House envy

I missed out on a lovely lodge, think Audrey Forbes- Hamilton's in To The Manor Born!
The little front garden was all filled topiary and I ached for it.
When I drive past now it's all grubby and grown out and it saddens me as I would have lavished love on it!
So yes I'm envious of those who get to live in the house they fall for. I love houses anyway and always enjoy visiting as many as possible, paid entry or not

No, no house envy.
I like our house and over the years we've done it up to suit ourselves.
We have friends and relatives to stay and always try to make them feel at home and comfortable so they enjoy our house too.

I am guilty of looking at houses for sale online and loving features, character or decor but I'd try to adopt anything that might work here rather than wanting to move. Location attracts me too but there's no way I'd want to move too far away from family and friends, so really just gratitude and happy to have a nice roof over our heads does me.
I am curious about other homes, rather than envious.

I am in a bungalow in side road and full of my age which was in the small town mostly full of pensioners.
However, since coming here there has been a large amount of houses built mostly bought by younger people who now drive around during all hours. Also, Welsh water has had to enlarge their water treatment which can be now noisy at night. On the positive side there are great walks all around.

I like to see what other people have done with their homes but I don't usually envy them because our home is just that - recognisably ours. We don't do minimalism, neutral everything-you-can-think-of, shelves tidied to within an inch of their lives, etc. Everything we own has a history to it and, although one friend said, "Your house is like a museum", I don't care (she lives in a beige box with nothing of herself on show - her choice, but I;d DIE in that sterility!). Hmm, but does thinking, "Oh what a good idea, maybe I'll do something similar with my old dresser/kitchen cupboards/whatever" count as envy? I guess envy is as envy does...

I’ve never had house envy, even when I lived in a one bedroom maisonette.
I do have location envy though. I’d love to live in walking distance of a railway station with direct access to London Paddington.

“Be thankful for what you have , you can cope with a lot less!”
A great quote from the father of Gordon Brown which I read and admired at the weekend .

I don’t have house envy as such. What I do have is home envy. I am envious of two of my friends who don’t have much money and live in small terraced houses. They have a great sense of style, can take a few second hand bits and pieces, and with colour, throws etc. create interesting and comfortable homes.

I today heard that the best colour bra to wear under white shirts (to be least visible) is a red one! Has anyone tried this as I usually wear a skin coloured one.

I would love to live in a bungalow.

When my parents passed, they left me their bungalow. But it was down a long country lane, and too far away from my childrens' school and husband's work.

We are happy where we are, but as we are ageing, the thought of having no stairs to climb would be a dream.

I love my (ex LA) 1920s semi, it's room proportions are amazing but sadly it is showing its age and needs lots of annoying jobs doing that I simply can't afford.
I fantasize about building an extension to enable me to have a downstairs bedroom and shower facilities for my dotage, but know it's a fantasy.
I have friends with far more fabulous homes than mine but I don't really envy anyone else.
I'm immensely proud to have (almost) paid for this property as a single working parent of 3 children.
(No help from my ex husband who got everything in the divorce, and walked away from his family completely.)
We have the typical 1920s 'council garden' with fruit trees, fruit bushes and recently my lovely son paid for raised beds so I can garden, as my mobility is not great. We're currently inundated with tomatoes and I have chickens so fresh eggs. I love my house

Don't think I have ever envied anyone I know their house. Admired yes, but envied, no. Seen and been in a lot of high end properties of friends and family, just appreciate what I have.

my last house the landlord did nothing. it was full of falling apart bits rodents and an abusive marriage so i longed for a nice house and peace.
now i have my one bed bungalow to myself and i love it. when i get rid of his stuff it will be the envy of the neighbourhood!

Totally pointless. There’s always going to be someone with a better or bigger house. Think about what really matters. I know a young married couple with a small child who recently moved into a large 5 bed house. He’s one of the most unhappy people I know. His wife has coercive control over him and he hates his high paying job.

I used to envy anyone who had a kitchen large enough to eat in! My previous house didn’t have that, but we moved about 10 years ago and now we do have an eat-in kitchen that I love. It’s very much a first world problem, but my house now is much more to my liking. I feel extremely grateful to own a house, with DH, that we’ve worked hard for after 50 years of marriage and have been mortgage-free for quite some time. I do feel for the young of today - some will probably be paying rent for most/all of their lives. I love home and garden magazines and house renovation programmes in TV. They give me a lot of pleasure, but I’d never want to own something huge with vast grounds. I prefer something manageable.

There is never any worth to be envious. At the end of the day your house does exactly the same as what a larger house does.

I've moved so many times in my life that any house is home.
If I could move to my dream house it would be a 2 bedroom stone built cottage with lots of parking and a big garden. Most cottages are now bought for holiday homes or airb&b let's in my area

monami

oh please, give us a break

You can have a break if you want to. Others obviously don’t.

MT62 Hear hear, I live in a teeny tiny house but I adore it and wish everyone could have the opportunity of loving where they live

Yes, sometimes I do have house envy, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love my house. It’s over 100 years old, we’ve lived here for 45 of those years and when we were earning we extended it and did it up. But now money is tighter it’s getting a little shabby and neither of us has a DIY bone in our bodies. When we bought it the road it is on was very quiet, now it’s a busy main road used by big lorries. We are lucky, we have a large rear garden, but soon that will get to be too much for us. As with most areas there are lots of new builds going up, maybe we should downsize to a new, easy care house. When it’s my turn to host book group I do cringe a little, everyone else has a beautiful, large house and I struggle to fit everyone in now, so a smaller house would be difficult, but at least I can say we’re happy together in this house, so I’m not really complaining.

oh please, give us a break

I've never really had house envy, we were very happy in our first small terrace and have been happy in the larger houses that followed.
We've downsized to a flat now and I'm equally content, we have the space and the convenience that we need and there are lovely things such as a balcony facing the river opposite Kew gardens which gives us a lot of pleasure.
Friends have asked if I miss our last "perfect" Georgian house which we spent years renovating, but I can honestly say that I don't as I know it would be a pain to maintain as we're getting older. However I do miss my beautiful garden as it was my hobby.

Ive never been envious of anyone in my entire life . I'm always intensely grateful for what I have and don't understand this at all. What's the point?

I am reminded of the story of The Old Woman Who Lived In A Vinegar Bottle. She is perfectly happy with her life until she saves a frog, who is really a prince, and he promises to grant her every wish. She goes from being happy and poor to discontented and rich as the fancy homes and all the trappings fail to bring her any joy.
Motto: Be thankful for what you have. So many have absolutely nothing.

Our house is lovely but far too big. We don’t want to sell because we are surrounded by beautiful trees, have a lovely view of the mountain and have lots of birds and wild animals visiting daily. It is also very private and we have lived here for 35 years so we are kind of part of the furniture round here. I couldn’t stand the thought of downsizing, wouldn’t have a clue what to keep and what to chuck. The worst thing is the pool - a lot of maintenance. Never envy anyone, never have because I just feel very fortunate to live here , very safe so we don’t even have to lock the doors ( I know, things could change but it has been like that so far ! )

Margs

A case of 'The Grass Is Greener On The Other Side"?

Very often it isn't.

Yes, a perfect summing up, applies to almost everything in life, including houses.