Unexpected nice thing you realised about your house after moving in

[JustJam4Tea]

In the middle of a town very close to where we used to live, but the back garden is at such an angle from streetlights that’s it’s like a little dark sky area. The stars are great.

Fantastic draw on the chimney.

The water pressure is amazing.

Lovely thread

The best surprise after we moved in was the beautiful laburnum that just seemed to appear in full bloom one day, I'm not sure how I didn't notice it until it did!

I also love how private the garden is - no problem whipping my top off if I get too hot gardening.

How much wildlife there is - I knew there were red squirrels in the area but I was surprised how regularly we get them in the garden. Plus so many birds, all the little furry things and an occasional pine martin!

The house itself has a noisy road outside and a lot to be improved in general, but we're working on that. Great water pressure though!

• Brilliant neighbours. I didn't realise how much I needed to live in a friendly community.
• it's so quiet at night aside from the odd owl
• it's so dark at night and I can see the stars really well
• the most unexpected thing was the feeling of being settled. We don't plan on moving for a long time and I'm so happy we've chosen this house and this area.

(I hated where we lived previously)

Fantastic parquet flooring under the nasty green flowery carpet. It needed a bit of restoration, but it's fabulous.

Great thread.

Having a postbox very nearby - extremely handy at times!

The beautiful and huge philadelphus in the back garden which came into flower a few weeks after we moved in and transforms an ordinary looking shrub into a thing of extraordinary beauty for several weeks in the early summer.

All the houses round about us are Victorian and were built on land that had been used as a market garden for centuries. (Inner London, was probably considered outside London until the 19th century.) In the spring several huge pear trees in neighbouring gardens have gorgeous blossom. I assume they're the last remnants of the market gardens.

Good neighbours.

We did a loft conversion and discovered that the house is high enough to have a fantastic view from the new Velux windows on the north-facing side of the roof.

Excellent parking (for a London terrace). We face the junction with another road, which we liked as it felt more open, but it also creates more parking as there aren’t any houses at our end of that road but there are parking spaces there.

Cellar head height is much higher than many round here, didn’t realise till I saw a neighbour’s cellar.

Road is much quieter than I’d feared.

We have a flock of around 20 doves that live in the trees in our garden and are always there, on our roof or on our neighbours roof. Listening to them cooing is one of the loveliest sounds.

The sun when it shines through the shutters.

A full log store and coal shed - we didn't notice those when we viewed.

A remote control for the garage

A garden that almost glows with colour all through the year.

I love this house! It makes me smile every single day.

We viewed in winter so didn't appreciate that we are surrounded by neighbours trees, even though there are none in our garden, and the front is on a main road. So we get absolutely loads of different types of birds, some I've never seen IRL before, various finches etc and I bought a bird book from charity shop to help identify them. We only moved round the corner, and in the last house just got pigeons and the odd sparrow. It's wonderful to just sit and watch them on all the bird feeders and tables we now have.

We have what looks like a drawer in the kitchen, but actually, when you pull in out, it's a side board, about 1 metre long. So handy when you need some extra prep space!

Also, the kitchen had lino in it, which was a bit naff. It had been laid funny in one corner, so I tried to fix it, and found a gorgeous laminate floor underneath!

@SmallGreenStripes

It had sea views

How did you not realise? A sea view it’s pretty obvious

When we moved in we met the neighbours and told them we were planning to have the house fully rewired. The husband told us it would be easier because of the cellar. I said we didn’t have a cellar and he said, “Yes you do - lift up the lino behind the kitchen door and there’s a trap door into the cellar “.

He was right - five rooms all big enough to stand up in, the whole length and width of the house. The estate agent knew nothing about it (the seller had gone into a home two years before) and the surveyor didn’t spot it either! We had the new boiler installed down there with a remote control thermostat. It’s so exciting to have found so much extra space!

@RampantIvy

Sunny back garden Roomy under stairs cupboard Light and airy Quiet Lovely neighbours Only 5 minutes from the station In a village so only a very short walk to open countryside Great village pub Only an easy 10 minute drive to the motorway Outstanding primary school in the village Lovely community feel

I sound like an estate agent here

How can any of this have been unexpected?

How much having attic/eaves storage makes life easier. Our previous house had the standard loft ladder to get into the attic. Always a massive balancing act to get anything up or down. This house was built on three floors, with the attic space being in the eaves. So much easier to get heavy or awkward things in and out on my own, no need to wait for DH to be home, I can just get on and do it.

A squirrel.
Now two

Wow Warmduscher that’s like a whole extra house!!

The length of our garden is longer than I remembered when we viewed.

And that the suspicious ugly artex wasn’t actually asbestos boring and practical, typical architect

Church bells ringing and train horns tooting from a long way away

The nature reserve 5 minutes walk away. We knew there was some protected woodland there but had no idea that there was more than that.

We viewed in August so the lovely view of the hills when the leaves dropped was a bonus.

We have lovely neighbours - not at all in our faces and always give the DCs small Christmas gifts. In fact the local community is great, with a fantastic shop that helped out loads of people during lockdown.

We have Velux windows in the dining room and I didn't realise how much I'd appreciate them. As well as making the space so much lighter, it's lovely to sit and watch snow landing on them on the rare occasions we get snow.

The back of the house faces west so I get to see glorious sunsets from the back garden.

And this one won't appeal to many people but we live near a heritage airfield, so I regularly get air displays of Spitfires practising manoeuvres!

There are lots of things that I don't like about this house, but it does have a lovely view. I knew that before we moved in, but DH didn't because he only saw it once before we bought it and there was thick fog at the time.

• Lovely and kind neighbours

• The surrounding houses have big deciduous trees in their gardens. When you look out from the back of the house in the summer (we bought the house in January) the leaves mask all the surrounding buildings. it’s not like being in a big city at all.

• The light that comes into the kitchen in the morning is soft and beautiful.

That you can see the sea (it’s about 6 miles away so not expected and it’s only visible from upstairs in the distance).

How much wildlife we would get (squirrels, pheasants, foxes, hedgehogs, rabbits)

That you can star watch as very little light pollution.

That the houses are situation in a slight herringbone pattern so no one can really see in to anyone else’s property.

That there is a shortcut you can walk through to reach the bus stop/main road.

Nice neighbours.
Was surprised at how much sunlight our North facing back garden gets

I love the induction cooktop.