Our current home is my childhood home! I'm third generation in this farm house. I love it so much.

Nope. Like others, we didn't stay in one place long, however we did spend 5 years in the first home my parents owned. They bought the lot from my grandpa and uncle in 1947. The house was built in a factory in Bakersfield, CA, then trucked and set on the foundation, which meant it couldn't be more than 20x40. A lot of homes for returning GIs were the same.
Now I'm in my first place with a basement, 1400sq ft on each floor. It doesn't help that I have the family's wandering spirit. Managed to spend 20yrs in one house, but my average is 5yrs. I expect at least one more move before I'm too old to make my own decisions.

Interesting question, since I was thinking about this the other day. I grew up in a ranch-style house. Now I live in a pre-war apartment in an urban area. My parents did not care about decor at all. I am kind of obsessed with it--perhaps because my parents didn't care? The only similarity is my parents did have a couple pieces of great furniture and I reused those in my house.

I grew up in a 2 bedroom, 1000 sf house - and there were 7 of us! The decorating style was perpetual clutter and the lifestyle was no privacy...don't get me wrong, I have wonderful memories and my siblings are all very close! Current home has 4 bedrooms, formal living and dining, lots of closets, where we raised 2 sons. Now that they are grown, we are building a -- you guessed it - 2 bedroom 1500 sf house, no formal rooms just one huge open space! And...we are NOT taking all the "stuff" with us!

Funny you should ask. I was just discussing that with my daughter-in-law. She hates oak because she grew up with it. I love oak, it's so raw and natural when treated the right way, literally and figuratively. I hate retro and that's what I grew up with. As always it comes down to what you like. I've stopped listening to others.

I grew up in a early 60's ranch with faux-French/Georgian details. It was the southeast so you had to have some round, classic columns somewhere!!! French details with metal, sliding glass doors too! We also had over an acre of lawn. The pièce de résistance is the Home Depot style pressure treated deck my parents replaced the patio with in the early 80's. Now I live in a 1920's rustic, hunting lodge style home with redwood trussed and beamed ceilings, casement windows everywhere, loads of porches, fir floors and sits in the middle of hundreds of acres of redwood forest 9 miles North of S.F. We don't own the majority of the land, it's park space but it looks like we do!

I grew up in a house with a large kitchen in the front of the house. It was different from all of my friends houses in that their kitchens were at the back leading to the yard. My mother always remarked that the children only play in the back for a short period of time until they are old enough to play on the street with their friends and that's when she needed eyes on the street. Mother knows best. My own house has the kitchen in the front and I find it invaluable.

My childhood home was a two-story house in Staten Island, NY (before the bridge) with a large yard. Today, at age 72, I couldn't possibly maintain that house and yard. I live in a senior community in a 1200 s.f. mobile home with a modest yard. It's perfectly roomy for one person and there's very little maintenance. I couldn't be happier!

My childhood home was on a farm outside Nashville. From my perspective it was the perfect house and the perfect childhood. When my Dad grew weary of the farm work, they sold the farm and bought a condo. It broke my heart but I preferred to have my Dad than the farm.

The farmhouse has long since been torn down. Now the rolling fields, woods, vegetable gardens, orchards and meadows have been replaced with elaborate mansions. These homes boast manicured lawns on the same ground where I learned the value of work and the fun of spitting seeds from a freshly picked watermelon. I learned basic values and tried and true principles as we each took turns cranking the homemade ice cream handle and surveyed the farm from the hilltop back porch.

I love my current home but nothing has ever compared to the simple days of my childhood home. Certainly not the 15K sq feet homes that stand there now - their lives must not be simple.

I moved a lot growing up but homes were always colonials and very small especially with our large family. Today it's just me and my husband and our cars in a very large modern home with a pool. Wish we could fill it one day..

I've lived in too many houses to count in my lifetime! Grew up as an Air Force brat, then married a civilian and continued to move due to my husband's job! We've lived in the same town now for 24 years and have lived in 5 houses. Some were similar to houses I lived in growing up and others were not. I'm close to retirement age and we just down-sized to a townhome in a gated community. We have 2 bedrooms and a den and are very comfortable. We have a lot of high end options which we have wanted for a long time. Our house has a Mediterranean feel, which is the decor I've loved and wanted for many years. It takes a long time to develop a style (affordably) and collect pieces that work well together. I finally have a home that I am proud of and love living in!

I have lived in a variety of homes and apartments which bore little resemblance to my childhood home. But our current home, which my husband and I purchased after starting a family, has a lot of features that remind us of our own childhoods.
My husband grew up at the very end of a dead-end street. Our current home has a very long drive that feels a bit like the end of the road.
We both spent summers at our grandparents' lake homes. Our house is on a small lake. (That's respective grandparents. Not the same grandparents.)
Our childhood neighborhoods had big trees and small streets and were conducive to letting kids explore and visit friends on their own. Consciously or unconsciously, we sought out the same for our kids.
Our home, a brick colonial with 8' ceilings and non open-plan feels similar to the brick cape cod I grew up in.
I suppose the place seems like a bit of a throwback, but I like it that way.

LOL!!!!!! I grew up in a house built in the very early part of the 1700's---we don't know exactly how old but Geo Washington and Co had it for awhile then lost it to the Brits. Large and for me comfy but after a while my mother hated it and tried to turn it into MCM. Didn't really work that well! The house had two "sides" each with their own kitchen etc but a passageway between both the downstairs and upstairs sides. Very early fireplaces and beams and Dutch Doors--an amazing porch with a tiled floor with the Family Crest in tiles in the center---this was the same size as the entire footprint of that side and covered with a swoopy Dutch roof. Imagine that a LOT of the household work was done out there before AC--can remember my Great Great Grandmother sitting there doing veggie prep and my Grandmother putting up crocks of pickles---Wide board floors that by the time we got it some had worn completely thru and I remember using planks to get across the gaping holes--no wonder I am afraid of heights!

It was not the biggest house in town but on a prominant corner and for YEARS we had a LARGE cabin cruiser boat in the yard---You know, the house with the white fence and the boat! Yes!

Now it is an architects office and the tile porch was left intact but with glass walls.

Now--well---not even close! Bought a foreclosure shoebox to "fix up" and still here well past our "Sell By" date.

Don't ness want the expense and exspanse of my childhood home but SOME interesting features or personality will be looked for when we move in the next few years!

My husband and I and our three boys are living in the house I grew up in! My dad kept the house after my parents separated. My dad lives in the basement and rents out the upper suite. He needed a tenant and we needed a place to live- it worked out perfectly. The house has had some changes over the last 20 years, many things are needing to be updated again. My husband and I just renovated the kitchen and we'll redo the bathroom and front entrance as well.

So was Thomas Wolfe right or wrong when he said you can't go home again??

@redpoint. Your description of your present home sounds great- photos?. BTW- we have the same Chat Noir poster- mine is about 25 years old now.

I grew up in an 1890 2-story farmhouse on 13 acres (10 of them farmed by neighbor) in flat Illinois; 5 BR upstairs, and one bathroom down for the 7 of us (with 4 sisters, I could never expect to use the bathroom all by myself--my dad was the fortunate one there). My parents lived there for 50 years; the house has since been torn down--progress, you know. Dirt road when they moved there in 1950, now a 4-lane highway. Surroundings are so developed it looks like a different country--no, a different planet.
We have lived 29 years in an 1895 2-story farmhouse on 3.5 acres in hilly NE Ohio; 3 BR upstairs, 1.5 baths, raised 10 kids here, less roomy than my childhood home. I plan to be here till they carry me out feet first.
But the house I would really like to have is the one my great-grandparents lived in in rural Illinois west of Kankakee near Reddick. Beautiful home, 6 BR upstairs, 3 porches. I don't know how many acres they had on their farm, but they also raised 10 children there....sigh. It was a a gorgeous spacious home with lovely woodwork, a pantry bigger than my bathroom, and my great-aunt made the best red raspberry preserves from the berries there! Last time I saw it, it was in disrepair and was a rental. So sad.

Exactly elizabethwistrom! ;)

My home-1910, family home-1968
LOVE my home.

The home I grew up in was a small ranch in suburban Maryland that my grandmother purchased when it was new in 1953. My parents received it from my grandmother when they were expecting me.

The place I just bought (my first place) is a small condominium in Northern Virginia. Condo living is very different than single family home living. I have less space, no attic or basement for storage. I have neighbors sharing walls, ceiling and floors. I do not have to care for a yard, but I also do not have access to a hose in the driveway to wash my car. There are a lot of limitations we did not have in the family home. However, this is a good choice for me at this time.

Completely opposite between now and then. I grew up in a number of small, non-descript 2 story houses on the east side of Detroit, the oldest of 6 kids. All of the houses had only 2 or 3 bedrooms so there were always bunk beds, sometimes 2 sets in one small room...and only 1 bathroom, of course. Now that I'm retired, I live alone in a ranch (built in 1992) on 1 and a half acres in the rural hills of eastern Ohio. My one story ranch has a partially finished basement and has 5 bedrooms and 3 full baths and I love it!

I'd have to say that it was much different. Smaller spaces, one bathroom, and a little tiny kitchen. However, there were large front and back yards!

Well, I never gave much thought to similarities between my childhood and present home.
They are somewhat alike - small bungalows, fronts porches, and small yards. My mom was a homemaker extraordinaire. She raised seven rambunctious kids in a home filled with beautiful things that were important to her, one being a dining room with impractical, upholstered seating. Books were very important to us, but scarce, and now my home is "over booked." And yes, I've made many impractical purchases for the sheer love of something. My mom lives on!

breezyboy: Bunk beds abound in our house, as do children. Bedrooms do not. I'd like to buy a bedroom, please.

Funny - I really had to think about this, as I didn't really have a "childhood home" growing up in the 60s and 70s. When my parents were married, we lived in a series of rented houses. After they divorced, we (mom, brother and me) lived in apartments. When both remarried, I lived with mom for awhile (on a 42 foot boat for a couple of years as well as in a house) and with dad (in a house). So at first, I didn't think this question applied to me.

However, I thought about it more and realized it did. The house that my husband and I bought last year is in the same area and similar in many ways to the houses I lived in as a young child, before my parents divorced. One story, sort of ranch style.

Funny - I guess unconsciously I wanted to go back to those early happy days before everything changed! And I love my house and neighborhood!

I grew up in an old farmhouse with no heat upstairs (at least we had running water and electricity!). The farm and its acres is beautiful, the house not so much. Decor was a mismash of country, early american and "hoarder". I was desperate for something different so my home is a modern ranch with hardwood floors, tribal rugs, Danish furnishings and a collection of very eclectic art displayed throughout the house and grounds. I was desperate to escape the rural Iowan "women as second class citizens" attitudes but loved the farm life so we now have a small acreage in Ohio....its just way more modern (in both decor and attitude).

I live in Italy so I suppose different categories are at work.
Both then and now I've lived in an apartment. In-between there have been a few different experiences, one should reckon.
the main difference with my parents' home is that living room/dining room/kitchen is a single space in my home, whereas the kitchen and the dining room used to be quite distant at my parents' (an absurdity that makes the dining/living room scarcely used now).
My parents' home was a top-floor apartment with a huge terrace, I have found a ground-floor apartment with a large-ish garden (I ma very lucky, i still live in a city). I mean, access to an outside space must have been in-built in me. My parents house is a 70's, brick-walled 5-storey building, vs. I have always lived in more ancient buildings, including the current one (1930). But I have changed a lot inside, and made it an open-space, multi-layered space. My parents' home was reasonably large, but I have seen too many small, cramped-looking, small-roomed flats not to be determined to dispose of larger space even if the total space was not large.

Couldn't be much more different: I grew up in an Eichler-style home filled with Danish Modern furniture in a San Francisco suburb. I now live in a log home overiooking the Tennessee River. (I still lean towards more modern decor inside though.)

I lived in my grandparents' Queen Anne Victorian home until I was thirteen, then lived with my mother in a Foursquare style home through early adulthood.
I now live in a Queen Anne Victorian home with my husband, and the front two-thirds has a layout very similar to the Foursquare.
Here is a picture of our home when we bought it:

jmpjmp: No, you can't go home again. My childhood home (Illinois) was
torn down about 8 years ago, as were all the buildings--garage,
playhouse, barn.... I can't go home again. That beautiful yard and house
and .... no, no home anymore. My mom can't go home again, either. Her
Illinois childhood home burned 30 years ago, and the other
buildings--barn, shed, corncrib, etc. were torn down when the farm was
sold. It is now a country club, and one of the houzzers did the
stonework and landscaping for the entrance. When she said (ages ago)
that she didn't want to go back there and see the place, I didn't
understand. But the first time we made the drive out their way (400
miles) and drove down 119th Street, only to find that all---ALL!!--was
torn down, and there were no trees, no buildings, no drive, nothing at
all but empty land....the only thing that kept me from weeping was the
presence of the kids in the van. And I understood what my mom meant.

I grew up in a traditional brick home in the Boston area. (See first photo.) My current home in California is very contemporary. However, we have managed to incorporate many family antiques for a contemporary, eclectic style!

I moved a fair amount as a kid but mostly I think of growing up in a large 1880's railroad flat in Northern California. I've recreated that place at least three times - I've spent most of my life living in 2nd story vintage railroad flats with double parlors and hardwood floors. Now I have a condo (although it is contemporary it is also railroad style with hardwood floors and a fireplace)

Oddly enough, my mother bought her parent's house (a redwood MCM International style flat-top) so I have spent my life recreating my childhood home while my mother lives in hers.

HAHAHAHAHA!! My childhood home was a 1953 Greyhound bus that was converted to a motor home. I don't know how my mom stayed sane in that bus with 4 kids underfoot!!
My current home is a 3500sq ft 1990's take on Victorian. :). I have to have LOTS of space!! (And my 5 kids about drive me bonkers on rainy days!!lol)

Grew up in suburban London in postwar 3-bed semi-d til 9yrs old. Bought the other semi-d + knocked thru into 1 household. Unusual in our area, most people just moved to a bigger property but that would mean moving away from our immediate neighbourhood. But we had a lot of individual space. After leaving home I've lived in bed-sit, 1 bed flat, 3bed LA housing, 2 1/2 bed railway cottage ( with 6 kids) + finally built our own house - big, not fancy but with loads of room. So yes + no. House styles completely different, but home-feel pretty similar, roomy but not fancy. Suits us.

My childhood home was a historic, one and one-half story Victorian built about 1870. My dad and I modernized it in the late 1950s and had a lot of fun doing it. I was only eight, but I never will forget taking out the old plaster and lathe and putting up new drywall! When Mom and Dad first bought the house, there was no indoor bathroom, and we had a hand pump over the kitchen sink. I can remember us kids' taking a bath in the kitchen sink and the adults bathing in a large wash tub after heating water in the tea kettle! After my little brother was born, Dad turned the master bedroom into a large bathroom with a coat closet at the end of the hall that connected with the living room and kitchen. The eat-in kitchen was modernized with new cabinets and plumbing. Then he added an enclosed back porch that served as laundry/craft room for Mom and a play room for my brother, plus a route to the steps and basement Dad and my grandfather had put under the house. Dad had his woodworking shop and his own shower in the basement. Next Dad doubled and enclosed the front porch which held my piano, Mom's sewing machine, and Dad's easy chair for reading the newspaper, besides being the front foyer. Before my little sister was born, Mom and Dad turned the dining room into a master bedroom and gave me the upstairs master. There was a large blue lilac that came up to my window, and I loved having its fragrance every spring. My brother's room was carved out of the landing, and his window was above the roof of the enclosed back porch. I now live in a one-story WWI bungalow-style house that is quite different but almost as versatile. My husband and I have made a few changes over the past 36 years, but more are needed to make the house more functional.

HI -- This is an up-date since my earlier comment .... my childhood home is gone since last summer . Drove by just recently and where the little house once stood is now two duplex style condo houses .... so four homes are now where there was once one . When we moved in , there was nothing around and it was my Grandparents -my parents - me , starting grade one and my baby brother and my Uncle . All in less than 1000 sq.ft. with 3 bedrooms and one bathroom and the smallest kitchen ever . Some of the trees my Dad planted are still standing but everything is all new now . Kind of an empty hole in my feelings of another thing being lost in my life . My Dad has been gone for a while now and my Mom is on her last time at 93 . It makes me feel old now .... It's a good thing we can keep our memories . Life goes on !!!

I don't have a family yet so don't have my own home; my childhood home is one I miss greatly everyday! It wasn't a large home by any stretch of the means, it was a small three bedroom with a small but beautiful garden with fruit trees/climbing trees, lots of flowers and plants etc. I'm bias though because I am very nostalgic for my childhood, full of long summer days and no fear or responsibilities; and as children, the garden seemed huge to us lol :)

The house I grew up in was a tiny two bedroom one bath post ww2 brick ranch. Solidly built but tiny and basic. After having three two story houses I have just moved into a new upscale ranch that is nothing like my childhood home.

I grew up in a 1950's Midwest cracker box development. Our yards were as small as our house. It was a lovely childhood but the house may have had 800 SF 2 bed/1 bath. In my 30s and 40s, our home was a 3800 SF 4 BR/3BA 3 story southern colonial inspired w/walkout basement in a North Texas community suiting our "up and coming" lifestyle, but with the arrival of the empty nest years, we've gone backwards. We now live in a 1100 SF cabin in the middle of 350 acres and loving every bit of it.

My parents are in their 90's and still live in the 1960 ranch I grew up in. Every time I visit the house appears to get smaller. Today's furniture is built larger and takes up more space along with the clutter. What once appeared as a large yard has been taken over by the mature shrubs and massive trees. Twenty yrs ago I moved into my husbands 60's ranch style on an acre. I have seen some of those same changes taking place. I try to keep the clutter under control but have some understanding of how it happens.

Lefty, I agree with the "empty hole" feeling when one's childhood home has been razed. Yes, good thing we have memories. My mom is also 93 (well, she will be tomorrow) and macular degeneration robs her of clear vision today at the same time that some memories are getting fuzzy. It is part of life, but renews my anticipation of my eternal home.

ljksen, I resonate completely with the vegetation comment. Older sib commented how awful my parents' property (3 acres of yard, 10 of farmed land) looked in later years with the trees being so gigantic and overgrown. Looked normal to me, as that's what I knew. But photos reveal that when sib was growing up, the trees were much more manageable and appropriate-looking. I need to keep that in mind when planting things here--what will this look like in 10 or 20 years?

I grew up a half mile down the road, in a house my Dad built. Until I was about 5, we lived in the basement while he worked upstairs and finished it.

I now live in a Craftsman built in 1915, and there's a lot of my dad's sweat equity here. We bought it in 1980, will be working on it until we die.

Both houses have a lot of personal touches in them, making each house unique. My mother still lives there but keeps saying she's moving.

Both are surrounded by an acre of land, lovingly taken care of by 'good farm stock!"

I grew up in a 1950 ranch in nj. Hardwood floors, flat walls, one bathroom.

My husband and I bought a 1998 ranch stucco cookie cutter in az. Tiled floors, textured walls, two bathrooms.

My childhood home was planned as a garage, to be used just until the real house was built. Then WWII broke out, everything was put on hold for a few years and finally dad added onto the garage and it "became" the real house. But the acre it sat on was great: gardens, fruit trees, grape arbor, chicken house, summer house, darkroom, playhouse....

After the war the CA orange and lemon groves disappeared and cheap subdivisions took their place. My parents moved a couple more times before I married and moved out. My husband and I moved six times in nine years before buying this 1930 house where I've lived for the past 45 years. I'm finally retired and I'm fixing it up, influenced most, I think, by my aunt's old two-story house at the beach in Oceanside which, for some reason, I loved far more than any house I actually lived in.

Reminds me of home alone. Let us know if we can assist.

AHmadDoors.com

Now building a craftsman inspired one-story with daylight basement, and with all due respect to Mom, absolutely nothing pink. One story, sort of ranch style.

Funny - I guess unconsciously I wanted to go back to those early happy days before everything changed! And I love my house and neighborhood!It takes a long time to develop a style (affordably) and collect pieces that work well together. I finally have a home that I am proud of and love living in!

It also had a breakfast bar, double sinks in bathrooms and huge closets. I now live in a townhome, well designed, but cookie cutter nonetheless.

Childhood home: 1918 on the Nebraska prairie. Forever home: 1911 on the Kansas prairie filled with almost all the furniture from the 1918 house.

I actually have a piece of furniture that my mom had in my childhood home. The similarities end there.

Both homes are larger than 'average.' But today is Dutch Colonial and childhood was Pennsylvania Farmhouse, complete with a front and back stairway and a beautiful rock façade.

I'm looking for a builder/renovator/contractor that can help me replicate a childhood home. I'm reconstructing from photos and memory and looking for someone that has done this before. Any references are greatly appreciated!