I was reading some things online the other day - heck, it might have been a thread here - about neat things to do to houses, or things you wish you would’ve known before you bought a house. I kind of think about these things a lot because we have been looking for houses near my parents so we could move back into the country. So, Dopers, what would you want in a dream house?
I can think of a few things off-hand, I may add more later.
Geothermal heating - my old boss had it installed when I worked for him and it worked wonders. He also explained how he setup things to save him a little money. I would hope I could apply the same ideas and use something like this, especially when 4 or 5 of the houses we’ve seen back home come with propane heat.
Dual-headed showers - sometimes it is romantic to take showers together, sometimes it is just because one shower is quicker than two. Either way, it sucks when you take a shower with someone and have to wait, shivering and cold, while the other person washes and then trade places. I would like two shower heads, one on each side, so that this problem was eliminated, but have it possible to turn only one on so that you don’t waste the water when you shower alone.
I’ll post on my break at work so that I can add a few more.
A big kitchen and a big master bedroom. Our master bedroom now doesn’t have any room for a sitting area, so all reading, watching TV, etc, must be done in bed.
Being a father or three now, I wish for space! Lots of big rooms, but particularly a really big kitchen - and a study of my own. (Oh please God give me a study of my own!)
For realistic dream, in other words, my checklist for things I looked for/am planning to make my actual house my dream house:
Small enough to clean easily. Years of apartment living have spoiled me in terms of easy cleaning. I am awed by big luxurious houses, then I think about the prospect of doing all that housework. (check)
Significant storage space. (still working on this)
Lots of bookshelves (still working on this)
Walking distance to at least one grocery store/market and one restaurant. I like the option of not always having to use the car. (check) I feel like we lucked out in this department, because we’re in a semi-rural area, but walkable to a country store and two casual restaurants on the lake shore (one is seasonal and one is year-round).
Dedicated room for the TV. (check) I love this because it means the TV isn’t always on in the background, which drives me crazy. If we’re going to watch TV, we’re in the TV room. Anything else, like meals or reading or socializing is happening far away from the TV.
I want a kitchen that doesn’t suck. I’ve been model-hopping lately and find a plethora of incredibly luxurious but badly-planned kitchens. If I have to walk 7 feet around an overlarge and badly placed island to get from the stove to the sink, something is wrong. Also, my house should be party-friendly. We’re not planning to have kids, but are planning to entertain a lot. A formal dining room would be nice, but they seem to be a rarity in new homes.
I must also have a nice ground floor bedroom, bonus points if it’s a master suite. I imagine my mom and stepdad would want to stay with us on the occasional visit out here and he doesn’t move around so good. We still want a two story though. No good reason, we just want one.
Preferably close to the freeway. Call it the LA County Lifestyle Requirement.
Husband and I have been to probably over 100 models this year. We’ve found about 3 that don’t suck (I keep the brochures of builders I like and mark the plans). Good thing we’re not buying, yet - we’ve got a few years to go. It gives us time to sort out our priorities, though, and work out which builders are best. I really want a historic home in LA, but I just don’t feel like spending 750k on a postage stamp with Old House Disease.
A backyard private enought to throw a nude barbecue party if I choose to do so. Oh, and good floors (either hardwood or tile). I despise wall-to-wall carpeting :eek:
I love the two-headed shower idea! I also want a two-person bathtub. I wanted a hot tub for the longest time, but realistically, we would be in it only one or two nights a week, and our need for soaking in nice, hot water can be taken care of with a big bathtub more economically for us and the environment. We don’t like having people over, so we have no need for more than two people in there.
I want a garage. I am very tired of scraping ice off of and brushing snow off of and heating up my car. I want a big garage. I want to put both cars in there and still have lots of room for projects.
I want a large master bedroom and a dedicated media room, complete with his-and-hers massaging, heated recliners. We’re not getting any younger, you know.
I too want a kick-ass kitchen.
My husband wants a basketball net in front of the garage.
Oh, speakers throughout the house, and controls for the centrally-located, massive dvd player.
Bigger tub, two showerheads, two faucets for the tub, bigger bathroom - toilet in a separate room from the tub. I’d at least like someone 6’ tall to be able to lie down in the tub, preferably two people of that sort.
Also, soundproof walls (separating inside and outside noise), and less windows. Maybe just a few small windows, at the level of my head. It is a bit weird waking up and not knowing whether it’s day or night. I don’t really want a yard; maybe a small solarium in the middle of the house would be better.
I’ll just echo ivylass. I’ll also add that I’d like a big master bathroom with a garden tub is kind of my dream bathroom, but I’d be willing to forsake that just for ANY master bathroom - our current house is 80 years old, and we have one bathroom upstairs, which is fine now, but may not be so great when our kid(s) are older.
Hardwood floors, a nice fireplace, central heating/air conditioning. Lots of backyard space and room for a garden. Large windows, spacious rooms, a driveway, maybe a pool, and a big comfy sofa with a fully-equipped TV cabinet. A glass shower and an aquarium would be cool. A big two-story library, with twisty stairs and plush seats and mahogany bookcases, would be awesome.
Less space than I currently have. Our house is 2500 sf ranch and it’s way too much to clean with our busy lifestyles.
Less yard to mow. I love not being right on top of our neighbors (we have about 3/4 of an acre lot) but maintaining all of that greenery and shrubbery takes a helluva lot of work. We’re not of the financial status that we can “hire it done” either.
I totally forgot about adding built in bookcases. I almost moved into my grandmother’s house, and they had them. I think they really make a room look nice, especially if they are full of books…
Brendon
Lots of light, preferably adjustable (dimmable windows and skylights).
Washer-dryer connections: I’ll never understand this- why are 3/4 of them (at least in the houses where I’ve lived or spent time) located in or near, of all places, the kitchen or (if the property is two stories) downstairs? Where do you take off your clothes? Your bathroom or your bedroom, and that’s where they’ll be returning. PUT THE W-D connections with the bedrooms.
Of course that contradicts my next thing: rooms arranged for “non-static” living: the kitchen and the bathrooms kinda sorta have to be stationary because of the wiring/plumbing required, but I love the idea of rooms that CAN be a living room but it could also be a bedroom or an office depending on the furniture, essentially cubes or “blank rooms” arranged on a floorplan that gives them… well, for that another time.
I love the Sanctum Sanctorum bedroom/study plan at Monticello and at Jefferson’s lesser known/only recently restored home at Poplar Forest (in ways a far more pleasant home where some of the mistakes of Monticello are corrected [such as the impossible to navigate with furniture staircases] and the dining room is a perfect cube lit by what was for more than a century the nation’s largest skylight). I also love the idea of “chambers” that can be used multi-purpose style as described above.
My dream home will have some uniquely Southern folk architecture features (a dogtrot separating the main house from garage/guesthouse, fieldstone chimney, plank walls in one room) but thoroughly modern construction, a windmill and geothermal plumbing (the goal is to produce 100% of its energy consumption) and rooms that completely bely the external architecture (an adobe walled great room, Japanese bath, etc.).
My “best good friend” plans to study architecture sometime between now and his 84th birthday and to dedicate his career to manufactured housing. Rocio Romero is his absolute passion and all of his designs figure on modular adaptations of similar design. While I love the lighting and the adaptability of her designs, personally I’m embarassingly classist enough (from having lived in trailers) that I could never shake the notion that I’m living in a really cool really expensive trailer.
