When you visit other peoples' homes, are there ever things you see there that you wish you could have also?

I am staying at a friends house right now. I wish I had such a comfortable, clean, neat guest room. There is no way I can reciprocate at this level. He left a stack of Dilbert and Doonesbury anthologies by the bed and gave me the password to the wifi. Nice!

@worriedguy – but…..but…..did he leave you a chocolate on your pillow??? :)

Nothing material; I have envied happily married couples’ ability to work naturally together within their home. My parents are a good example, they compliment each other perfectly and it’s as though there is a psychic bond between them. They really are a couple, rather than two individuals.
I’ve experienced this for myself only briefly and realise that I was right to envy them.

Couldn’t say it myself better than Rewgreen !!!

Nothing material usually, except for wonderful book collections. I’d like to have a library in my home in the future. I’d have to agree with @Rewgreen‘s wonderul answer.

Good artwork usually catches my eye as do real nice antiques.

And something else i notice too, is that they have better interior decor….i don’t have a clue how to do this properly (without spending too much money in buying all new things to make sure they blend in well). sigh

Usually,their in-laws.;)

@lucillelucillelucille – you want in-laws living with you???!!! :P

Laughter…a couple or family laughing together.

Well, right now I am not thrilled with my house, but it is not so much the things, it is the floorplan and height of the doors and thresholds, so I am not sure if that counts. I have had what I wanted in every other home I have ever owned, so I don’t really envy other people’s homes, I just feel frustrated. I know I can have what I want, I just would need to a lose a lot of money to sell this house fast, and we are not willing to do it. I do have it for sale though. I do wish I could keep my house neater and more organized though, it would be great to have storage that is perfect for all of my things.

@JLeslie Everything counts! :)
Yes, i wish i could have more organized, and enough! storage too.

Besides the whole house, I really appreciate great interior design; I love the sleek, modern styles.

@NaturallyMe -Ooooh! No! In that case,maybe I’ll want what’s in their liquor cabinet! ;)

@NaturallyMe I think lucille was implying her in laws after they got back from the taxidermist, if I spelled that right.
@MissA Laughter, the best answer yet. :)

@NaturallyMe Hahaha. I say everything counts all of the time.

I wouldn’t mind moving a friend’s tan wicker sunroom furniture out of her house and into mine but I’m not wishing for it. We don’t drink but she has the greatest collection of liquor in the fanciest bottles!! But when I see these things and I find stuff I don’t care for so it all evens out. Like, they hung their tv up near the ceiling. I don’t like that.

@Adirondackwannabe – ew, that’d just be creepy having stuffed in-laws staring at you….! :0

@Rewgreen….Great answer.

When I was a young girl, my family used to go visit my Aunt’s house. She lived in a suburb of Houston. She owned a non-descript house in a development near Hillcroft…a house that was like hundreds and hundreds built when Houston was an oil boom-town and the home of the space race in the 60’s. It was a happening place. The difference was that she had a way of buying just the right things…interesting objects that she would hunt for and haul home. She was “shabby chic” forty years before it was popular. So, her house was filled with textiles and textures and old things mixed with new. I never envied her, but I always thought, “When I grow up….I want a house to be filled with things like these.” She eventually started taking me on some of these hunts——the flea markets (the old style ones where there were old things) and the bric-a-brac shops in Houston. She showed me how to spot quality items and how to bypass “junk”. It was an education I am so grateful for. Her development house eventually turned into something spectacular….with the addition of art and tiles and antique doors that she scavenged from architectural salvage. She taught me a lot. Not to envy anyone’s things….but to find things of your own with your own stamp on it.

@NaturallyMe Let’s ask lucille to find out her preference.

I was in an artist’s house that had these wonderful stone sculptures. I want one of those. I like the custom, hand-made furniture. I like the art, and some of the interior decorating. There’s a bathroom I totally covet out in Oakland, CA.

I was once in a house where they had these very comely maids. I want one of those! ;-)

I lie. Never saw a maid in any house I was in. Just wanted to say I wanted one.

@DarlingRhadamanthus – that’s great. :)
@wundayatta – Hehe about the maid. :)

When I enter someone’s house I don’t seem to look at what they have, because I am too busy remodeling it in my head. I have this compulion to remodel things even if they are new.
My husband often says to me “wow, did you see her ring”? For some reason I don’t look at things like that

Ok, remember the ew house I was telling you about? Well, they have a 42” flat screen, LCD TV with aux speakers and surround sound to die for. I want one. They bought it at a distress sale from a neighbor who was trying to keep from getting evicted.

@YARNLADY I’d love to hear the sound system but that size screen is usually too small unless it’s in a bathroom!

Yes!

Dog door panels that fit inside sliding door tracks.

Tiled floors.

Whirlpool bathtubs.

Sunken tiled showers.

Outdoor patios with water misters.

Swimming pools.

Comfortable furniture.

The space… I have friends who have an entire floor of a loft building. Must be at least 1200 square feet, not including the deck out back. And this is in Manhattan.

@Aster The living room where the 42” screen is measures barely larger than a large bathroom, 10’ wide and 12’ long. It would seem huge in my TV room, where I currently have an old fashion 27” screen that is exactly 6 feet from my lounge chair.

Not really. If that were the case, we would never quit wanting what someone else has. Actually, I am quite happy with what I surround myself with. If I need or desire something else (because I want it, not because
someone else has it) then I earn it. I have yet to find anything that I can’t live without other than necessities.When I was a little kid, my neighbor had a swimming pool. It was fun to play in, so I decided I want one to play in more often. So my sisters and I dug a big hole in the vacant lot next to our house, filled it with water, and played in the muddy water and had a super duper time.

@RANGIEBABY – well, there’s nothing wrong in wanting what other people have, in the sense that they inspired new ideas that you never thought of, and things like that. I like visiting other people’s home because i like looking at their homes to get new ideas for me too, because i’m no good at interior decorating or matching things so that they compliment each other. So, it’s all good. :) (i’m not so much talking of envy here, but it happens sometimes, that you can’t have what someone else has, but so it goes at times…) :)

@NaturallyMe I see what you mean. Yes I like getting new ideas as well. The problem with me is I like to see if I can make it rather than buy it. Or make something similar but original. I like woodworking, sewing, upholstery, painting, designing and things like that. I don’t care much for crafty things though.

No, when it’s about totally unnecessary luxuries. Yes, if there are good ideas easy to copy.