Were you proud or embarrassed of your home growing up?

[georgina]

I don't think I gave it much thought as a kid. We moved when I was in 7th grade and everyone else's houses were about the same as mine. Now my kids, the first 2 didn't care either way, but my youngest had friends who mostly lived in houses that were much larger and nicer than ours, and I think she felt that somewhat.

 

[starry_solo]

Loved it

 

[amcnj]

We rented till I was ten, when my parents literally bought a house just around the corner from the rental. All the houses in the neighborhood were relatively similar in size and condition, and when young just assumed that was how the whole world was. I also don’t recall any relatives, grammar school classmates, or family friends being that much different off either.

As I got older and saw more of the world and had high school classmates with houses from “the other side of the tracks”, I realized not everyone had the same type of house. But there didn’t seem to be as much of a desire/need back then to have big, fancy houses. You kind of accepted what you had and made the best of it.

I don’t recall feeling embarrassed by the house, though I guess today one might have. But it was always my home, a stable, safe environment to grow up in, where we had lots of family gatherings and fond memories. And I was never embarrassed about that and actually still grateful for it to this day.

 

[superme80]

I love my house I grew up in. We moved when I was 3, and I moved out at 24. It wasn't a big house, but my mom has a flair for decorating. My friends teased me about living in "A county cottage in the hood". As much as my friends teased me, they loved coming over.

 

[jdb in AZ]

It was nice at the time. In the 50 years since my family sold it, it's become an eyesore with tacky purple trim.

 

[indimom]

Neither. It was just another farm house like all the rest to me. But, my dad was a contractor and he enlarged the kitchen when we moved in (family of 7 at the time) so that was an upgrade the other homes of that style did not have. And, mom has always had an eye for decorating, so a lot of my friends made comments about how nice the house was. They still live there; and, dad updated every last room over the years. It's a beautiful home today.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I wasn't embarrassed by my childhood home. I guess I was proud enough of it yea.

 

[mamamary]

I really liked my home growing up. Apparently it wasn’t the greatest area to live in but I never knew it at the time. Now it’s become a popular area to live in outside of Manhattan. The house price has skyrocketed from the super cheap price my parents paid for it. Mom still lives there.

 

[mrs. magoo]

Well I live in it now.

Back then it was an average house. We had lots of family parties and good times here. There are pictures of everyone gathered on Christmas Eve in the unfinished basement. Concrete floor, drinks in the stationary tub. Wouldn’t trade it for the world. We had a pool table and a small area sectioned off with an area rug and some furniture in it. After my senior prom a group of my friends came over and watched tv all night down there. My mom kept everything as neat as a pin.

I didn’t know many people in big fancy houses.

I live in my childhood home as well. I love this house but it is terribly cluttered. My mom died in 1991 and so I have all my stuff from my 4 kids and I still have some of my parents stuff. My dad still lives with us and he is a hoarder. His mother was one too so it is genetic. I have some tendencies but I try to resist. I always want to clean it out room by room but it never seems to happen.

 

[fla4fun]

I don’t think I felt one way or the other about it. I never remember feeling my home was better or worse than any of my friends homes. Ours was about ten years newer, but a similar style and size to everyone else’s.

 

[fla4fun]

Sorry, duplicate post.

 

[C&Jx2]

My parents were borderline hoarders. Even though it was organized and not dirty, I was very self conscious about my house.

I‘m really proud of the fact that my kids don’t have a problem with having their friends over

 

[kymom99]

I live in my childhood home as well. I love this house but it is terribly cluttered. My mom died in 1991 and so I have all my stuff from my 4 kids and I still have some of my parents stuff. My dad still lives with us and he is a hoarder. His mother was one too so it is genetic. I have some tendencies but I try to resist. I always want to clean it out room by room but it never seems to happen.

It’s hard. I get overwhelmed. My mom got rid of a lot over the years but we still got stuck getting rid of things when we bought the house. The garage is detached and the envy of the men in the neighborhood, but my dad never threw anything away.

 

[mjkacmom]

I loved it, it was a historic home beautifully decorated, and always exceptionally clean. My parents belonged to a lot of organizations in town, including a club that pretty much required you to have a home good for entertaining. Dues went towards parties each member had to throw, the schedule was made a year in advance. I had some friends in not so great home situations, who came to visit my mom when she was dying, to thank her for always welcoming them (my parents literally kept their doors open and anyone was always welcome to come in).

 

[Mysterian]

.

 

[Moliphino]

I liked it. It wasn't really large or fancy, but it was a good house in a really nice neighborhood (lots of kids, quiet streets so we could run/bike all over the place). We moved when I was 11 to a bigger house where I got my own room, so that was nice. My parents still live in that one and my sister and I considered buying it from them at one point (they've been vaguely planning on downsizing for a while, we could've converted the walk out basement to an apartment for them).

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

We lived in a house that my Grandfather owned and let us live in rent free. It was an old farmhouse. Before we moved in, my Dad built an addition with a bathroom and some closets. They put aluminum siding on the front (just the front) part of the house. Other than that, the addition never got painted and I don't think the rest of the house had been painted in about 50 years.

We also lived in sinkhole country and are pretty sure there was one under our house, because 1 side of it sunk about 3 inches in the 20 years that we lived there. It was so structurally unsound, the floors bounced when you walked over them. There was about a 2 inch detachment between the wall and the floor in the living room which let in all kinds of critters, we just kept the door closed.

I'm a weirdo and got a big kick out of telling other kids that painting houses was against our religion. My room was huge (all the bedrooms were around 400 square feet) so I had a little sitting area of my own complete with an old console tv. I loved that house and wasn't a bit embarrassed by it. It had character (and ghosts, I've posted about them on here before).

 

[momz]

I live in my childhood home as well. I love this house but it is terribly cluttered. My mom died in 1991 and so I have all my stuff from my 4 kids and I still have some of my parents stuff. My dad still lives with us and he is a hoarder. His mother was one too so it is genetic. I have some tendencies but I try to resist. I always want to clean it out room by room but it never seems to happen.

I feel you. I don't live in a family home. But I struggle with getting and keeping my house tidy. I'm not a hoarder so much, but I certainly have much more than I need. We have 2 dogs, 2 cats and turtle. The dogs will shred everything they can find so we perpetually have bits and pieces of whatever they have acquired here and there on the floor. My hubby, 2 kids and DD's boyfriend just drop their stuff on the kitchen table/island when they get home. I am the worst about enforcing them to be tidy too. I think I hate conflict more than i hate clutter.

Anyway, my momma's house was always like mine growing up. Lots of love, but also some clutter. Not embarrassed really but also not proud of it.

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

I liked my childhood home and I have fond memories of the neighborhood I grew up in. We had great neighbors on our street, several of whom still live there today and I keep in touch with them. My Dad made so many improvements to our house. He waterproofed our basement, built a 2 car garage, put in a cement driveway, and added aluminum siding. He paid someone to remodel our kitchen. I didn't appreciate the house at the time, but I do now.

 

[GreatLakes]

Neither really, it just was what it was. It was a pretty standard home for the area and we took pretty good care of it.