Home is my happy place, my safe place. We gave loved having fewer obligations and more time at home. Sitting on the patio now and enjoying the peace and quiet and beautiful weather. During this time we have used our front porch more than usual. i Actually plan and look forward to the days I can stay home!

I was already veering into hermit territory, and I'm pretty sure the quarantine sealed the deal. 😉

I've always worked from home and always loved my house(s). I still love them. We're selling the Florida one (which hasn't been easy in a pandemic) to build a bigger one on more acreage in Orlando. I will miss it, our neighbors are lovely and the view is beautiful.

But we need more space with the baby, plus the Orlando lot is 16 acres with a private pond whereas our current is 5 acres with a pond but there are other houses on the pond. We can't wait to get into the new place, but there have been so many issues with permitting because the driveway has to cross a small area of wetlands.

For me, my floor plan was always the best thing about my house. It is absolutely perfect for a single lady that enjoys being at home. One large room (45 x 25) for office area, living area and and a dinning room. TV can be seen from anywhere.

I'm like IdaClaire in that I always have been a homebody. This current situation did not help.

So to answer your question, I actually love it more.

I love my home no more, no less than before. We just moved five years ago and really liked the place then and it has served us well during our confinement. We replaced appliances, replaced most carpet with wood and painted the main floor so there wasn’t anything bugging me everyday when I looked at it. I did think about my previous house (that needed some work done) and how it would have gotten on my nerves during this time.

Both our city home and our lake home have wonderful views - something I always greatly enjoyed but especially during the time when we were under the stay at home order.

I love my house and am so glad we didn’t downsize! Dh is able to utilize 1/2 of the large playroom to set up a work zone with his 3 (!) monitors and can literally stay up there all day. Ds turned the guest room into an office for his college work so he didn’t have to work in his room, and dd used the study. I am so grateful for our yard and outdoor spaces. Seriously, this pandemic has really changed our views about downsizing...not sure when/if we ever will.

I love it more, but we are in our second home. We just got through renovating the bathrooms, and I love how they turned out. Also, we had the pool replastered with diamond plaster that is supposed to last twice as long as regular plaster, and so it looks like new. Also, I have been doing some sewing projects for the house, and my brother is working on some new paintings. He really likes the office in this house. I miss some of my plants in my yards in Los Angeles, but I think I will appreciate them more when we go back.

It’s a mixed bag for me. Overall I love my home more. A very quiet neighborhood but two neighbors have major landscape design going on, so lots of construction crews around and some days jack hammers.

We have used our pool area more than the entire 4 1/2 years we have lived here. Our back area is on the side of a ravine, with lots of trees and plants. Have had more time to enjoy the birds and overall greenery.

My house itself has lots of potential, but a bit of a split personality. Being “stuck” here reminds me how much I need to get moving on making it mine. The last 4 1/2 years I have been trying to decide what to do with it, putting off any real action due to college bills. Well as of a couple weeks ago we are done paying for college. Time to get cracking on the house. Will be asking for advice here, because other than colors I am still lost on what to do, the 4 1/2 years to ponder did not help me decide. Funny as my last house I had no problem knowing what I wanted.

I like my home about the same. There will always be things I find less than ideal but the good parts almost make up for it. We have conquered a few of the worse eyesores during this epidemic but will stop short of spending on things that will not fetch a return... for now. We are still toying with moving in the next couple of years. So far, we haven’t found better in our price range though. We are still exploring ideas for other areas. My dream is to find a cool “small“ house right in a mid-sized downtown that I can gut/remodel. I want to be able to walk into town for what I need, or take a golf cart and no more than three miles to the beach.

This has become my sanctuary. I have lived in many houses in many areas and never had a little piece of ground I enjoyed more than this. I practically live out here (ceiling fan overhead, just out of the photo) whirring away. Even more so during stay at home orders.

We’ve spent the last 4 weeks at our tiny cabin. For the 2 of us, it’s perfect. If we had someone else staying with us it would be tight. I’ve especially appreciate the view of the water. It gives me peace during these uncertain times. We also can get out and do stuff, in our little corner of the world, without being around other people. It’s easy to jump in a kayak, or on a boat and enjoy lake activities that don’t include wearing a mask.

I’ve been able to entertain family while out here. Outdoor activities that don’t require close contact. Last weekend, we had 12 (family) here. We have enough outside eating areas that we were able to spread the guests out. Bathroom breaks (inside) somehow worked out that only one guest was inside at a time. Paper towels and plenty of alcohol spray was available at the sink. Maybe a false sense of security, but everyone seemed to be at ease and we had an enjoyable day.

This time has given me the opportunity to appreciate our house for all that it offers and quiet (some) of the voices in my head about what it lacks. We've gotten a few projects done (I'll share one later that I am just giddy about!), and I've had nice garden time with DH doing the heavy lifting/digging stuff for me. Now that's not to say that I haven't had a mental list going all this time of 'stuff-yet-to-do' but it feels different to me for the moment. It all feels less urgent, less an indicator of what we don't have or where we need to finish things or make them better - especially in the last 72+ hours. If I can keep my head out of the news I'm in a good place.

I’m in the love, love, love contingent! We built a duplex three years ago with family in mind and it’s been especially wonderful in current circumstances. It’s basically two townhomes with internal connections, providing both privacy between generations and and togetherness. Best of all worlds! I can help DD with DGS (3) while she works from home and we have dinner all together every evening, but still maintaining privacy when wanted.

I love our sides’ floorplan with a dedicated office and everything we need on one floor and great nature views. Right now the guest rooms upstairs and in the walkout can just be ignored, but nice for planning and daydreaming with friends once it is safe. Rec/media room in walkout is a great away space too and the patio down there near the creek stays cool as the days get hotter.

The vibrancy of our neighborhood is especially nice right now. We have walking trails and people outside while maintaining social distancing.

It's nice to see how many people are enjoying where they live; we are all so fortunate.

@mojomom I can't tell you how many times I think about your duplex and that one of a kind situation you have. Not only is it the most well thought out combination of spaces I've ever seen, it's also spectacularly beautiful and the type of living situation my personal dreams are made of.

Thank you, DLM!

My home has always been great. What has been reinforced with the pandemic is how great my community is.

I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with my house, and still do. It was supposed to be a starter house for five years or so. Forty five years later, I am still here. The things I dislike about it have been mostly magnified by staying at home, primarily that the neighbors are too close. However, my kids got to go to some of the best public schools in the nation, they had tons of friends the same age, they could play in the street because it’s not a thru street and there used to be acres of woods where they would play all day ( now full of huge houses). I’ve always had mostly great neighbors, a few exceptions, and made lifelong friends.

The house is low maintenance and a good size for just me. I have dreams of buying and demolishing the house next door to give me the peace and space I’d love to have. Glad you are enjoying your homes!

Well, we moved here about 2 years ago, a big downsize. I love the area and love the area even more now. However, the house is not ideal and it needed work which I kept putting off. So I kind of kick myself that if only I had done some of the stuff, it would be that much more pleasant. The good news is that we are beginning our kitchen remodel and I know that will definitely give me the motivation to get moving on the other projects. I shouldn't beat myself up but I am really annoyed because if I had done even some of the little things, it would have been that much better.

On another side note, I am realizing that for some decisions, where I could and would normally overanalyze to the point of ridiculousness and then not do anything ( that's how we are still here at this point).... I am motivated to make decisions based on reasonable and good options which will all be vast improvements over what is here currently.

So hopefully within the next few months I will love my home more than I did before the pandemic.

If I were not in a place in my life where I have to live in a small apartment I would be loving my house. I have lived in some wonderful homes. This is the worst of it. It is cute enough but I need a backyard and more space.

I have been working both from home and at the office. I literraly have nowhere to work from home so that makes it hard.

I hope this time next year I will have saved up enough money and will find a cute little older home to make my own. For now, I just endure.

AND... just for fun, this was my last house that I lost in the divorce. I left there two years ago. My ex uses it as an airbnb.

My Old house

akt - you did such a beautiful job with that home and I'm confident you will do an even more beautiful job with the next one!

We have found our home to be a very comfortable santuary during this time. Room for all of us to work, relax, etc. Our March/April/May weather was so beautful here in Florida that we were able to spend a lot of time outside on the porches or eating on the patio. We also live in a very walkable neighborhood. It all helped to make things more bearable.

aktillery9, that's a gorgeous house. I'm sorry you had to move. Wish you luck with your next home, when you find "it".

Won't lie: envying all of you who are loving their homes more now. Hope I'll be in that camp at some point. :)

Thanks all for chiming in. Nice to read others' perspective about staying at home.

We traded space for location and walkability, so we are a bit cramped. We have 3000 square feet on a quarter acre, which by my town's standards is generous. I love the house in general. I do wish there was a little more of it both inside and out.

I like ours even more than before. We bought the house last July but did not move in until mid December. Two months later we were in lockdown. This has definitely been a forced period of organizing and arranging. Luckily our Handy Guy has been able to work almost exclusively for us during this period, and all the little changes that usually take a year or longer to get around to are done. The two en-suites for guest rooms upstairs have new wallpaper and sinks / countertops. All the little nicks in these granite countertops that are 12 years old have been polished, filled and sealed and polished again so the counters look and feel brand new. Every light in this place has been changed, and the downstairs bedroom that looked like a castoff furniture store is now coming together nicely, most of the furniture I ordered wont arrive until July, but the bed and upholstered chair are at least in. Everything I have ordered for the downstairs bathroom is finally here or we have a delivery date. We’ve changed the configuration of the laundry room, added storage and put additional wireless Sonos speakers in every room and on both the patio and the screened porch. The driveway and sidewalk are being pressure washed as I type. The bathroom and backyard fenced area for the dogs are our only outstanding projects. We have had more than a few comments from friends and acquaintances about our “downsize” to 5200 square feet (some well meaning and some not so much). But we downsized the grounds and infrastructure and our maintenance responsibilities now are negligible. We have been able to spread out and not get on each other’s nerves and I have been happily busy with big changes and minute tweaks both. As the restrictions lift we’ll be ready to enjoy ourselves with no further work here...it’s a great feeling! And the compact layout here is so much better for us both. And, the irony has not escaped me that we lived on 12 acres and I grew nothing but flowers in containers but here in my laundry room I am a hydroponic gardener!

I am in the “love our home more” camp and remind myself often how very fortunate we are to be safe at home here. We have more than enough indoor space for the two of us to spread out and a lovely yard to enjoy. We live in a walkable neighborhood with access to great paths around a lake for walking, access to a bike path for cycling and are near community college, which has become a favorite walking destination, and are close to our swim/tennis club. We were about to start a master bath reno, which came to a screeching halt when Covid hit. It would be nice to have it done, but I am so glad the demolition hadn’t started! Somehow, it just doesn’t seem important now and will get done when it is safe to move forward.

I designed this place pretty much by myself 28 years ago, and I still enjoy it so much. Our kids are now out of grad school and living on their own. DH retired at the end of December, so we’ve been cocooning here together, the two of us, during this pandemic. That's been a pleasant bonus, I must say. He’s very handy and so has been happily taking on many household projects. We‘re not much into tv shows, but gardening and cooking together has been fun. I love our cozy spaces for evenings reading, playing cards, Scrabble or whatever.

Gah, I would love 3,000 square feet. We don't even have half of that. But, overall, I've been happy being home. I don't miss commuting. I enjoy doing workouts on the deck, and our neighborhood is walkable. We thought about renovating our main bath this summer, but I prefer not to have people come in. Dh has been going to work this whole time since they are considered essential, so I have the home to myself.

I can't say I love it more because I loved it from the beginning and I still love it. Confinement hasn't altered anything. We bought this home 3 years ago and gutted the kitchen, 3 bathrooms, removed a wall and landscaped. So by the time we moved in it was exactly what we wanted. I often find myself smiling when I think about how much I like the convenience of the layout and how well the kitchen functions.

There is more than enough space for the two of us and we both enjoy cooking and gardening - and we've been doing a lot of that.

I had spent alot of the last decade renovating our house instead of listing it. I love the work we have done aswell as the parts that we only stripped off wall paper and painted and i love that my house had a very happy past before us and i love our location in the center of a New England village. Our lot for a downtown house is spacious with a large pool, lots of grass to play in, a secret firepit hidden in a shaded spot(I did this last week and it is a bit campy) and a trampoline. We also luckily last fall turned a detached garage into a play house with swings, 15 feet high monkey bars, an inverted climbing wall, rope ladder and pool/ping-pong table to be a tween hangout. This has really helped pass the time. I am trying to become a pool shark, lol.

However, i have wanted to redo the kitchen for years. Every time we are about to start the kitchen, which had a hold over update 13 years ago, something pretty catastropic happens in our lives.

Four years ago we scrapped that part of our remodel because dh was diagnosed with rectal cancer. I wanted to wait until he was three years cancer free before spending money on big things other than medical deductibles then at the three year mark I had my strokes and a subsequent blood disease diagnosis so again medical bills came first. We have hit our 15k deductible 4 years running ;). This year we just decided on what we want and were about to sign than this. I am high risk so did not want to have workers in and out. So we put it off. I think the universe wants me to keep my kitchen.

After witnessing the many heartbreaking deaths and horrific racist events this spring I now realize my kitchen is just fine and I am so lucky to have it and suddenly I love being in it.

I would not have maintained my mental health this year without my daily walks to the beach. I like that our hood is tight knit and we always chatted when on the front lawn or on porches and socially this fills the void left by social isolation. I love the light in this house too.

I am in the love it camp. :)

I am in the ‘love it more’ camp. Really there was never a doubt about it since we are both retired it has been a fairly easy transition. If anything it has opened my eyes more to appreciate it more. It really has made the time pass quickly having this sanctuary with no worries about close neighbors, a quiet peaceful grounds to enjoy, plenty of nature to entertain us, safe roads to take walks, and my gardens to keep me busy this spring. Of course we have cleaned ourselves, and I painted one bathroom. May even tackle painting a spare bedroom.

Aktillery, it was your idea to do the air bnb and you started the business. I hope he bought your half in the divorce :(.

I am sorry you lost a house you loved but I am happy you lost a man who doesn't know how to love you the way you deserved to be loved. Xo

Roarah you may be right about the universe wanting you to keep that kitchen! Maybe there's a cache of some kind of treasure waiting to be discovered by you and not some workers!

I'm still loving my house, where we've lived for almost 2 1/2 years. I've moved my computer from my office (which has an excellent view of a large tree for birdwatching but is smallish) to the library (which is a bit bigger)so that I can do Zumba. I adore my front porch, with its swing, rocking chair, and small cocktail tables. Hubby just bought me a little floor-cleaning robot for my birthday, and I have been watching it work its magic on our downstairs wood floors and area rugs (I've already had to empty it out once, and our floors are looking quite a lot cleaner).

Roarah, thank you for sharing what you did. You have a wonderful perspective.

More. I moved into this house almost three years ago with a husband. For the last 1.5 years it’s been all mine. I was in a bit of a funk for the first year or so of solo ownership and had pondered off an on about whether I should sell and simplify. Maybe move to something less expensive so I can eliminate my mortgage payment entirely.

But at the beginning of 2020 I decided to commit to this house and make it mine. I plan to be here for at least ten years and I want to enjoy it. It’s a sweet, solid MCM/Usonian home and deserves to be shined (matted?) up. When work-from-home became a thing for me in late March, I had the opportunity to spend “quality time’ with my house. Not just a few hours at night to eat and read before bed. All day.

I found what needed tending to and took care of it. Adjusted and rehung a blind, repaired a patio light that had jumped off the wall, finally hung a lot of art, painted the fireplace, cleaned and organized the garage, emptied and sold a storage shed, pulled lots of weeds, scraped and painted some exterior trim (that was today!). I’ve also learned to really appreciate my neighborhood. We have these wonderful acequia/ditch trails where folks walk, jog, bike and ride horses. The dogs and I can walk to the river in 20 minutes, and I’m a 10-minute walk to a small grocery co-op. I was missing out on all this before!

Now I’m down to the big stuff that requires outside expertise or muscle. And of course $$. I’m sitting on money right now until July when I should know more about any possible pay cuts or furloughs. If things still look OK, landscaping is next up.

As for working at home, my house is built for it. There is an office off the master that has always been my home office. I just set up my work laptop next to my Mac and we’re good to go.

Love our home, always have and always will; it’s the only place I want to be.

I still like my house. I love the layout. It is the second house I’ve had with the same layout. However, I’ve decided I want to repaint lighter colors. The LR/DR/K are Revere Pewter. MBR is Silver Sage. Having stared at the walls 24/7 for 3 months has made me wish for something lighter/brighter. As soon as I’m comfortable having an outsider in the house, I’m getting a painter in here!

I still love my surroundings.

My house is not the house of my dreams, but it's mine. It's paid for, it keeps me safe, it's just the right size. It has great light. I am so grateful to have a home, enough food, fresh water, lights, fluffy towels. I'm grateful to have remained virus-free so far. What's not to love about that?!! The only thing I don't love as much is that I have to do all the housework right now, and I'm not digging that one bit.

roarah, I so admire your outlook. Your heart and head are in the right place.

Every day I'm thankful we live where we do in the house that we do. The house works better for our lifestyle than I could've ever imagined. And our location is exactly where I want to be...it's been home to me all my life. I'm so thankful my forebears chose to settle where they did....lifetimes of choices that all led us to here where we belong.

I feel so fortunate and have especially enjoyed spring this year. For some reason, I've noticed so much more than usual...and it's been so enheartening to know that, even if we can't be normal, Mother Nature sure is, going about her business and doing her thing.

If I have to be locked down anywhere, here is the best place ever.

I'm another homebody who loves her home. We moved here 5 years ago from a larger home on a couple of acres. It was on a street with about 10 homes on 2-5 acres. Most of the homes were set back from the street and I hardly saw or knew my neighbors. I moved to a planned community where the homes are MUCH closer together. I thought I'd probably hate that....but, it's fine. Our lot is small but just the right size for us, our neighbors are nice and we say hello or chat when we are outside but nobody is difficult or intrusive. We have miles and miles of walking and mountain bike trails right in the neighborhood and I LOVE that. I can walk for miles on paved sidewalks or on beautiful wooded trails. For Pandemic living, it has been ideal.

Another person who is in the "love" camp.

We just moved in last September so we havent been here too long. This is our downsizing house, we built in not calling it a forever house, but a 7 - 15 year house. We weren't sure where we wanted to be, we just new we didn't want to be where we were. The old house was too big, the yard was too much, it sucked all our energy maintaining it, we had no free time for fun.

The new house is just the right size. We have a great outdoor living area, which is one thing our old house sorely missed and it was the prime reason for dissatisfaction.

I do have to tackle the entry way closet nook before the fall, DH may kill me if we go another winter with no place to hang our coats.

I saw this photo and I really like how they did BOTH a screened porch and a deck. I love our deck, especially now I'm using it for workouts, but it would be nice to have some sort of screened porch or patio room. We could use a an outdoor room almost year round. Our back yard has a lot of shade, and the garden is mostly on the side of the house now.

Another thing we'd like is some sort of grilling patio. I don't know if we have the ability to DIY this.

I think a screened porch is one of the most useful and pleasant elements of a home. Alas, I am not crazy about how they look, usually. We had one in our first home, but not here and not at our lakehouse and not in Maine. : ( I toy with creating one but to me they can detract from the look of the home's exterior.

Our first house had one on the side of the home, which I didn't mind as much. And we so enjoyed it; the LR and DR both had double french doors leading to it, and it had steps down to the side yard and to our pool. I also liked that the expanse of screen was quite large with few lines to detract from the views. We spent hours and hours on the screened porch, or as my friend called it the "verandah" (not sure that the precise def'n but henceforth we called it that too.)

We started the pandemic at our winter house and are currently at our summer house. I love our townhouse in California. It's the smallest house I've lived in, but I got to renovate and decorate to my current taste. We were very comfortable there, but really bored staying in. All the projects have been done, landscape maintained by HOA, only a small patio with a few potted plants. Really easy to house clean. I spent hours and hours reading. All my usual activities there are outside the home.

We are back at our lake house in PA. Always house projects to do. Vegetable and flower gardens to tend. I tend to be much more of a homebody here. I'm happy to poke around in my gardens and kayak out on the lake. I don't love this house as much. It has a somewhat awkward layout(fixed as much as we could when we reno'd). More of a mishmash of furniture styles. If it was up to me, I'd live in CA year round. But my DH loves it here so this is my 6 month compromise.

I've been on the fence for about a year whether or stay or move. we adore the house (a unique midcentury in great shape), but there are various reasons to hate the location.

but since the lockdown, gone are the commutes and we've been appreciating the area more. there are plenty of pretty streets and trails to safely take long walks while avoiding other people. quite a few restaurants / bars / breweries where we can walk to pick up food and spirits.

as for our house: it's just a good one to be "trapped" in. enough space that we can do our own thing when we need to. a yard to relax in. the views are incredible. good neighbors.

I'm still itching to move to a better location, but I'm getting used to it here. it would be wonderful if this lockdown caused me to fall in love with my neighborhood, but unfortunately I'll probably go back to not liking it once the world is somewhat "normal" again.

Mtn, I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful starter home. ;-)

Like so many of you, I love my old Cape built in the 1930's that I have made to be just what I want and love. The river that forms my irregular property line is full of wildlife that is so enjoyable to watch, and the incredible variety of birds that camp out here at my many feeders and stoneware birdbaths are so colorful and fun.

I'll leave this place only in an urn and I hope that I will be scattered in the yard and gardens so I can spend eternity here.

We stayed the first two months in our lakehouse, which is only 1500 sq. ft., and since we also rent it out, is considerably pared down compared to our fulltime house. The second we came back to our regular 2800 sqft house, (2 weeks ago), I instantly thought, "What the heck IS all this crap and why are there so many rooms?!??!" It was far easier to keep the lakehouse clean. Of course, I've had many of these thoughts since we became empty-nesters a few years ago, but this was a truly visceral reaction. I'm more determined than ever to get closets cleaned out and furnishings pared down.