What I love most about my house and yard right now is that they are both just large and disorderly enough, that I will probably NEVER run out of things to do!!!

That it is paid for, of course, but I also love everything about my old home, big trees, pretty yard and I love my little town.

We’re lucky enough to be renting this small, but lovely old house with incredible old big windows on Newport Bay. We feel blessed.

Reading in front of the wood stove and feeling wrapped in its warmth.

Everything! My house is big enough for both of us, love my garden, neighborhood, nature is nearby and we live in a lovely village.

The views, most definitely. Lot's of storage room. It's paid for.

We are trying to downsize. Going to miss the views.

That it’s our sanctuary during this crisis, that my husband and I selected it together, it’s surrounded by farms, and 3000 feet from the water, that its paid for and we updated it all to our liking. We are truly blessed and grateful

That we downsized last fall and moved out of California to a comfortable, just roomy enough, condo in Florida with a beautiful water and greenery view. We're fortunate that my husband's 96 year old mother is with us during the quarantine. She came to visit and then couldn't leave. We all feel safer together.

Having just retired at the end of February, I‘ve enjoyed cooking a great deal more in my kitchen these past few months. Functional and beautiful all in one package.

My great neighbors! My husband has some physical disabilities that have made it hard for him to do all the yard work he used to love doing. I'll weed and plant the flowerbeds but we've hired neighborhood teens to mow the lawn. At first it was the family across the street with the older brother passing the task off to the younger one when the older one was big enough to help in their father's construction business. The younger one is now old enough to help Dad so he arranged for another boy in the neighborhood to take his place. We didn't have to do anything but approve his choice. That boy's father came with him the first time to make sure he knew how to use our mower and edger and gave him a pretty high standard to shoot for. In the winter I'll sometimes clear at least the half of the driveway my car backs onto but we also tried to hire the first boy to clear the rest of the snow from the driveway and walks that first year but every time it snowed that was done before he got home from school. We're not sure who does it but suspect 3 or 4 of our neighbors, including one who was almost giddy the first snowfall after he got his first snowblower. I think it's that same neighbor who often gets to our trash cans before we do to either take them out to the street or bring them back in.

Location. Southern exposure. National forest as neighbor.

I love our back porch... access from kitchen, living and master, it’s a great place to enjoy a morning cu-of tea or a glass of wine while enjoying the sunset across the lake.

The best thing about our house is that it's all paid for. If we had mortgage payments at this time, we'd be figuring out how we'd be able to live in the car.

Because of snow, we first entered through the kitchen. The 200 year old cooking fireplace stopped me. My husband took one look at at me and said, “I guess we’re moving”. And we did, moving 1000 miles to a house filled with history. I love my stone cellar, my crooked floors, the 72” doorways in the oldest portion, the view of the creek and the adjoining farm land. I love cooking in the fireplace with the original crane and on my Thermador range in my newly remodeled kitchen. Peonies and lilacs, hillsides of daffodils and deer grazing on the lawn greet me through windows of wavy glass.

My yard. Hands down, the yard. While I'm a health care worker and not home, I love coming home and sitting on the deck or the patio and watching my chickens. Puttering in the garden checking on my blackberries, currants, blueberries, the veggies and flowers, my bees.

And separate rooms with walls--thank god I don't like "open concept."

I designed our home and had it built to my specifications 11 years ago so we love just about everything about it. This time of year the best part are the views of blooms on our half acre, gardens we designed and planted ourselves transforming muddy Virginia clay into 12 beautiful beds. Especially now gardening is a challenging, absorbing, and satisfying hobby.

After living in 80 meters and cooold. I appreciate my 135 meter warm light flat facing west with a wonderful sun room to watch the sunset every night. And a marvelous view

The large front porch where we can sit comfortably and watch the neighborhood walkers go by.

My home is very cozy
And inviting,
Working on having more indoor plants.

Sally- that is beautiful! Thank you for sharing.

Location, location, location!

@Sally Unger - absolutely beautiful home and gardens. Looks like paradise to me!

@Sally Unger (I am also a Sally)

I love your home! Looks like it has been in that setting for 50 years! Would love to see the inside.

My husband and I plan to build in a new home in a 1930's+ neighborhood and hope to fit it in as seamlessly as you have your home. I don't know how you were able to grow your trees and plants to look like they have always been there...so fast. With our current home, we let the views be the showcase and did not have to do much landscaping in the yard. Our new home will be on property without a view, so we will have to make our own in the way of a private garden area.

The view and my awesome neighbors.

The house needs a remodel but is okay for now while I save $.

Beautiful view!

@nhb22 @Denita @Kris Bruesehoff Thank you so much for the kind words! @nhb22 Sally: :-) We also had to create our own views. We put in a bunch of 12' trees to start especially to screen neighbors' yards. We have 7 lots that border our lot which is shaped like a pentagon. Some of the trees in my pictures were existing - our lot was formerly a tree nursery so the dogwoods in the pictures were all from many years ago and we were able to preserve them during construction. The maples, cherry, crabapple all were 12' when we planted them. We learned that smaller trees actually acclimate and grow faster so you probably end up in the same place after 3 years without putting in 12 footers. But we were in a hurry as I was diagnosed with a deadly rare disease right after we moved in and was given only a few weeks to live. As we were building the gardens we never knew whether I'd be there the next year to see it but here I am 10 years later doing great! Let me know if I can help with house or garden ideas. Best wishes with your new home project!

Oh my goodness! So thankful that your life turned around. ;)

When we built 14 years ago, we were told about planting smaller trees. The larger trees are so expensive. We have a few maples, several Cleveland Pears, and mostly Arborvitae (for screening in back around our patio. We have Emerald Green giants between us and neighbors on both sides of the house. All were planted small and all almost too large. We just had the E. Giants, and the C. Pears trimmed. The pears get a trim every two years.

My husband wants little to no maintenance at the next house. It will be our retirement home. We will mostly plant evergreens to screen the neighbors who are going to be close. I'd like some sort of medium growth ornamental trees in the front yard.

Our neighbors have a very large neglected dogwood tree that is almost on the property line. Unfortunately, if it lives, it will hang directly over our new garage. More than likely, though, our foundation digging will kill the tree. :(

That it‘s paid for. These days, that it has a separate kitchen/breakfast, living, and formal dining, for sound control and ability to “be together apart”.

I envy those people whose house is paid for! In our case I love all of the space that we have, as we have a family of four that is home all the time now (with five year old twins) and a dog and moved from an 1100 square foot two bedroom one bath in the city. I have nothing against small spaces but with two small children we need the space and a place for them to safely play outside and ride their bikes, and get out of our hair sometimes, LOL. I also love having a yard that I can walk out onto and see birds, squirrels, and trees, and find plants on our property to propagate or transplant as I like to garden.

I love pretty much everything.

It is welcoming and cozy and it makes me happy.

Jenn, mother of twins, there are many ways to pay off a house. If you don’t have the proverbial rich uncle, you have to do it on your own. Get an amortization schedule and see what an extra payment once a year will save you in the lifetime of your loan. For us, paying an extra $144 a month for several years meant our 30 year loan was reduced to 15 years! It empowered us to sell that little house and build our dream house. Owning free and clear is such a life changing plan.

Remodeling 1840: That is amazing how easily you cut your mortgage time in half!

I drool over the descriptions of wildlife and open spaces, and am envious of the fabulous views that some of you are so fortunate to be able to gaze upon. I have no expansive vistas, but we do have a wonderful home in a suburb of Los Angeles that I am truly in love with. We have remodeled/updated about 90% of it over the last 10 years, but what I am appreciating the most during this stay-at-home time is my backyard. The flowers are starting to bloom, we can eat outside, and I use the pool to break up these long days of sequestration. It is all paid for, too, which, like others have said, makes me love it all the more!

decorpatti - Gorgeous property!

we live in an appartment in the city. It is causy and comfortable. I love the light and sun coming through the windows. I appreciate the park surrounding the building, and the beach nearby that can be seen from all windows.
I love our home office that was more in use during lockdown days. (was formed after our kids left home long ago).
I am glad we finished our bathroom renovation, just before the pandemic, so we gained a second great bathroom to use and relax while we are both lockded at home.
I love my home flowers and plants.

The thing I like best about my home is the outdoors surrounding it. My gardens are my happy place - especially this year. It’s hard to be pessimistic when things are blooming!

Views both at our remote & city homes - also that it is all paid for.

My view of the ever-changing Lake Ontario, my garden, and my wood burning fireplace. I'm all tucked in surrounded by mature oak trees, but just a walk away from a neighbourhood that has everything I need, including a beach boardwalk.

That it exists and that it's paid for - looking at the world as a whole, that's a position of enormous privilege right there.

Two things I appreciate most: first, (as some others have said), that it’s paid for. For years, we have lived on less so we could make it happen. Second, for all those times we considered opening up walls in our cozy/somewhat crowded 1300 sf NJ cape, I am now grateful that we did not! Four of us have spent our days working and learning from home - my husband from the 1st floor bedroom/office, our high school boys from their “lounge” in the basement, and me, teaching from my virtual classroom in the dining room. We never would have been able to make it happen otherwise!

Exists, paid for and location, location, location -- adjoins national forest land.

that the more kids I have, the more spacious it seems to get! Not kidding.

Having outdoor spaces- courtyard, front and backyard. A pool. I live on a desert wash and love watching the birds, chipmunks, lizards, bees, and bunnies.

So grateful to be in a rambler with the office where my husband is working from home on one end and the breakfast room and deck where I spend my time on the other. Also happy that we both have trees and a view outside.

Lived here 22 years love my neighbors, love my back yard and patio with all my pines and mesquites and hummingbirds where I enjoy my morning coffee, my living room with picture windrow view of the mountains and my bedroom with my computer for privacy. Have my MIL here in hospice and husband which each have their own rooms. Hasn’t been too hard to stay close to home in these times .Working on some renovation to floors and kitchen so time well spent making it more enjoyable when we start having company again.

We took down our old, rotting deck and had an open deck leading to a patio that sits under a broad red maple tree and a broad backyard. What a revelation, morning til after dark, to be there in the flush of spring and early summer. Makes up for what's not possible now in life.

We were rushing to complete moving out and moving into a new home when the Covid hit, which was quite stressful. We had already moved things for the previous two weeks and I had already started organizing some of the most important rooms such as the kitchen (not very large and with drawers that were not standard sizes for drawer separators, which made everything a bit of a headache). We moved in and realized we did not have a single thing in the fridge or freezer and not much in the pantry, so we had three large grocery runs hoping we would not catch the Covid that second week of March and we finished getting anything else we would need and running any errands by mid-March. Since then we have hardly left the house, except to pick up a prescription and when my husband had to work some shifts that could not be done at home. So the first order of business for me was to continue unpacking and getting the house settled in, learning how to order groceries and other things we needed online, trying to make the new house feel like a home. That took some time. It has been a little over three months but it does feel like home now. What I appreciate about it is that I took great care to try to make it organized from the beginning. It is not cluttered and what we have brought into the house and unpacked all has its place. Bit by bit we are still unpacking and settling in. In a new house we were able to focus on what was important to us to make a harmonious home. The most important things to me were to have the master bedroom be a soothing place where you could feel relaxed, no clutter, and the same for the master closet - it is a small one - but it is organized and stays that way. The bath is the same way. The second thing that was important was that the kitchen was organized so that cooking was simplified. We don’t have much counter space but all the drawers are organized by function and with a cooktop and wall oven finally I had an easy place to store pots and pans in large drawers below the cooktop. I had spent quite a bit of time trying to get the drawers organized and it was worth the time to do it. We have held off putting much on the walls and want to be deliberate in what we decide. The quarantine (I am extremely high-risk and will be quarantining for a long time) required us to put off some things we had wanted to do such as address changes to some of the ceiling lights and to fix up the back yard so that we could use it, so those will just have to wait. It is just so nice to be in a place that is not cluttered and is functional, with enough windows for a good amount of natural light, and comfortable. Every day I am so very thankful for that.

It's my little haven.

The backyard. The wife and I have ate back there more times this year than in the past 10. I had an opportunity to do a lot of work, reclaiming overgrown rec areas from tall spiny weeds and fast growing trees, as well as establishing two new ones. We live on top of a south facing hill 30 miles from the coast in SoCal, providing cool breezes and a very nice view.