The best house

Frank That is good news. Hope to hear all about the wee one's entrance, sometime soon.

Hi soop

I agree with what you are saying to a great extent.
I do have my daughters / sons in law and 3 granddaughters nearby who are very important to me.
If all goes to time I will have another grandchild on Saturday.

Frank

Very well put soop your input has been sadly missed whilst you where disconnected from the outside world x

Hear, hear soop

Frank forget [for a moment, if you can] about money. A happy home can be perfect in its simplicity. It is the love within, that makes it rich.

gillybob

I forgot to mention that my wife's relatives never visited again when they realised they would not benefit from my in laws estate.
They have all moved and I don't know how to contact them.
At least they did not come back and bother us.

Frank

gillybob

I agree what you are saying is ideal.
I have Andie for company and he is great.
My daughters / sons in law do visit very often along with my 3 granddaughters.
They do not however visit quite as much as they would like as there are the other grandparents.
Oddly when we all meet together ( both grandparents, parents and granddaughters) we tend to meet at the other grandparents house as it is bigger.
My granddaughters like to visit me more than me visiting them so they tend to come to my house rather than me going to their house.
Last weekend was an exception however. I went to my daughters houses for lunch on Saturday and Sunday as it was easier for me and Andie to walk through the snow than a family walking through the snow.

Frank

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that Frank I don't know what you mean.

The point I was trying to make is that it is surely not how much the house is worth that matters . It not that it is the best position, the biggest or the grandest in the town. It is what goes on between the four walls of the house that makes it a home. The love the happiness the joy and the laughter. It is children playing, adults chatting etc . You get the picture?

gillybob

When my in laws passed their estate went to my 2 daughters in accordance with the terms of their will.
We had relatives on my wife's side complaining the money should have gone to older more responsible blood relatives.
My daughters used the money towards their first homes so what is wrong with that?.

Frank

Exactly, gillybob! My best house is this one, because we are both here together and happy. And that would have been the same for the many others we have had.

There is a huge difference between a house (bricks and mortar) and a home.

Who would want to be king of the castle in the biggest,grandest,most expensive house and be surrounded with nothing but greed, envy, jealousy and loneliness ?

I don't think it is just houses which causes friction amongst work colleagues.
Some do not think it is right people of a lower grade should have more than them.
I had a pension and a salary being paid at the same time and was living with my father in the most expensive house in the department according to some people I worked with.
I knew the grade of my manager and my pension combined with my salary was more than his salary.
There are other factors outside work which could make a lower grade employee have more than the top manager.
Inheritance and being married to a spouse which earns more are just 2 examples.

Frank

I love my home - moved here aged 8 in 1968, moved out at 18, moved back when mum passed away and we bought the family home.... spent 2 years knocking it about and now its perfect

Honestly, I've never ever envied any house, no matter how spacious and grand, other than the one I call home.

I don't think I would like minimalist, too much of a clutterbug (if I may coin a word) but my ideal house would be on one level, no stairs to negotiate, and as few inner walls as possible. In other words, open plan living. My place, which is my home but never feels really homely, is on three levels, and has communal rubbish bins at the end of the block I live on, with two further sets of outdoor stairs on the way there. It's totally inappropriate for someone disabled, with little strength or energy, and is full of "stuff" and junk but, like Galen, I simply can't begin to face the thought of moving. My daughter despairs of me but lives a busy life too far away to be able to help out so I just get on with it.
What really annoys me is when I see tv shows with people house hunting for incredibly expensive houses which look wonderful, and still they complain. Is it wrong of me to feel that they should be less fussy and more thankful?

There is a programme calld Best House, Ilove watching it

Faye that's lovely

Sometimes the best house is your own home. D1 and SIL recently spent a month working late each night, painting, decluttering, putting in new carpets, tidying up their lovely garden and clearing out the garage on their house because they wanted to sell and buy another house. Last week D2 phoned and said everything they had looked at wasn't as nice as their house so they had decided not to sell.

It is a win win situation for my daughter, she has always loved her house but now it is perfect for her.

minimalist - or rather immaculate lack of clutter, makes me feel uneasy.
This is a lovely house, very energy efficient, with lots of plumbing and far too much room for two. When I agreed to buy it I did not think all my kids and grandkids would emigrate. I have enjoyed the space etc but not the loneliness. We are going to let it out later this year and rent somewhere tiny in N Wales and live a studenty life for a while. I will miss the warmth (I expect) and space - particularly the big kitchen. But I pointed out to DH this morning the fact that for the first time in our married life we will be sharing a bathroom at home! He is one of those men that likes to retreat and read for half an hour at a time.
It is strange to think we will probably never live here again and that we will be tenants.

That's why I bought this house, Ella. Being an end terrace, it has enough space at the side to get a smallish car through to the back yard. The road outside is one big car park!

Where I live, I'd just settle for my own parking space, and it would be perfect

Quite!

Galen, when I downsized from 4-bed detached with garage, to this 2-bed end terrace without garage, I aimed for minimalism. 12 years later, meet the queen of clutter...

The best house is the one that one feels most comfortable and at home in. Almost everybody will have a different idea of what is a best house.

We started today at DD's cosy little 1920s cottage, which she never wants to leave she is so happy with it and returned to our old comfortable house, 60 miles away, which we never want to leave.

Nellie! That's just what a certain HF wants!