i am amused at the “huge tracks of land” referenced above.
as for me… private island off of maine, wind and solar, either update existing house/s or build new.
Have you lost your mind, woman? I was about to murder an innocent puppy. I DESERVED to have my arms ripped off and my left liver eaten.
He was impressed by my…“lofty goals”.
You were provoked–you couldn’t be held responsible for your actions. It was an early childhood trauma–“The Shithouse Defense”.
I was thinking of commissioning myself to be the artist and the art being $3.5M in gold sitting in a giant Campbell’s Soup can.
That’s just silly. Are you Oprah now or something? 
I like the idea of a sustainable eco-friendly house. It seems to be all the rage, even though it effectively does nothing much and would only really work if everybody on the entire planet did it, for the next two hundred years.
So I’d still build an absurdly large house, designed to look something like a castle (though not overtly, just in certain stylistic flourishes) with all the mod cons, but using green sustainable materials. A long tree-lined driveway, underground parking, and a huge lawn, would also be a must.
I’d have to make sure I can afford to maintain it all, but then if I’m not paying a mortgage then it should be within my budget.
I’d spend the majority of the money on making it high quality, no cheating or cutting corners, and being all it needs to be to be liveable for me, and yet still practical and adaptable for anyone who comes after me but may not like my quirky sense of style.
Just make sure to be careful of any long drops that might be on your property when you recover, I wouldn’t want you to be overly traumatised.
I’d build a house on a lake with a nice carriage house on the edge of the property. At the end of 2 years I’d sell the house, partition the land, and live in the carriage house.
- Two-lane bowling alley, fully automated.
- Professional quality billiards table.
- 36 hole putt putt course that I would design.
- Complete video game systems room, plus some classic arcade games.
- State of the art home theater.
- Hot tub, swimming pool.
Also…
Need a water feature. Maybe an atrium, centrally located, with a waterfall that can gently babble or roar or anything in-between, depending on the remote control’s setting.
I also want a floor plan that allows a large, meandering aquarium. Imagine halfway up your bedroom wall, there’s part of the aquarium…it continues down the wall to your MBA, then on to the kitchen, into the living room, etc. IANA architect—maybe you couldn’t run it through load-bearing walls. But your prize angel fish might be in the bedroom this morning, in the kitchen this afternoon, etc. It would be kinda kewl if they could swim “upstairs” too.
I think a 10-stall barn ought to do it, with an indoor riding ring (with its roof covered in solar panels, some of which would power giant fans and a sprinkler system, the others ). 100 acres, with 4-board fencing and a strand of hot wire on top with solar chargers. 1/2 acre sacrifice paddocks with bluestone for winter (mud season). Frost-free hydrants outside every field. Large, heated wash stall. Rubber paving stones in the aisle and wash stall, concrete floors with rubber mats in the stalls. Outbuilding for storing hay and straw with covered walkway to barn. Big outdoor ring.
The house would be next to the barn. Nothing huge, but with thick double-layer brick to help keep it cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Decent sized kitchen with at least two sinks. Built-in cat perches and elevated walkways. At least two closet-sized places with kitty doors and exhaust fans for litter boxes.
If there’s anything left over, microphone in barn with hard-wired speakers in the bedroom. I love the sound of horses snuffling and calmly munching hay at night. It’s very relaxing.
Wait, what’s that, you say? I blew all the money just on the horses? I guess you’ll have to put a loft over the barn for me to live in, then.
Of course, this is all for after I’ve gone through vet school, internship, and residency, and have settled down somewhere, preferably on the East Coast/Upper Midwest.
That pup will grow up to break out in a cold sweat whenever anyone mentions SDMB. Darn right you deserved to have your arms rearranged.
I like the idea of an orangery. If I could have an indoor swimming pool in the orangery and it wouldn’t kill the plants that would be even cooler. The real things I would do would be to fix this house. I would do it big though, not quite a complete demolition but pretty close. I don’t think I could put my orangery in the back though and a swimming pool would probably screw up the septic tank something fierce.
A little fixer upper like this should be fine
What can I say , I like the idea of going from summer to winter in a few moments.
Declan
In my finished basement I want a small kitchen, family room, wet bar, guest room, nice bathroom and a weapons room with a ton of weapon and ammo for all plus food that could last thirty years (I.E. Twinkies).
Goddamnit, I’m prepared for any sort of apocalypse (the sad thing is that these are genuinely my plans).
- racketball court with a big screen TV built into the back wall.
Buy out the entire top floor of a condo complex some place, also get the condo below whatever happens to be my favorite, outfit my condo with every thing I want, put a stairway down do the one below, then with whatever is left fill the remaining condos with loot to keep me going for a few years,
honestly I would flat out ask if I could use the cash for my Business that I am in the process of planning out but I think the condo Idea works for me, Now if you dump the one year rule thats a whole different story.
nice plot of land someplace where I wont get crushed in an earthquake or smothered by volcanic ash, nothing huge but say 3-10 acres or so depending,
build a nice very energy efficient house with some really funky design ideas that is 3 stories in places, 2 for about half, with the ability to use the roof as a giant deck.
then (well I guess this part would really come first) Dig a big ass hole and make it a huge complex underground, I mean a fully functional bar/nightclub with pool tables and all that, workshops for woodworking and whatever else came to mind, a go-cart track (electric) and just get crazy, maybe an underground pool that has trees and plants growing around it.
I would go frakin nuts if you handed me 5mil and said go to town on a house design
Hmmm…
First thing would be to have something that I could live off the grid with…solar/wind/water generated power, gravity fed water supply, etc.
I would likely choose something on twenty acres or so up in the hills. I would also want outbuildings…a two car garage, workshop, gardening shed, possibly a small barn for a few goats, a pig or two and a chicken coop. I would also have a couple of small guesthouses for family and friends when they came to visit. Silly as it may sound, I also think a well planned mini-golf course would be a lot of fun. Plenty of wooded area for hiking would be a must, as well as an indoor pool with a steam room and outdoor hot tub.
For the house itself, 2-2.5K square feet…nothing that would be a burden to clean…in either an old farmhouse or log house style. I would have a safe room, a good sized kitchen with a pantry and a couple of sinks, a laundry room with an ironing board that I never had to take down, a nice master suite, complete with a master bath with a walk in shower, a spa tub and a dressing room. The main necessity, though, would be the studios…an art / craft studio, complete with a darkroom and a music studio with recording capabilities. It would also have to have a huge wrap around porch, with swings and rockers…perfect to take a glass of tea or an adult beverage, the instrument of your choice and some friends for some picking and grinning. Oh, and there would be little to no carpet anywhere.
I would have to have a job that I could telecommute to realize this, though, as the area that I would like to have this built is notoriously lacking good jobs.
The house I have is a good size with a few acres and a nice view. First I would pay off the mortgage. Normal repairs top to bottom. New central air. Get rid of the above ground pool get an in ground pool. Hot tub next to the deck. Using the existing rooms or expanding a couple, a game room, an excercise room, a wet bar. Turn the living room into a mini movie theater. Professional landscaping. Whatever is left over I’ll spend on hats.
- Multipurpose gym area. You’d have hoops up but also the permanent anchoring stuff for a good volleyball or badminton setup. And you’d have the lines on the floor for shuffleboard. Plus, a bigass trampoline.
Doesn’t matter if I can buy a property or find one that can be modified, but here’s what I want:
1500-200 square foot house as eco-friendly as possible either getting all energy off the grid or having sufficient back up wind/solar/whatever to make it livable if the power goes out. Everything insulated, at least double-panes on the windows (I’m assuming I’ll still be in an area that experiences winter). Safe room/basement for shelter in emergencies. Bathroom must have big tub suitable for long soaks, but it doesn’t have to have fancy airjets and crap, the old-fashioned low-tech variety is OK. Separate shower. Modern, energy-efficient appliances in kitchen and utility room.
Ample two car garage.
A secure outbuilding for storage, or a really big attic.
An acre suitable for gardening. I would also use the budget to improve the soil (if needed), put in foot paths, landscaping plants, raised/bordered beds, and so forth.
And this is where it gets a little crazy: additional land at least 7,500 feet long and 50 feet wide free of trees and obstacles and leveled. Yes, I want a runway - not 7,500 feet, more like 5,000 feet with buffer zones at each end. This would require this entire set up to be outside the suburbs, of course.
Need at least one hangar large enough for at least two GA airplanes.
Need building to secure all the landscape maintenance equipment required for the lawn, garden, and runway.