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We really like our house, considering the fact that we had less than a week to go out of state to find it we consider ourselves lucky, but.....
I wish the ceilings were 9' instead of 8'
I wish we didn't have thick ploppy swirls on the ceilings
I wish the halls and doorways were wider
I wish the dining room was bigger
It has the feeling that small people lived here, but we're tall people, so we feel a bit squeezed.
The lot is way too small, but it seemed like a good move at the time. Sometimes "downsizing" is way way overrated. My nearest neighbor may as well be my roommate. I hate hearing my neighbors' conversations as my house is also close to the street.
I haven't even moved into my new build yet so still in the honeymoon phase and at least in my imagination, there is nothing I dislike, other than things I have knowingly accepted as a trade off for getting generally what I want where I want it. Ask me again in 6 months, though! lol!
The lot is way too small, but it seemed like a good move at the time. Sometimes "downsizing" is way way overrated. My nearest neighbor may as well be my roommate. I hate hearing my neighbors' conversations as my house is also close to the street.
The thing about "downsizing" is that we seem to give up the things that are important to us, while still retaining the unimportant things that aren't. For example, although we have a cheaper, smaller house, which was a goal, we still have 5 rooms we never set foot in for days at a time, and the same property taxes. What we gave up are the things that were important, like elbow room, privacy and storage. Live and learn. Maybe we'll get it right eventually. Rooms we use should be big, rooms we don't use should be gone. Neighbors should be seen once in awhile, but not heard.
Last edited by gentlearts; 10-19-2014 at 11:56 AM..
^Yes! While perusing online sites for real estate in Central Florida I noticed a small house on an acre and a half with a large separate workshop out in the "woods". It had a covered area as well, about the size of 5 carports. Something like that would be great for me and my projects.
The lot has many large trees, something I also miss terribly. I remember a friend saying "an oak tree is nothing to build your life around. Downsize!"
I know trees can be risky in Florida, but oaks rarely go down. I'd rather take the risk.
As I sit here I can here my neighbor prowling along our common fence which is about 3 feet away from me. We don't get along;I'm actually afraid of her. She seems to hang out by the fence a bit too much ;(
A big ask for us was having the master away from the kitchen, since my wife loves to get up early and rattle around in there Would have preferred having the laundry closer to the master vs off the kitchen (no basements here is Texas). Not happy with cheap single-pane windows, but not unhappy enough to pay for replacement.
To get to our walk up attic you have to go through the closet in our bedroom. The attic is large enough for two more bedrooms and a bathroom but it's a waste of space now. Except for storage and Halloween. It's a scary place to take the shorties and tell them ghost stories.
Bought a house two months ago, built 1940 (which is not all that "old" around here -- we moved from an 1880 house).
Skipping little stuff that we can easily change, these are the biggies:
1. Lot has too many large old trees for its size, and mostly in species I'm not fond of (i.e., Hawthorns) -- backyard is very dark, though it does help with summer a/c bills.
2. Tiny detached garage: can either use as a large storage shed for lawnmower, yard tools, etc; or put one compact car in it -- carefully -- but not both
3. Grading issues that cause drainage problems. NOthing severe, but they must not have compacted around the house and driveway enough. We have to run downspout extenders way away from house, and driveway gets huge puddles that sit forever.
4. Unbalanced air ducting, some rooms get a lot more a/c and heat than others.
5. Good news is the 1940 builder used brass plumbing, an upgrade that lasts longer than the galvanized steel that was standard then. Bad news is that instead of the galvanized failing and having been replaced an owner or two ago, we have 75 year old brass pipes that may or may not last 20 years.
6. Seller put in a brand new kitchen range, which has the 'feature' that instead of a plain old beep, it plays happy little electronic songs to tell you it's preheated, the timer reaches zero, etc. Like having a 1980s Nintendo in your kitchen.
As as spinoff to the unique features about your house thread, I started thinking about the features I don't like about my homes. I just moved into a smaller home with my gf, and I really like this older home I live in overall: it's a simple one story with an open floor plan. But in thinking about homes I've had in the past, there were a couple of things that I really disliked about a couple of them, some things I'd like to avoid in the future:
A. Carpet in EVERY room. I don't need to expand upon why it's dumb to have carpet in wet areas of your home.
B. Detached garages. Why on earth do builders build a covered garage for homeonwners to park their cars in, just for us to get rained/snowed on while we're walking into the house?
C. Swimming pools. Way too much work, expense, and liability with little in return. Also, they actually hurt your chances of selling your home in the future, even in Texas.
D. Dishwashers. I don't like having to wash my dishes in order to load a machine that then washes them poorly for me to have to even wash some of them again, unload it, dry them, and put them away. Hand washing is a lot less work for me.
Anyone else have things they don't like about their house?
If you have to wash your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher and they still do not get clean, either the water to the machine is not hot enough, the detergent is not up to snuff, or you need a new machine. I have lots of everyday dishes, rinse off the big food residue particles, and only run the machine about twice a week. Everything gets clean.
I agree about carpet in wet areas, but I prefer carpet for its warmth and noise deadening properties and I also want an attached garage. If I had it to over, though, our current garage would load from the side, not the front.
I could do without a pool, too. There are other options for swimmers.
I spent most of my life trying to get into the perfect house, and I'm finally here!
This house has very few bad features and it's a fine old house (built 1962). The biggest drawback is, not enough closet space. It has three double closets (three bedrooms), one linen closet, and one vacuum closet. For 2,300 square feet, that's not enough!
My backyard is the best, though!
Gorgeous!
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