Sometimes I get "House Envy"

Yes, we're having some growing pains around here. We're feeling a bit of the effects of living in a house of 3 growing boys. (Which is pretty ridiculous considering how many people in the world are sleeping on dirt floors or with no roof over the heads.) But after living in the same house for almost 11 years, things are starting to look like they're in need of a face lift. Because we've lived in this same house all of our married lives, I tend to not even 'see' my surroundings with fresh eyes on most days. Which I guess is a good thing in that I don't usually notice the chips, stains, scuffs, and wear and tear, or I'd probably go crazy. Usually I'm fairly content. And contentment and thankfulness for all that I have are good, good things. The downside ("downside?!" there's not really a downside to being content and thankful...but bear with me here) is that it's hard to know what to change, or where to begin. Some of the same stuff has been hanging on the same colored walls for years. You would think that artistic creativity would translate into home decorating, but not so much for me. Green Girl on the other hand, is always painting walls and changing up her decor with creative projects. You should ask her to show you sometime - give you all a virtual tour. Anyway, some days it's all too easy for me to fall into the trap of thinking that everybody else has a nicer, cleaner, newer, whatever-er house than me. I mean surely nobody else has banister spindles that look like this, as in missing, do they?
Ok, it's not technically 'missing' - it's broken and probably not getting repaired anytime soon. Anyway, on those days I just want to move and leave all the updating projects behind. I'd move into a new house that looks like one of these - with hearts coming out of the chimneys and scallops and polka dots everywhere: