What would you want in a house?

[Debaser]

I haven’t read the thread yet. I wanted to post first and see how many of my ideas are already mentioned.

Here’s my dreamhouse features:

Big master bedroom (it need not be huge, just big.) Large closet in it for me, very large walk in closet off the master bath for her.

Master bathroom with stand up shower in corner, double vanities, big jacuzzi for two, and a linen closet. Seperate little room for toilet because of the dreaded aerosol effect!

Bonus points if shower has multiple showerheads at various levels like you can find in Home Expo.

Washer dryer closet upstairs near the bedrooms. Two other normal size bedrooms with normal size closets are fine for the upstairs, with a shared regular bath.

Downstairs is open concept. No little boxy rooms tucked away where you won’t use them. The dining room table should be out in the open between the kitchen and the living room area so the space is always enjoyed and used. I’m paying taxes on it and paying to heat it. I don’t want any rooms that I only enter once a week, or even once a day.

I like putting a guest bedroom on the first floor. It’s more useful than a study or a den, yet can be used either way.

In a perfect world, I’d have no carpets anywhere in the house. All hardwood and tile. Area rugs in some spots, but that’s it. I’d never actually do this, though, because doing something that unusual would be hard for resale.

That’s all I can think of for now. Hopefully reading the thread I’ll get more ideas to leverage.

[Debaser]

One thing a couple of people are mentioning is the desire for a smaller house to cut down the housework. I’ve always understood it to be the opposite. Larger houses are easier to keep clean. Much of the space isn’t being used. It’s small apartments that get messed up daily and are harder to keep organized because of the lack of space.

I guess if you mean dusting and vacuming there is more of that, but it’s hardly noticeable I would think.

I didn’t mention a kitchen at all. It should be very large, with an island or a counter extending out with bar seating. A large closet nearby can serve as a pantry. Gas stoves, good size fridge.

I’m not talking about a fantastic, no money spared dreamhome, just what I plan on building soon. If money’s not object, then we’re talking dual Viking stoves, dual dishwashers, Subzero fridge, spare drink fridge, etc.

Another thing is speakers. Wiring the house for sound is a nice touch that doesn’t cost that much if you do it with the construction.

Also, I forgot to mention a generator. I’d have propane lines running to the gas dryer, deck grill, gas stove/oven, and a generator outside the house. I’d bury a large tank and keep it topped off so that even when the power’s out I’m still in business for a while.

[Sunspace]

@Debaser

In a perfect world, I’d have no carpets anywhere in the house. All hardwood and tile. Area rugs in some spots, but that’s it. I’d never actually do this, though, because doing something that unusual would be hard for resale.

No carpets makes a house hard to resell? My experience is that tile and hardwood (and maybe even linoleum) command a premium over wall-to-wall carpeting, not least because the latter is more difficult to keep clean. Besides, with hard floors, you can always lay a carpet over them, but taking away a permanently-installed carpet and getting a presentable floor is not nearly as easy.

[Queen_Bruin]

I changed my mind. I want Sunspace to design me a house.

[Sunspace]

@Queen Bruin

I changed my mind. I want Sunspace to design me a house.

My email’s in my profile.

[Cat_Whisperer]

@Viridiana

I’d always wanted a bed that was either enclosed or was installed in the floor or simply went upwards at the sides, like a pit (rather than like a crib. ) Just seems like it would be so cozy. I’ve never seen a normal person with anything like one, though. I need to experience one before deciding whether my idea is just stupid.

You know what would rock for summertime? A bed like that in the basement. You would be cooled properly all night long with no energy expended at all. Heck, you’d probably be TOO cool.

I think a Hobbit-style house would be kinda neat, too.

[Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor]

OK, maybe Art Deco or Streamline Deco Architecture.

[elbows]

I have to admit I have my own dream house;

Century cottage, intact details, clawfoot tub, pocket doors, inlaid floors.
Hardwood floors, weighted windows, high ceilings, floor to ceiling bookshelves.
Walk in pantry/cold room, enclosed porch, secret room and attic space.
Laundry shute, private well treed backyard.

We would like to add a woodstove next, which should practically heat the 1000 sq ft and seriously reduce our heating costs. Also there is a fully usable cistern under the house that could be hooked up for 1500$ to reduce water costs. It’s also ideally located and constructed as to take advantage of solar power should we decide to add a panel.

We are also going to install a murphy bed in the office, concealed in a wall of bookshelves and cupboards. Voila, instant guestroom!

But if I could add anything, it would be a large porch off the bedroom with french doors so I could push my bed out and sleep in the summer, a sleeping porch, unheard of where I live.

Also I would alter the downstairs bathroom to be more utilitarian, it currently has a washer dryer, which I adore. But it has a bathtub, newer, which I would remove and install a shower. A larger tiled shower with a wall faucet a bucket can go under and an additional hose attachment for washing large things that need to be wrangled into the shower like the dog, or lawn furniture or, well, big things that need to get washed. Then you could use the hose to wash the whole large stall down. Now that would be useful!

[Queen_Bruin]

@Sunspace

My email’s in my profile.

I will have to remember it if I ever get rich and famous enough to put my dreams to paper.

[rainy]

@Sampiro

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.

Be careful what you wish for. A friend of mine designed his first house and thought this same thing. Had the laundry room upstairs right next to the bedrooms. Absolutely hated it from the first load of laundry. The reason they are usually down by the kitchen area is that is where you spend most of your time. So all you have to do is think “I need to do some laundry” and bammo!

My friend’s wife said, you’re trying to cook dinner, you’re watching the toddlers and realize you desparately need to do laundry…turn off the stove top, grab the toddler and trek upstairs…oh yeah and since you can’t hear what cycle the machine is on from downstairs, you end up waiting a long time to make sure the thing is done so you don’t waste ANOTHER trip up there, and then probably forget anyway and have a washer full of wet clothes hours later. Alternatives? Do laundry at night and try to fall asleep to the lullaby of the high spin?!

You should hear my friend’s wife tell the story Needless to say, their next house had the laundry right off the kitchen.

My dream home could not have too much closet space…clothes, linens, coats, vacuum cleaner, board games, kids toys … give me lots of big closets!

[Debaser]

@Sunspace

No carpets makes a house hard to resell? My experience is that tile and hardwood (and maybe even linoleum) command a premium over wall-to-wall carpeting

Sure, they are better and more desireable to have in the common areas. But everyone expects there to be wall to wall carpet upstairs and in the bedrooms. Not having ANY carpet in the house would be very unusual. In general anything unusual is bad for resale.

[ralph124c]

…to design a house for me? i really admire his work; unfortunately, he passed on in 1958-maybe I could consult a medium?

[Caffeine.addict]

@Debaser

Sure, they are better and more desireable to have in the common areas. But everyone expects there to be wall to wall carpet upstairs and in the bedrooms. Not having ANY carpet in the house would be very unusual. In general anything unusual is bad for resale.

Quite a few of the houses, I’ve seen here don’t have carpet.

For my dream house. What I would like is five or six levels with the master suite on its own level with two private baths, and adjacent den and a small balcony.

I would like a lot of customized built-ins, modern wiring, with an over abundance of outlets and phone jacks, and ethernet ports.

I would also like a bathroom for each bedroom. I would like triple paned windows, and a lot of sound deadening installed. I want hardwood floors throughout with the exceptions of the kitchen and the bathrooms.

For the bedrooms, I want built in armoires rather than closets to organize my clothing and shoes.

For the kitchen I want an excess of storage and I want drawers. I would prefer granite for the counter surfaces but I don’t have a strong preference in that regard.

For at least one of the bathrooms, I want a six foot long clawfoot tub.

I would like to have built in bookshelves and an entertainment console which would conceal the stereo and the televisions. I would like all of this to be concealed behind woodwork so that it looks like Victorian paneling.

I would like a 2 car carriage house and with perhaps a small studio on top of it for a workshop.

I want very little for garden space perhaps no more than a treebox in front.

What makes a house difficult to clean is the amount of stuff in it. I’ve seen large houses where the owners didn’t have all that much furniture in them that made them easy to clean.

My uncle’s towhouse was probably 2200 square feet and didn’t look like there was much to clean. They didn’t have much in the way of furniture other than what would be absolutely necessary and nothing in the way of decoration other than one or two painting. Their only concession to any kind of comfort was four large bookshelves which were full.

[lieu]

A fireplace in the master bedroom.

Central Vacuum. It’s pretty cool; there’s a large vacuum unit in the garage that connects to portals throughout the house. You don’t lug a vacuum cleaner around, you just plug the hose attachment into a convenient port. Easy.

A telescope “observatory” above the garage… a room where I could leave the telescope with a roof that would open up on clear viewing nights.