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I have lots of dogs so am delighted that the small side porch that is the main route in and out of the house has a gate. When bringing in groceries and stuff I can get it all on the porch, close the gate and then open the door to the house. It's great not have the dogs escape out to the pasture for a swim in the creek and a roll in something smelly.
When we had our house built, my partner INSISTED on installing a whole-house sound system with flush-mount speakers. I thought it was total overkill and completely unnecessary, but we use it constantly! We've got 7 zones in all corners of the house - front porch, back patio, in the garage (for those car detailing days and yardwork), formal living/dining, powder bath, upstairs landing and upstairs guest bath - and we have remotes and wall controls for each zone. The nice touch is that we can have two different kinds of music playing at any given time - or someone can be watching a football game in the family room and someone else can be listening to music in the dining room (Bose Lifestyle 48). When we entertain, we always have music playing on the front porch to greet guests and then modify it as the evening moves on. I like turning all the inside speakers on pretty high when we clean house - it gives me that little pick-me-up. Now that we have it, I wouldn't trade it for anything!
I love my pull out spout on my kitchen faucet..it's great to clean the sink after my kids dump their cereal in there. WE have a # keypad on the outside of our garage w/a pin # and it makes it great when my kids forget their keys after school and I don't quite make it home in time!!! A DOOR on my family room!!!! I always said in my old house that I wish our basement had door on in so when the kids were playing games or with friends or just watching tv, I didn't have to hear them upstairs. Well, my new house has a door on the basement and I LOVE it. I will never own another house without that luxury!!!
I love my pull out spout on my kitchen faucet..it's great to clean the sink after my kids dump their cereal in there. WE have a # keypad on the outside of our garage w/a pin # and it makes it great when my kids forget their keys after school and I don't quite make it home in time!!! A DOOR on my family room!!!! I always said in my old house that I wish our basement had door on in so when the kids were playing games or with friends or just watching tv, I didn't have to hear them upstairs. Well, my new house has a door on the basement and I LOVE it. I will never own another house without that luxury!!!
You HAVE to love doors - one of the simplest and most genius inventions ever!!
1. Second floor laundry room - right next to MBR. So easy to do laundry and put it away!
2. Screened in porch. Never thought much about it, but here in NC, my favorite room in my house.
3. Granite/quartz countertops - have had them in last 2 homes. could never go back to laminate or solid surface.
I LOVE our dimmers. Our kitchen/living room has dimmers on all the lights and it's nice to transition from day to night slowly.
We have LOTS of skylights throughout our house and my favorite one is right above the shower I't's nice to see the tops of the trees and get a bit of ocean breeze while showering. I'd be hard pressed to have a house without them.
Well, I wasn't surprised, because we planned it that way, but what I really find very useful is the laundry/ storage room through which we enter the house from the carport. Along one side we had custom cabinets with sliding doors installed where we put our outdoor shoes as soon as we come in. There's plenty of space to put the first floor vacuum, swiffers, my husband's golf stuff and such. Along the opposite wall there is a sink (I clean litter boxes there) and counter space above the washer and dryer, some outlets to recharge cell phones, and wall cabinets to hold bulbs, batteries, medicine, and whatnot. That's a real useful room.
Well, I wasn't surprised, because we planned it that way, but what I really find very useful is the laundry/ storage room through which we enter the house from the carport. Along one side we had custom cabinets with sliding doors installed where we put our outdoor shoes as soon as we come in. There's plenty of space to put the first floor vacuum, swiffers, my husband's golf stuff and such. Along the opposite wall there is a sink (I clean litter boxes there) and counter space above the washer and dryer, some outlets to recharge cell phones, and wall cabinets to hold bulbs, batteries, medicine, and whatnot. That's a real useful room.
This is great to hear. I've been following this thread since we are planning a kitchen remodel and part of that is a mudroom addition. Good tip about the charging station-we can get those darn things off of the kitchen counter!
I'm not planning to move the laundry out of the basement at this point, but your post made me realize that I need to make sure one of the planned closets is big enough for a W/D and I'll have plumbing and electricity run to that area so it will be easy to convert in the future.
Thanks!
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