longer lie ins!

The light, really - I just walk past the bathroom and see sunlight flooding in and want to stand there for ages. And it does it in nearly all the rooms.

It's also very quiet. The street feels sort of protected, it's got huge tall terraces on one side and then a lot of semis on our side which are also very tall, and it is filled with children, every house seems to have about 5, and it seems like nothing can touch us.

It's a strange feeling but a nice one. Only been there a week!

The south-west facing garden and our lovely neighbour.

Everything :) It's big and light, with lots of rooms.

But especially love -
the lovely new main bathroom (which we had put in as soon as we moved in),
big bedrooms with loads of storage,
open plan kitchen diner, separate utility room.
teen sulk room- also good for sleepovers as furthest room from our bedroom so we can't hear a thing,
playroom which quickly became my office, as have older DC.
small garden that might put off some people, but we love the easy maintenance.
lovely well built conservatory.
Large driveway.
Location and neighbours are great too.

I am a sucker for huge windows and loads of light. I cannot abide dark dingy houses and would never buy one no matter how good the location/size/quality of everything else.

A 1920s house: Great proportions (high ceilings) Lots of light (big windows);
We back onto massive houses with massive gardens, so not overlooked despite being in quite a built-up area;
5-minute bike ride to school and 10-min to work;
5-minute walk to massive playing fields/park.
Best of all: considerate and nice neighbours (quiet) - v. important as is a semi-detached.

leaving it and locking the door behind it.

The fact that is on a hill and I have a good view across London from my front gate.

The space and light, especially in my kitchen, which has a glass roof. The fact that unless someone comes to the front door, there's almost nowhere on the house that people can see in - my last home had huge street level windows (was once a shop) and while it never bothered me, I love the privacy we have now. Also the great storage and it's location. I love my house too

Current house... big rooms. Have never loved this house, but it's practical. We're about to move though. What I think I will love about the new house: having a guest bedroom, location, sea views, wood beams, big square kitchen.

Secluded garden. I need my garden to feel like a sanctuary. A reception room that gets all day sun. I gravitate towards the light. There's also a reception room that faces north and that is lovely to sit in when it's summer and you want to be somewhere cool. Quiet street. Amenities within walking distance such as a butchers, bakers, several convenience stores and post offices. Decent sized hallway. Lovely neighbours.

Negative points: No nice pub nearby. No library within walking or cycling distance. My quiet street is sandwiched between two main roads so to get to green spaces or the good amenities, you have to contend with busy roads.

Sitting room big enough for two humungous sofas (I know this is normal for a lot of people but in our last house you could only squeeze in a small sofa and one chair and most houses in our area are like this.

Original fireplaces in the bedrooms. It just looks so cute and cosy, and the big sash windows make it nice and light.

Good square well proportioned rooms. They're still small by most standards but you actually have a choice of how to layout furniture - again, a novelty!

Nice wide garden (last one was much longer, but a narrow overlooked terraced strip). This one is nice and square, very private and not much overlooked.

My front garden and front door - it's tucked round the side and I walk through my (tiny) front/side garden to get to it. It's shabby at the mo but feels like a little cottage in the city.

That said I LOATHE and DESPISE some of the layout - kitchen and dining room are horribly dark and enclosed at the moment. Kitchen is like a dungeon - makes me want to scream every day, but we're starting work in a few weeks to slowly put it right.

One of the things I like about my house is that it's on the same street as a primary school, so twice a day I hear parents and children walking past, chatting.

I like very much the family feel of it. Cosy, consistent.

Pool. It occupies children and half of the neighbourhood. For hours and hours of mostly harmless fun

Also although I am not a big fan of open plan and bland I can have half the neighbourhood over and clean it down in hour or so afterwards.

Downsides are poor storage which no amount of decluttering will really fix, so although easy to clean can be hard to tidy. Also as it is bland it lacks real character and special furniture is beyond my reach. And I had to chase neighbours chooks out of my veg patch this morning.

It is a bit of a haven - although located in a 1950's estate, it is secluded and private and surrounded be greenery.

The sun comes up over the back fence into the conservatory, east-facing for breakfast and then tips over the sofa in the front room west-facing when I fancy a nap at about 3pm ish on an afternoon.

It's just a 1970s 3 bed terrace and this was an unexpected bonus as we hadn't worried about which way it faced but I love it.

Having masses of natural light pouring in through the large windows, especially in those dull winter months

The fact that it's got loads of built in storage space, makes it easy to tidy all the toys away.

The showers are really powerful so I can wash my hair in seconds

There is a playground nearby

It was built for us so everything is perfect for us.
Huge windows to let in lots of light
Land - we have created our own little idyll.
We all have our own bathrooms.
Location, on the edge of a lovely village.

I'm not in love with my house at the moment, though its nice enough. What I dislike about it mostly is its dark downstairs, the only toilet is on the second floor, and I have 3 small children, and although the garden is nicw, it backs on to other houses, so I don't get the sense of seclusion I crave.
What I dream of is a light, practical house really. Over two floors instead of 4, with a lovely bay window and I would absolutely LOVE a utility room. Not things I considered when I was joint and romantic.

Young and romantic that should be. Sorry for the many typos!

That we back onto allotments where, at the moment, the fruit trees are bursting full and begging to be scrumped! The field of horses behind the allotments, I love watching the horses race around when it's a windy day and they're all giddy.
The sun that pours in the huge living room and front bedroom bay windows... Perfect for afternoon naps in a big puddle of sunshine, usually accompanied by a cat or two.
The location, we can walk to the village school, shops, pubs, woodland or river/canal and friends easily.

I love the light in this house.

Also love my conservatory - means i can almost sit in the garden in the months when it's too cold to actually be out there!