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 kitchen, designed just as I wanted it and my garden which is tiny but cosy and lush.

And being near some massive parks but close enough to the centre of London.

Mine is a tip-thanks to a STXH who was financially controlling, letting the house go to wreck and ruin while he bought a big car (& didn't insure me to drive it) and played lord bountiful to his elderly uncles and aunts who thought sun shone out of him while refusing to pay a penny towards birthday, Christmas or holidays for our two DC. But he's gone now so I love the fact that I can open the garage door each day and know that his car won't be there! My heart-and the kids hearts-used to sink when we knew he was in. He was so very difficult & demanding to live with. In fact, he was very scary to live with -and he's still scary to deal with now even though it's mainly through solicitors!

Nothing to add other than I'm in the process of creating a 'home' out of a 'house' and this is an amazing thread!Thank you .

Light seems to be the thing.

This thread is v inspiring - we're midway through renovating our new cottage (just ceilings replaced and walls replastered but it's a big job) and it's looking a long way from ready so it's nice to think what we'll look forward to. I think it will be:

Having our own bedroom (currently sleep in the living room).

Having a big bathroom that will make DS's bathtime fun - tiny showerroom at present.

A garage to store stuff out of sight and a private parking space.

Detached single storey with friendly neighbours nearby (don't have to worry about silly games and making noise that travels down or sideways but not isolated)

Having at least one window that faces all 4 directions so there'll always be at least one room filled with sunlight.

Other posts are making me think about putting our sofa next to the big glass doors in the living room so I can get light in the morning with my cup of tea - conventional place would be to have TV and sofa at other end by the fire.

Beautiful views across fields.

Love my big bright kitchen and the fact that I can have my patio doors open all day and just step out into the garden.

Our house is seven years old and we have had it from new so every fitting, floor covering and wall covering is what we have chosen.

We have 4 children, three of them teens, and a constant stream of visitors in and out and sleeping over. I love the way our house just swallows them up and DH and can retire to the peace of our own top floor rooms.

Also love our village cul de sac location and the fact that youngest DS (8) can be relatively free range, in and out of other kids houses and gardens and mucking about with bikes and scooters in the street.

South facing garden with a couple of trees for shade in the hot days.

Small house and garden so very easy to maintain

Downstair bathroom- so handy for DCs and visitors.

Large walk in airing cupboard for drying laundry -no washing hanging around the house.

Back hall for washing machine, boots, dog dishes etc. keeps it all out of the small kitchen.

Terrace house so incredibly easy/cheap to heat.

Location- right beside school, play park, youth club and very short walk to town. Neighbours are brilliant too.

One thing that really sold my house to me, and I still appreciate, is the conservatory-style roof on the huge kitchen-diner-sitting-playroom extension - it means that even on a gloomy day there is one room in the house that is really light. But I did have to put in roof blinds to stop it getting so freezing at night in winter/blindingly light at summer lunchtimes.

Otherwise, location (walking distance to just about everything I could need), high ceilings (it's a Victorian house, and I'd spent the previous ten years or so in low-ceilinged Japanese apartments/houses), and all the bookshelves I have had built in. Oh, and two living rooms, so I don't have to listen to DD's favourite crappy TV shows when I want to read a book quietly.

I like very very much having a sunny bathroom, it's so bright and lifting each morning to see the light streaming in. The room is tiled white, so the first waking up of the day is assisted very much by sunlight bouncing around.
A sunny bath is also a terrific stress reliever.

My house is solidly built, I love the wide driveway, the wrap around private leafy gardens, double garage, and the aspect which means the back of the place is sunny all day....the front rooms cool in summer, cosy in winter.

High ceilings and light floods in onto white floorboards, bay window in front room, wood burner in the kitchen/diner. I just love it every morning when I get up and when I come home into the wide light hallway.

I've moved quite a bit but this is home, it would be hard to find better.

I'm near shops, bus routes, library, etc. all within walking distance and a park with lots of blackberries in it, just up the road. I can be on the motorway in 3-4 minutes and at the beach in 15 minutes, in the countryside in 15 minutes too and in a large city in half an hour.

I've been thinking about this a lot as we're moving soon.

This has been a challenging house. Old and massive, requiring endless TLC. At times I've wanted to flatten it with a bulldozer...

But we've all loved the space. The acres of land have been a fucker to sort but the kids adored it. Trees, fields and orchards. Their own little world

Low ceilings, wide stairs, pale colours. No wood apart from some old pale pine.

South facing garden.
Kitchen diner leading on to my conservatory.
Small lounge that's cool in the summer and cosy in the winter.
Double driveway.

My house is in a small village. We're the end house in the village with uninterrupted views of a natural loch from the back of the house and the conservatory. We see deer, cormorants and birds of prey regularly. An otter ran across me in my street a couple of years ago.

My house is an average 80s box, but the setting is divine.

THe garden and the rural location. At so quiet.
High ceilings and big rooms.
Big windows looking out into the countryside.
I can't believe its mine half the time!

Our house is quite small, but I love the changes we have made to make it work better for us, knocking through walls, adding a bay window for more space and light, but I really love the location. Quite built up at the front but back on to woods, with a big country park beyond. I love hearing the wind rustling the trees and going through the gate at the bottom of the garden, it's like being transported to a different world.

Separate spaces, the living space is open plan (snort - more like so tiny everything has to fit in) but we've defined different areas for different purposes and it helps. It feels a bit like a tetris game but I quite like that too!

And views, location, proximity to both town and countryside.

dotdot, otters would be top nature spot ever in our house!
We see deer and birds of prey regularly, but an otter would be amazing.

Our conservatory. Entrance hall & dinning room & living room & hang out space in summer. Porch and mud room in winter.

My house does absolutely nothing for me at all tbh. I can't think of one thing I like about it. It's a typical poorly designed, too small 80's ex council house.

I do love my garden though and I love the fact that when I sit on my swing seat I'm completely hidden from everyone.

Lizzylou I couldn't believe my eyes either! it loped across the road and straight into a garden. It took me a while to figure out what it was - it was cat-sizedish but very long-bodied. We are about 1km from the lochside and apparently the otters come up every so often to see if there's a bin to raid.

Location
view
Full of light
pretty garden
Lovely neighbours
safe and manageable house